P is for Preston Bus

Saturday 29th July 2023

Preston Bus had a consistent pedigree from its initial municipal ownership in 1922, when the Council inherited the fledgling tram operation that had begun in 1904, right through until the management buy-out in 1993.

However in the mid 2000s the company went through a turbulent period being subjected to high profile competition from Stagecoach which led to various accusations of unprofessional behaviour resulting in both companies agreeing a code of practice with the Traffic Commissioner. After three years of instability the company sold out to Stagecoach in 2009 with routes rebranded as Stagecoach in Preston. However, the Competition Commission ruled the takeover had adversely affected competition in the area and ordered Stagecoach to sell Preston Bus leading to its sale to Rotala in January 2011.

Rotala set about ‘steadying the ship’ and new arrangements to coexist cordially with Stagecoach, which continued to run into the town from surrounding Lancashire, became established and have continued ever since.

Preston Bus provides a tidy network of bus services within the town, as well as tendered routes further afield on behalf of Lancashire County Council while Stagecoach operates many inter-urban routes to and from the city. Also to be found in Preston are Transdev Blazefield’s Hotline branded 152 to Blackburn and Burnley, Blackpool Transport on routes 74 and 75 to and from Fleetwood and Tyrers Coaches on route 119 to Chorley, but a wander around Preston town centre certainly confirms Preston Bus is the dominant operator in the city.

And of course, the town centre is famous for its Grade II listed bus station and car park which probably ranks as the largest bus station in England from where all bus routes arrive and depart using head on stands.

It was refurbished in 2018 when facilities for passengers (eg toilets and retail offerings – but not the number of seats) were significantly improved…

…. with the number of bus stands drastically reduced to be more in keeping with today’s requirements.

New travel office and information facilities were opened but alas seem to have been downgraded, something which is now sadly becoming the norm in many towns and cities.

The rather lavish Information office for Preston Bus is at least open but only for restricted hours. National Express have abandoned its shop completely.

Preston Bus has has a fleet of around 90 buses which is quite sizeable for the size of Preston (142,000) indicating its expansion into some inter-urban routes.

Originally the fleet was all double deck buses but now is very much dominated by single decks. About a third of the fleet are Wright StreetLites (25) and StreetDecks (9) with 20 Optare Solos and 11 Mercedes Sprinters. 11 Volvos and 11 Scanias with three Dennis Tridents make up the rest of the fleet. The Volvos having Wright bodies.

The livery was updated a few years ago to a smart two tone blue but some buses still sport the old design enabling an appreciation of the improved image now portrayed, not least eliminating the rather annoying stylised P/B logo over the windows.

I enjoyed a day travelling around Preston a few weeks ago sampling some of the Company’s bus routes and came away thinking it’s a company that gets the basics right, operates a tidy town network with some average to good frequencies with an average fleet and some good ticket options, but it doesn’t overly sparkle with that added flair and some inconsistencies stood out.

For example, the company welcomes you to its “New Preston Bus Website” ….

… but one of the six scrolling messages on the home page bizarrely states “New Government Guidelines regarding the wearing face coverings on Public Transport come into effect from 30th November 2021” which left me wondering just how “new” the “New Preston Bus Website” is.

There’s a colourful network map available but you really have to hunt for it. I eventually found it (obviously enough) under Network Maps which is on the list of Links at the bottom of the home page rather than along the top where the other main links are available.

There is though a very helpful map which tracks the whole city network and individual route tracking is available on the individual service pages which I found incredibly useful during my visit.

The Company is also active on social media with helpful updates.

Its two most frequent routes operated are the 19 and 23. Both run every 10 minutes from the city centre to the Royal Preston Hospital in the north of the city with the 23 continuing over to the Fulwood Asda.

Double decks are the mainstay on these routes but I noticed single decks could also be found especially on the 19.

I noticed a few of the buses used on the 23 have had some route branding added.

I took a ride on both routes and they saw reasonable numbers travelling for what was the middle of a wet weekday.

The seats in the Wright Streetdeck were noticeably more comfortable to the rather uncomfortable offerings on the Scania which was definitely showing it emanating from another era of bus interior furnishings..

Route 100 runs every 15 minutes on an east-west trajectory from Farringdon Park (east) to Larches (west) passing the city’s Portway Park & Ride site (no, not the Bristol one!) as well as the railway station.

The city also has a Park & Ride site at Walton-le-Dale with a 10 minute bus route into the city centre operated by Stagecoach in a bespoke livery. An adult return bus fare of £1.70 applies….

… which when also set in the context of cheap all day parking offered in the extensive car park above the bus station in the city centre highlights the challenges faced by Preston Bus at making its bus network attractive for price conscious travellers – although the current £2 maximum obviously helps.

Other 15 minute frequency routes aside from the 100 operated by Preston Bus are the 6 and 8 …

… with 20 minute frequency routes being 31 and 35.

Routes 43, 44 and 48 run half hourly and routes 45 and 46 are hourly to Blackburn and Longridge respectively making them the Company’s main out of town routes from Preston.

However the company also operates a number of tendered bus routes for Lancashire County Council not least since April when along with Vision Bus and Pilkington Bus it picked up routes operating in the Burnley, Clitheroe and Nelson area previously operated by Transdev’s Burnley Bus Company.

Preston Bus has recently introduced ‘tap and go’ as an option for passengers to pay for their travel and there are also options for five and ten day carnet tickets on a smartphone which are priced at £2 per journey as well as a £5 day ticket, £22.50 weekly and £75 for 28 days.. The day tickets are also now sold as five and ten carnets offering a discounted price of £3.52 and £3.08 per ticket respectively.

Its’s always a challenge to promote and explain ticket options in a clearly understood way and Preston Bus was obviously noticing confusion among passengers earlier this year when it issued a “Clarification on Tickets” to explain things.

Prior to my visit at the end of June there were still plenty of reminders that fares had been “revised” on 7th May.

It’s great to see a colourful and attractive timetable book produced but I’m not sure if this is just available online. I couldn’t see any physical copies anywhere on my travels.

A reshuffle of senior management at Rotala’s North West businesses last month saw the appointment of Matt Rawlinson as managing director of both Preston Bus and Diamond Bus North West overseeing the newly franchised world in Manchester which begins in September with his predecessor and long standing stalwart of the bus and coach industry, Bob Dunn, taking more of a hands off role in the day to day running of Preston Bus. I suspect it will be a case very much of business as usual, which doesn’t seem to have done the company and the city and harm over the last 12 years of Rotala ownership.

Roger French

Previous AtoZ blogs: Avanti West Coast, Blackpool Transport, Chiltern Railways, Delaine Buses, Ensignbus, Faresaver, Grand Central, Hull Trains, Ipswich Buses, JMB Travel, Kirkby Lonsdale Coach Hire, Lynx, Isle of Man Transport Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Nottingham City Transport, (London) Overground.

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