Blue Bus of Bolton

Ikarus Polaris 489 bodied DAF SB220 in Manchester
Parent	Roger Jarvis Alan Turner
Founded	May 1991
Ceased operation	July 2005
Headquarters	Bolton
Service area	Greater Manchester Lancashire Merseyside West Yorkshire

Blue Bus was a large independent bus company serving Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside.

Blue Bus was formed in 1991 by former Shearings managers Roger Jarvis and Alan Turner. It was based at a former railway works in Horwich, six miles to the west of Bolton. The first type of bus to be acquired in bulk was the Leyland Leopard, which were followed by a number of Leyland Atlanteans.

It commenced operating its first route in May 1991 between Bolton and Horwich via Chorley New Road in competition with GM Buses. Each of the five services introduced to give this combined frequency served a different estate in Horwich. A 20-minute service along Chorley Old Road from Bolton to the Johnson Fold estate was next to be introduced, followed by a series of routes in Wigan. The first of these ran to Shevington. It was decided to open an outpost at Appley Bridge to act as a local base for the Wigan routes.

New routes were added to the network following contract wins, and a number of commercial routes were also introduced, taking the company into new areas such as Manchester. In addition, the company gained work from a holiday company, Alfa Tours. Five coaches were acquired for this, with two were specially branded for Alfa.

Blue Bus purchased a depot in Huddersfield in August 1994, launching a service to Marsden in competition with Yorkshire Rider. This venture was later expanded into Bradford. Rider was taken over by FirstBus in 1996, and Blue Bus' West Yorkshire operation ceased. Just weeks later, FirstBus took over Blue Bus's main Bolton rival, GM Buses North.