A blazing fleet

There’s a relatively high degree of standardisation within the Transdev Blazefield fleet. Older single-deckers are heavy-duty Volvos, either B10BLEs and B7RLEs while the majority of double-deckers are also Volvos, a mix of B7TLs, B9TLs and recently delivered B5TLs. Newer single-deckers have usually been sourced from Optare although there’s a small number of Wrightbus StreetLites.

Notable is a batch of [wlm_nonmember][…]

[/wlm_nonmember][wlm_ismember]eight Optare Tempos that were assembled at the former East Lancashire Coachbuilders factory at Blackburn when it was in Optare ownership and shortly before it closed. Four Plaxton President Dennis Tridents acquired from Nottingham City Transport part-owned by Transdev are based at Burnley, while another five converted to part and complete open-top for City Sightseeing work in York have been sourced from Lothian Buses and are in the process of having Magtec electric drives installed. A sixth bus, an East Lancs-bodied Dennis Trident was converted in 2014. A pair of Optare Solo EVs delivered the same year work at Harrogate.

There are 19 Mybus BMC Condor school buses operated alongside other dedicated school vehicles from a site in Keighley that’s separate from the main operation. Other school buses include 23 Leyland and Volvo Olympians based at Keighley, Burnley and Harrogate.

FLEET LIST

Blackburn – 70 vehicles
18 Optare Versa 11.7m (2016)
5 Optare Versa (2008)
17 Volvo B7TL Wrightbus Gemini (2003, 2004, 2005)
2 Volvo B7TL Plaxton President (2002)
10 Volvo B10BLE Wrightbus Renown (2002)
8 Optare Tempo (2010)
10 Volvo B7RLE Wrightbus Eclipse (2007, 2012)

Burnley – 80 vehicles
5 Dennis Dart SLF (2002)
4 Dennis Trident Plaxton President (2001)
3 Volvo Olympian Alexander (1995, 1997)
2 Volvo Olympian Northern Counties Palatine (1998)
1 Leyland Olympian Alexander (1993)
4 Optare Versa (2008)
13 Volvo B10BLE Wrightbus Renown (2001)
19 Volvo B7RLE Wrightbus Eclipse (2009)
1 Volvo B7TL Plaxton President (2001)
1 Volvo B7TL Wrightbus Gemini (2005)
18 Volvo B9TL Wrightbus Gemini (2013)
9 Wrightbus StreetLite (2014, 2015)

Harrogate – 59 vehicles
4 Leyland Olympian Leyland (1989, 1991)
2 Volvo Olympian Northern Counties Palatine (1998)
1 Volvo Olympian Alexander (1995)
2 Optare Solo EV (2014)
8 Optare Versa (2012)
13 Volvo B10BLE Wrightbus Renown (2000, 2001)
13 Volvo B5TL Wrightbus Gemini (2016)
11 Volvo B7RLE Wrightbus Eclipse (2003, 2004, 2007)
1 Volvo B7TL Plaxton President (2001)
2 Volvo B7TL Wrightbus Gemini (2005, 2013)
1 Volvo B9TL Wrightbus Gemini (2013)
1 Volvo B10M-58 Alexander Strider (1996)

Keighley – 109 vehicles
17 BMC Condor (2005, 2006)
4 Dennis Dart SLF (1999)
5 Leyland Olympian Northern Counties (1991, 1995)
3 Volvo Olympian Northern Counties Palatine (1998)
4 Optare Solo 9.9m (2016)
6 Optare Versa 11.7m (2016)
25 Volvo B10BLE Wrightbus Renown (1998, 1999, 2000, 2001)
27 Volvo B7RLE Wrightbus Eclipse (2005, 2007, 2008)
16 Volvo B7TL Plaxton President (2001, 2002)
2 Wright StreetLite (2015)

Malton – 19 vehicles
9 Volvo B9TL Wright Gemini (2008)
10 Volvo B5TL Wright Gemini (2016)

York – 26 vehicles
3 Dennis Dart SLF (1999)
6 Volvo B10BLE Wrightbus Renown (2001, 2002)
2 MAN 14.240 Enviro200 (2010)
6 Volvo B7TL Wrightbus Gemini (2004, 2005)
6 Leyland Olympian open-top (1988, 1989, 1992)
3 Dennis Trident open-top, including one converted to EV (1999)

Other vehicles
5 Dennis Trident Plaxton President open-top ex Lothian (2001)[/wlm_ismember]