New timetables will be available from Tuesday 30 October at our Travel centres at Market Street and Rigby Road.
Happy Birthday Blackpool Transport

It's not every 21 year old who gets to share her birthday with a bus company.
On Friday 26 October Blackpool Transport now trading as Metro Coastlines is 21 years old
and so is one of their passengers Stacie Whiteside who is a regular zonecard user.

Blackpool Transport wanted to congratulate Stacie and to help celebrate their joint birthdays,
so to wish her well and to start the celebrations Blackpool Transport is presenting her with a bottle of champagne and a 21 day complimentary bus pass.
Blackpool Transport Services Limited came into being in 1986 as a direct result of the 1985 Transport Act.This abolished Road Licensing,
provided for the introduction of competition on local bus services for the first time since 1930's and required local Authority owned bus companies to operate as "Arms lengths" commercial concerns - hence the creation of Blackpool Transport. In this year:

And finally in 1929 it was announced that all London buses would be red - after the yellow variety had proved unpopular in trials!

Photoshoot at Rigby Road Depot 1400 Friday 26 October at 1400

For more details please contact: Jean Cox on 01253 473036
jean.cox@blackpooltransport.com

Metro Coastlines is finalist for UK Bus Operator of the Year (Updated 20th September 2007)

Metro Coastlines has been shortlisted for national awards in two categories: UK Bus Operator of the Year; and the Street Transit Award.
The UK Bus Awards are independently assessed and highly respected awards aimed at improving the standards of public transport throughout Britain. To get on their shortlist is a major achievement – some of the UK’s biggest companies are trying to win these accolades.
Metro Coastlines has been listed for Shire Bus Operator of the Year because of its success in getting many more people riding on its buses over the past five years, whilst reinvesting profits in the area’s public transport. We are the world’s first user of ITSO Smartcard technology and we invest heavily in eye-catching colour-coded vehicles, maps and timetables. We are also expanding – we run 23 more local buses than six years ago.

Steve Burd, Managing Director, said
“I am absolutely delighted that Metro Coastlines has been nationally recognised in this way. Whilst bus use is falling in the North West region, we have demonstrated how to reverse that trend and drive passenger numbers upwards* by providing a very high standard of bus service - and this proves that the national judges are sitting up and taking notice. Our nomination reflects all the hard work and effort put in by our staff over the past few years.”

“I am also very pleased that our work with the council to invest in renewing the tramway has been recognised with the Street Transit Award nomination. We are all looking forward to the announcement of the awards themselves on 7th November.”
(*our bus patronage has risen 13% in the past five years)
For more details please contact Oliver Howarth on 01253 473032 : 0798 502 6585 oliver.howarth@blackpooltransport.com

New service for St Annes & Lytham (Added 18th October 2006)
Experimental bus services in Lytham St Annes [More...]

Line 2 (Updated 17th November 2006)
Service change in Cleveleys. From the 20th November 2006 the Line 2 will no longer serve Thornton Gate in either direction [More...]

Western Train Tram back on track. (Added 6th October 2006)
Press release can be found here. [More...]

Line 4 (Updated 22nd November 2006)
We are pleased to say that the roadworks in this area, which have over-run badly, have now been completed sufficiently to reinstate the normal bus service;
and that Blackpool Council have lifted the Traffic Order banning Line 4 from using these roads; and that we have had emergency permission to reinstate the bus service without the usual notice period required by the Traffic Commissioners.
From Thursday 23rd November, Line 4 will be running once more in both directions on the route shown in timetables and on the MetroGuide, and the Line 4A Feeder Bus will be discontinued.

Metro Coastlines honours long-serving member of staff(Added 30th June 2006)
One of the new doubledeckers newly launched on Metro Coastlines Line 11 is named in honour of Arthur Topham, who died suddenly at the end of last month, at the age of 54.
Arthur Topham joined Blackpool Transport in 1969 and spent his entire working life with the company. As our Operations Manager he was widely liked and respected and, in honour of his 38 years of service, Metro Coastlines has decided to remember Arthur by naming a brand new double-decker after him. It is the first time in the 121 year history of the company that a staff member has been honoured in this way.

Metro Coastlines honours long-serving member of staff(Added 24th August 2006)
Our magnificent 1924 Blackpool Standard tramcar 147, has recently been named Michael Airey in honour of our Bodyshop & Paintshop Manager, who was instrumental in getting this tram brought back from the USA in badly battered condition in 2001 and in restoring it to as new condition in 2002. Michael has been suffering from cancer for the past two years and passed away just a few days after the naming ceremony, which turned out to be his last day out. Our sincere commiserations go out to Mike’s family.

Line 11 gets more new buses(Updated 23th June 2006)
Metro Coastlines has invested over £750,000 in further new buses for trunk bus route Line 11. The new doubledeckers are all-British and feature kneeling front suspension and a concealed wheelchair ramp to make them fully accessible for the disabled. The arrival of these vehicles means that half of the 22 buses needed to run Line 11 are wheelchair accessible as part of the company’s key objective of replacing all vehicles with modern, accessible rolling stock as quickly as possible. Line 11 is one of Blackpool’s busiest bus routes, running every 7 or 8 minutes during the daytime (Mondays to Saturdays) and continuing to run every 15 minutes until after 11pm, seven days a week, delivering one of the best bus services in Britain.

Blackpool Transport shortlisted for top award again.(Updated 29th September 2006)
For the second year running Blackpool Transport has been short listed for a prestigious and highly sought after UK Bus Award, which honour innovation and high quality. This year the Company has been nominated in the Street Transit category along with Sheffield Super Tram, Nottingham NET and Metro Bus for it's Crawley Busway scheme.
Blackpool Transport has been nominated for the efforts that it has made to maintain a quality service on the Tramway during the last year, despite all the difficulties associated with the current condition of the Tramway track and overhead in various areas.
The Award Ceremony will take place in November at the London Hilton Hotel on Park Lane after a further round of judging.
Managing Director Steve Burd said "we are obviously very pleased that Blackpool Transport has once again been short listed for these prestigious awards and it shows the huge efforts that have been made by all our staff to deliver a good quality public transport network on the Fylde Coast. I am, however, under no illusions the Company's chances of actually winning this award, as we are up against excellent candidates who have been able to invest far greater funds in upgrading their systems than we have been able to to-date. We shouldn't get our hopes up too high about winning, but this is further evidence of the company being recognised by outside experts as a high quality public transport provider".

Overcrowding on the buses
With schools now going back we are experiencing temporary overcrowding on some journeys. We are doing our utmost to deal with the problems caused to our services by the cancellation of school bus contracts by Blackpool Council and Lancashire County Council. We are monitoring events closely and there are two changes to our network from Monday 11 September:

1) Line 2C from Knott End. The overloading on the 0742 from Knott End will be relieved by using a double decker on this journey and on the journey to Knott End leaving Poulton at 1648. Vehicle colour will vary from day to day, depending on double decker availability.
2) 540 and 84A to St Aidan's School, Preesall. To cover gross overloading on the 540 school bus, this route will no longer run via Thornton. Instead the 84A school bus will call in Thornton at similar times and will be renumbered 840 from the same date.

Line 2 extends to Kirkham & Wesham (Updated 24th August 2006)
In yet another major extension of the Metro Coastlines network, Line 2’s half hourly service to Lytham is, from 4th September, extended through Saltcotes, Warton & Freckleton to Kirkham, terminating at Wesham. Evening and Sunday services along this route sector will be provided by Line 7 every hour. This replaces service 70, the Kirkham Roamer. Single fares on Line 2 will be substantially lower than on the Roamer. TravelCards , MetroSaverPlus and AllZone ZoneCards are accepted on this new Line 2 extension.