Rossendale Transport

Rosso

Wright Eclipse 2 bodied Volvo B7RLE in Haslingden in May 2011
Parent	Transdev Blazefield
Founded	1907
Headquarters	Harrogate
Service area	Greater Manchester Lancashire West Yorkshire
Service type	Bus services
Fleet	109 (May 2014)
Chief executive	Alex Hornby
Website	rossobus.com

Rosso is the trading name of Rossendale Transport, a bus operator providing services in Greater Manchester, Lancashire and West Yorkshire. It became a subsidiary of Transdev Blazefield on 12 January 2018, after Rossendale Borough Council members agreed to a sale to them at a meeting on 20 December 2017.

Rosso can trace its history back to 1907 when both Rawtenstall and Haslingden Corporations (both independently) ran a motor bus within their boroughs. Both undertakings merged in 1968 to form Rossendale Joint Transport Committee and later in 1974 with the local government reorganisation the boroughs were merged, along with Bacup (which was already served by Rossendale buses; Bacup Borough not having its own bus company) and Whitworth to form the present Borough of Rossendale.

To comply with the Transport Act 1985, in 1986 the assets were transferred to a new legal entity.

It expanded over the following 20 years and now operates buses throughout Rossendale, Bury and Rochdale as well as operating into Burnley, Blackburn, Bolton and Todmorden.

Concerns were raised in 2009 about the council's intentions with regards to its continued ownership of the company, culminating in a public protest outside the town hall to dissuade the council from selling. In July 2009 the council announced that it was retaining its ownership of the company, its valuation not having been met by potentially interested parties.

In August 2013, the Rossendale Transport bus network was rebranded (with a new livery design of red, orange, yellow and white) as Rosso. In December 2017, Rosso was sold by the Rossendale Borough Council to Transdev Blazefield.