The boundaries of the current county of Lancashire were established in
1974 when the Furness district was lost to the newly formed Cumbria.
Meanwhile Merseyside and Greater Manchester gobbled up much of the
southern portion of the original county. However, some parts of the
former West Riding of Yorkshire were gained. The major bus operator was,
for many years, Ribble Motor Services. After sale it became part of the
Stagecoach Group, though the East Lancashire operations were sold on to
Blazefield, which later went to Transdev. Back in the 1970s many
municipalities in Lancashire operated their own buses and these provided
a great variety of vehicles and liveries. Most of the council-owned
companies were eventually sold off leaving just one - Blackpool - with
its large bus fleet and a modern tram system. Until the 1986
deregulation of the bus industry, there were very few independents
running stage services in the county. There were just Fishwick's smart
green buses around Leyland, Preston and Chorley. This company ceased
trading in 2015, but others have entered the market, such as
Pilkington's in the Accrington area. John Law has been photographing the
county's buses since 1974, building up a massive collection of images.
He has put together the best and most interesting of these within this
book.
