Attracted by the advertisements on the back of its vehicles, JOHN YOUNG puts the east Lancashire municipal’s network to the test with a summer Saturday circuit of towns either side of the Greater Manchester boundary. He sees a lot, but not as many passengers as there once would have been.
Saturday 5 August dawns bright and sunny. The date has been earmarked for a tour of part of Rosso’s network of services covering Lancashire and Greater Manchester, publicised with the strapline Going Places with Rosso.
Rosso — the brand name of Rossendale Transport — is one of a dwindling number of municipal operators, down to 10 across mainland Great Britain, of which it is one of four left in north-west England.
Its fleet of just over 100 buses is mostly painted in a bright and cheerful red and white-based scheme and operates either side of the Greater Manchester boundary with a mix of commercial and tendered services. Although it is based in Lancashire, its Transport for Greater Manchester school tender commitments give it a significant presence in the metropolitan county.
Two thirds of the fleet has been acquired secondhand. Broadly a third is double-deck, none of them bought new. Wright-bodied heavy-duty single-d…
