South Lancs Travel

:"Green Triangle Buses, B&D Coaches and Bellairs and Dootson Coaches redirect here"

Infobox Bus transit
name = South Lancs Travel

logo_size = 120

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image_caption = South Lancs Travel Scania L94UB On The "Shevington Shuttle" Service
founded = 1995
headquarters = Atherton, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom
service_area = Greater Manchester
service_type = Bus Services
destinations = Leigh, Wigan, Bolton, Ashton-in-Makerfield, Atherton, Tyldesley, Trafford Centre
fleet = 56 buses + 6 preserved
operator = Green Triangle Buses Ltd / B&D Coaches Ltd
website = [http://www.southlancs.com/ www.southlancs.com]

South Lancs Travel is a bus operator in the Bolton, Wigan and Leigh areas operating services on behalf of Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive. Its headquarters are in Atherton and it is the trading name of Green Triangle Buses Ltd and B&D Coaches Ltd.

History

South Lancs Travel was established in 1995 as Green Triangle Buses, operating from a small base in Atherton, next to the Tyldesley boundary. They started with a single service, the 675 operating between Leigh and Shakerley via Astley and Tyldesley. Within a couple of years, the 675 was withdrawn and repalaced with the 670/680 circular services, which followed the same route as the 675 but continued onto Atherton then back to Leigh. They also introduced journeys on the 652 Leigh - Hindley - Wigan service, with all three services competing against the incumbent operator, Bellairs and Dootson.

The network started to expand more considerably in 1998, following the opening of the Trafford Centre. The company introduced two services, the 674 from Leigh (now 126) and the 673 from Atherton (which was short lived, but revived as part of the 132).

In 2000, Green Triangle acquired their rival Bellairs and Dootson, and the company was rebranded as South Lancs Travel. Since then, the company has steadily grown its network, taking the biggest step in 2005 when the company acquired the Appley Bridge outstation of Blue Bus, which included some of the local work in and around Wigan. A number of short-term tenders have also taken the company into various parts of Bolton, although that has subsided due to other operators starting to operate in the area.

South Lancs Travel have also been involved in head-to-head competition on numerous occasions with First Manchester, most notably in 2002, when SLT offered "return tickets for the price of a single fare" - First responded with a £2.00 (later £2.50 then £3.00) weekly ticket for travel within the Leigh area. First also introduced a competing 652 service, albeit operating from Hindley Green to Shakerley via Leigh. More recently, First introduced a competing 635 service - SLT retaliated by introducing journeys on the 600 between Wigan and Ashton-in-Makerfield, and offering a £1.00 flat fare. However, that competition has since dissipated.

ervices

See also

* List of bus operators of the United Kingdom

References

External links

* [http://www.southlancs.com/ South Lancs Travel website]