Background and History
The 44A and 44B were formed from two separate routes that existed before November 1994. These were the 55A and 55B, which connected the town of Cleveleys (four miles north of Blackpool) with the smaller villages of Norbreck, Bispham, and other parts of North Shore before terminating in Blackpool town centre near to British Home Stores.
At British Home Stores another service (44A and 44B) started which took passengers up Church Street, Whitegate Drive and on to Marton and Mereside.
Many radical changes were made to Blackpool Transport and former Blue Buses (the trading name of Fylde Borough Transport) routes in November 1994, combining several services that had previously terminated in Blackpool town centre, to make through services connecting towns and villages that had not been connected recently by bus and to make the package of services more passenger friendly after Blackpool Transport purchased Blue Buses in May 1994. The former Blue Buses routes and vehicles became quickly known as “Blackpool and Fylde Blue Buses”.
Thus 44A/B combined with 55A/B to give a service from Mereside/ Marton Mere to Cleveleys Park which became known as the 44A and the 44B with minor route differences between the two.
From November 1994 passenger numbers on this popular route increased and in the coming years Warbreck Drive would become notorious for overcrowding and see other route experiments, but as a solution in 1996 a new fleet of full size single deck vehicles was ordered to work the busy 44A and 44B routes.
In 1996 the new “Low-Floor” revolution was beginning to take hold and new buses had been ordered for the 44 route - to be the first batch of Optare Excel’s, a brand new combined chassis/bodywork package from Optare - built at the old Roe factory at Crossgates in Leeds.
The Excel was described as “affordable but giving a quality appearance” and the 44 route was to be the first service in the whole of Lancashire to use low floor buses. The Excel, along with further low floor buses being built offered advantages over previous buses, as for the first time pushchairs/prams and wheelchairs could be wheeled straight on to the smart vehicle without having to be collapsed without removing the child or disabled person.
This was one of many ways to tempt people from their cars onto public transport, or indeed to use the bus for short journeys instead of walking, offering greater convenience to the general public.
During May, June, July 1996, starting with the 44A service (requiring four buses), and then the 44B (which also used four vehicles), the service became almost fully 'low floor'.
As only eight Excels were purchased to cover eight duties, two non low floor single deck vehicles from the rest of the fleet were officially allocated to cover two of the duties on the 44A route to give maintenance opportunities for the Excels.
This meant (on paper at least) that the 44B route which took a slightly different route – serving Stanley Park and Holmfield Road rather than Whitegate Drive and Warbreck Drive, would be permanently worked by low floor Excels.
The 44 route vehicles were based at the former Lytham St Annes Tramways depot on Squires Gate lane, near to Blackpool Airport along with the other Blackpool and Fylde Blue Buses vehicles. Other vehicles utilised on the 44 were Optare Delta’s, and former Blue Buses four unique rebodied single deck Atlanteans originally built as double deckers in 1972!
The last of these 8 Excels arrived in Blackpool on 9th July 1996, 12 days prior to Fylde Borough Transports operating license not being renewed, all vehicles therefore passing to the Blackpool Transport fleet on 21st July 1996 although remaining at Squires Gate depot. The Blue Buses name disappeared, along with the blue livery.
The evening and Sunday service of the 44A and 44B was route 444 which had also previously been Renault Dodge minibuses, and had also been converted to low floor. The route only required two buses.
Another route combination back in November 1994 had been the joining of the 66A (Cleveleys-Blackpool via Bispham Village) and the 33 (Blackpool-Mereside via Park Road) to form a through route known as the 33. On evenings and Sundays this ran as the 333 service and utilised spare Excels and also required two buses, which were interlinked with the 444 service.