BUS passengers in East Lancashire will be travelling on the largest double-deckers in Britain following the biggest shake-up of Blackburn Transport in the company's history.

Five new 90-seater vehicles will operate from this autumn on new routes between Accrington, Blackburn and Darwen.

Managing director Michael Morton said: "We are pleased to announce this order as part of our continued investment in the future of public transport in Blackburn with Darwen.

"The arrival of these new easy-access buses will mean that almost half of our commercial journeys will be operated with low-floor buses, making it easier for all of our customers but specially those with disabilities ranging from physical ones to simply being loaded down with shopping. This represents an investment over two years of £1.5 million and sets Blackburn Transport on course to being fully accessible by the year 2007."

The 90-seater buses, which weigh 14 tonnes, are more than 12 metres long. A second batch of five will arrive next spring.

The firm already has 21 easy access buses, most of which are single-deckers. Six new ones began operating in the town in January, and passenger figures on the routes have increased significantly.

"We need the large double deckers just so we can cater for the number of people who want to use our services," added Mr Morton.

"The new buses are bright, cheerful, easy to get on and encourage passengers to travel with us."

The big buses -- built by East Lancashire Coachbuilders, based at Whitebirk industrial estate, Blackburn -- are part of a massive shake-up of Blackburn Transport's network which is being carried out in attempt to lure more people on to buses.

The firm is scrapping the traditional route numbers and replacing them with 33 track numbers. The idea is that one 'track' will lead to a certain part of town and people travelling to that area will only have to look out for one number, rather than several, as is currently the situation.

New routes have been drawn up in consultation with local communities and regular bus users in a bid to encourage more people to travel.

Mr Morton said the new initiative should make buses more reliable because the routes have been designed to avoid areas of congestion, while extra buses have been laid on at peak times, on busy shopping days and along the few routes which do involve congested roads.

And Blackburn and Darwen are also set to become among the first towns in the country to have bus timetables at every stop. Most areas currently only have timetables at well-used stops.

Conventional buses can carry 76 people, are 9.5m long and weigh nine tonnes.