Blackpool Transport
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Double-deck Balloon tram at Bispham in July 2006
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| Parent | Blackpool Borough Council |
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| Founded | 1885 |
| Headquarters | Rigby Rd, Blackpool, Lancashire FY1 5DD |
| Service area | The Fylde Coast, Lancashire |
| Service type | Tram & bus services |
| Destinations | Fleetwood, Lytham St Annes, Kirkham, Knott End, Poulton-le-Fylde |
| Fleet | 135 buses 25 trams Various heritage trams |
| Chief executive | Jane Cole |
| Website | www.blackpooltransport.com |
Blackpool Transport Services Ltd. (BTS) is a bus and tram operator running within the boroughs of Blackpool and Fylde and into the surrounding area, including Fleetwood, Lytham St Annes, Poulton-le-Fylde and Cleveleys. It is owned by Blackpool Borough Council.
Blackpool Transport was founded in 1885 by the town council. The tramway opened on 29 September 1885 using a conduit system to operate the trams using electricity. However, due to difficulties with this method of operation, 550V overhead wiring was installed over the tracks in 1899 to replace the conduit system. In the 1920s, the first bus services were added to transport operations in Blackpool.
To comply with the Transport Act 1985, in 1986 the assets were transferred to a new legal entity. Neighbouring operator Fylde Borough Transport, which at the time traded as Blue Buses, was taken over in 1994; it had previously been a council-owned operation itself, but spent five months in private ownership before Blackpool Transport's takeover.
The company's network was relaunched in April 2001 under the name Metro Coastlines. Along with the new name came a new colour-coded service: each core bus route was operated by vehicles painted in a livery heavily featuring that route's colour. There were twelve such core bus routes, and the historic tramway along the promenade also had its own variation of the livery.
On Monday 26 July 2010, Metro Coastlines branding was discontinued and the company went back to the older name of Blackpool Transport. Buses had their Metro Coastlines logos removed and replaced with a new Tower and waves logo, along with a black and yellow colour scheme. The tramway now uses a purple and white colour scheme since 2012, based on Blackpool Council's main colour schemes. The Tower and waves logo does not feature on the Flexity 2 trams but is featured at the top of the central doors on the modernised Balloon trams.
Blackpool Transport has a fleet of 135 active vehicles as of November 2016. It is majority double deck and entirely low floor, with the last step entrance vehicles being replaced in July 2016. Most of the vehicles in the fleet were purchased new by Blackpool Transport, however 45 vehicles were purchased from other operators.
On the double deck side of the fleet, the Dennis/TransBus/Alexander Dennis Trident II is the most common vehicle type, with 48 examples currently in active service. Other types include nineteen East Lancs-bodied DAF DB250LFs and ten high specification Alexander Dennis Enviro400Citys. Further examples of the latter are due for delivery in 2017.
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