All aboard the next generation of buses

A CHADDERTON family-owned bus operator has celebrated its 20th birthday — and plans to become even more environmentally friendly in the next 20 years.

One of Greater Manchester’s biggest independent bus operators, the Greengate-based firm laid out its plans as it marked the milestone.

The Dunstan family acquired Bluebird Bus and Coach on July 15, 1998, when it was a private hire coach service with just three vehicles. It’s first public route was the 769 from British Aerospace on Greengate to Hollinwood.

It now has more than 95 employees and a 48-strong bus fleet, covering Middleton, Failsworth, Shaw, Manchester and Oldham.

The Dunstans are still integral to its running, with Mike Dunstan at the helm.

After a successful 20 years of building up a service that carries over three million passengers a year, its future vision over the next two decades is to get even more people to switch from car to it’s environmentally sound buses.

The company has recently invested over £1.5 million in new low-emission buses and plans to replace vehicles every five years rather than the current policy of every eight years.

The company has pioneered many changes to the local bus service and was the first bus operator in Manchester to introduce the wheelchair and buggy-friendly low-floor buses. Bosses plan to develop many more innovative advances to provide state-of-the-art transport.

Mr Dunstan said: “We are extremely proud of the achievements made over the past twenty years and we will be continuing to heavily invest for the future. We are specifically dedicated to become more involved with local council transport and planning.”