Hants & Dorset

Hants & Dorset

Preserved Bristol Lodekka in November 2008
Parent	Southern Railway (1929-48) British Automobile Traction (1929-48) Tilling Group (1929-42) British Associated Transport (1948-62) Transport Holding Company (1963-68) National Bus Company (1969-83)
Founded	1920
Ceased operation	1983
Service area	Bournemouth Fareham Lymington Poole Southampton
Service type	Bus operator
Depots	14

Hants & Dorset Motor Services^[1] was a stage carriage bus service operator in southern England, between 1920 and 1983.

Early history

Bournemouth & District Motor Services Limited was incorporated in 1916. In 1920 following the purchase of Trade Cars of Southampton, the Hants & Dorset name was adopted. From that year till 1929, not only did Hants & Dorset grow rapidly, it was jointly owned by the two emerging transport groups of the time, British Automobile Traction and the Tilling Group.^[2]

In 1929, the Southern Railway took up its option to buy shares, under the terms of the Road & Rail Transport Act 1928, when the four railway companies were able to invest in bus operators.

By the late 1920s and early 1930s, the network of Hants & Dorset bus services was largely complete. Hants & Dorset operated buses in Bournemouth, Poole, Southampton, Lymington, Fareham and Winchester. Hants & Dorset replaced the trams operated by Poole Corporation in 1934.^[3]

Nationalisation

The Southern Railway's half-share in Hants & Dorset passed to the government owned Transport Holding Company (THC) when the railway company was nationalised in 1948. British Automobile Traction sold its shares to the Tilling Group in 1942, who in turn sold out to British Associated Transport in 1949, and thus Hants & Dorset became 100% government owned.^[2]

Common Management & Merger

The THC's successor inspired a reorganisation in 1964 that saw Hants & Dorset and northern neighbour Wilts & Dorset fall under common management, at Hants & Dorset’s head office in Bournemouth.^[4]

A year earlier, Wilts & Dorset had taken over a large independent, Silver Star of Porton Down and in 1950, as part of the THC’s early rationalisation, Wilts & Dorset took over the Basingstoke operator Venture, which had previously passed to the Red & White group five years earlier and which, following Red & White’s voluntary nationalisation, had in turn passed to the THC.

Upon both Hants & Dorset and Wilts & Dorset passing to the National Bus Company (NBC) on 1 January 1969, as a result of the Transport Act 1968, the operators merged in 1972, under the Hants & Dorset name and management. Rather than Hants & Dorset's green, the enlarged operation adopted a fleet livery of National poppy red, similar to Wilts & Dorset's. The new operation covered routes from Pewsey in the north, Poole to Fareham in the south, Basingstoke in the east, and Shaftesbury and Warminster in the west.

A year later, the substantial Winchester operator R Chisnell & Sons (t/a King Alfred) passed to Hants & Dorset, including an eclectic mix of vehicles, most of which were withdrawn from service as non-standard. Chisnell had operated Winchester city services plus a country service to Basingstoke.

Hants & Dorset took over the services operated by Western National in Swanage in 1974.

Hants & Dorset had a reputation among NBC subsidiaries as somewhat loss making. While routes in the Poole-Bournemouth, Southampton, Basingstoke and Salisbury areas made reasonable returns, those elsewhere were weaker. The impact of the private car throughout the 1960s and 1970s plus successive withdrawals and fares revisions further weakened what had now become marginal rural services. During the 1980s Hants & Dorset's financial position was so precarious that it had to be propped up by an inter-company loan from fellow NBC subsidiary Amalgamated Passenger Transport Ltd in order to remain solvent^[5]

Provincial

NBC acquired the Gosport & Fareham Omnibus Co (trading as Provincial) in 1970. It passed under the head office control of Hants & Dorset but Provincial remained a separate entity, in part under its own control, owing to the terms of an 1929 Act under which it was established. Provincial retained a green livery.

Market Analysis

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, in order to match supply and demand without undue cross subsidy, Hants & Dorset like other NBC subsidiaries embarked on a number of Market Analysis Projects. It helped identify viable networks to which the local authorities concerned, which by now not only had the power to subsidise bus services but were actually facing resultant financial constraints, could subsidise additional mileage.

MAP, as it was known, emerged from the Midland Red company in 1977 and was applied throughout Hants & Dorset's territory, culminating in redrafted timetables and an attempt at fostering local support through the use of sub-brands identifiable to specific, local markets. These were:

South Wessex (Poole/Bournemouth/Lymington) Winton Line (Winchester) Venture (Basingstoke) South Hants (Southampton) New Provincial/Provincial Joint Services (Hants & Dorset Fareham and Gosport & Fareham operations)

Depots

At its height, Hants & Dorset operated from garages at Andover, Basingstoke, Blandford Forum, Bournemouth, Eastleigh, Fareham, Lymington, Pewsey, Poole, Ringwood, Salisbury, Southampton, Swanage and Winchester.

End of the Road

In the early- to mid-1980s, the National Bus Company, with an eye to the future, began disintegrating its larger operating subsidiaries, of which Hants & Dorset was one. The idea was the formation of units that could better serve their local markets, although later splits were to ensure a successful privatisation.

So on 1 April 1983, Hants & Dorset Motor Services was divided into three operating companies: Wilts & Dorset, Provincial and Hampshire Bus.^[2]

There re-emerged the name Wilts & Dorset,^[6] albeit with a significantly different operating area than the old company (from 1983, covering Bournemouth, Poole, Lymington, Salisbury, with a head office remaining at Bournemouth). Wilts & Dorset was sold to its management in 1987 and bought by the Go-Ahead Group in August 2003.^[7]

Recognising the increasing level of joint working, Hants & Dorset's Fareham activities merged with the Gosport and Fareham undertaking, under the Provincial name, trading from Hoeford, Gosport, all but closing the former Hants & Dorset Fareham garage, other than for storage. Provincial was acquired by FirstGroup as First Provincial, then merged into First Hampshire & Dorset in 2003.

Finally, the former Hants & Dorset operations in Basingstoke, Winchester and Southampton became Hampshire Bus, whose head office was in Eastleigh. Of the three, Hampshire Bus was the weakest, yet this was one of the first companies to sell under the privatisation of the National Bus Company, in April 1987. It was acquired by Stagecoach, but in October 1987 Stagecoach sold the Southampton area operations to Solent Blue Line (itself acquired by the Go-Ahead Group in July 2005).^[2][8] Stagecoach retains the Winchester, Andover and Basingstoke operations.

Trivia

• The Hants & Dorset company was affectionately known as "Pants & Corset".
• The company operated from the higher level of a unique two-tier bus & coach station in Bournemouth, dating from 1930. Having been rebuilt in the 1950s, it was rendered unsafe following a fire in 1976, and demolished and replaced with a car park in the early 1980s.

See also

• List of bus operators of the United Kingdom

References

External links

Media related to Hants & Dorset Motor Services at Wikimedia Commons

Former bus companies of the United Kingdom National Associated Motorways Blazefield Holdings British Bus British Coachways British Electric Traction Fraser Eagle GRT Group National Bus Company Thomas Tilling England Former bus companies operating in England North West England Birkenhead Transport Blackburn Transport Blue Bus and Coach Services Bluebird Bus and Coach Bu-Val Buses ChesterBus Citibus Tours Crosville Motor Services Finglands Coachways First Chester & The Wirral Glenvale Transport GM Buses Lancashire United Transport JPT Maynes Bus Maytree Travel MTL North Western Road Car Company (1923) North Western Road Car Company (1986) Pennine Blue Red & White Services Ribble Motor Services Speedwellbus Transdev Northern Blue UK North Yelloway Motor Services North East England Black Prince Buses Busways Travel Services Durham Travel Services Jolly Bus Leon Motors Mexborough and Swinton Traction Company Northern General Transport Company OK Motor Services Samuel Ledgard South Yorkshire Transport United Automobile Services Venture Transport West Riding Automobile Company West Yorkshire Road Car Yorkshire Rider Yorkshire Terrier Yorkshire Traction Midlands A2Z Travel Barton Transport Birmingham City Transport Birmingham Motor Traction Chase Coaches First in Northampton Glossopdale Bus Company Go West Midlands Ludlows North Birmingham Busways People's Express Premiere Travel Probus Management South Notts Bus Company Stevensons of Uttoxeter Travel Merry Hill Travel Your Bus Wesley Coaches Zak's Buses Eastern England Eastern National Omnibus Company Far East Travel MK Metro TWH Bus & Coach South West England Badgerline Bristol Omnibus Company Devon General Greyhound Motors Great Western Railway Hants & Dorset Motor Services Shamrock Buses Southern National Sureline Truronian Western Greyhound Western National South East England Alder Valley Aldershot & District Traction Badger Vectis Boro'line Maidstone Bygone Buses Cavendish Motor Services Centra City Clipper Countryliner East Kent Road Car Company Invictaway Kent Top Travel Maidstone & District Maidstone Corporation Transport Marchwood Motorways Moss Motor Tours Portsmouth Corporation Transport Shamrock Buses Southampton Citybus Southdown Motor Services Thames Transit Thames Valley Traction Tillingbourne Bus Company Velvet Yellow Bus Services Greater London Bexleybus Birch Brothers Boro'line London Capital Citybus Capital Logistics Connex East Thames Buses First London Grey-Green Harris Bus Imperial Buses London Buslines London Country Bus Services London Country North East London Country North West London Country South East London Country South West London Easylink London Electrobus Company London Forest London Pride Sightseeing London Traveller MTL NSL Buses Thorpes Travel London Travel Surrey Westlink Scotland Former bus companies operating in Scotland Scottish Bus Group Central Scottish Clydeside Scottish Eastern Scottish Highland Scottish Kelvin Central Buses Kelvin Scottish Lowland Scottish Midland Scottish Northern Scottish Western Scottish Other operators Arriva Scotland West A1 Service Dart Buses First Stop Travel Gibson's of Moffat McKindless Munro's of Jedburgh Oban and District Scottish Motor Traction Strathclyde Buses Western SMT Wales Former bus companies operating in Wales Companies Crosville Motor Services Islwyn Borough Transport National Welsh Omnibus Services Padarn Bus Red & White Services Rhondda Transport Company South Wales Transport Western Welsh

Bus operators in South West England Bristol CT Plus First Bristol First Somerset & Avon South Gloucestershire Bus & Coach The Buses of Somerset The Kings Ferry Wessex Bus Cornwall First Devon & Cornwall Plymouth Citybus Stagecoach South West Devon First Devon & Cornwall Plymouth Citybus Stagecoach South West Dorset First Hampshire & Dorset Yellow Buses Wilts & Dorset Gloucestershire First Somerset & Avon Stagecoach West Thamesdown Transport Wessex Bus Somerset Bakers Dolphin Bath Bus Company Bugler Coaches The Buses of Somerset Crosville Motor Services Damory Coaches First Hampshire & Dorset First Somerset & Avon Nippy Bus Quantock Motor Services South West Coaches Stagecoach South West Webberbus Wessex Bus Wiltshire Connect2Wiltshire First Somerset & Avon Stagecoach West Thamesdown Transport Wilts & Dorset National Megabus National Express