Hants & Dorset Motor Services
Encyclopedia
Early history
The Bournemouth & District Motor Services Ltd was incorporated in 1916. In 1920, a change of name to Hants & Dorset reflected the wider aspirations of its owners. 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 Associated Transport and Tilling.It was in 1929 that the Southern Railway
Southern Railway (Great Britain)
The Southern Railway was a British railway company established in the 1923 Grouping. It linked London with the Channel ports, South West England, South coast resorts and Kent...
took up its option to buy shares, under the terms of the Road & Rail Transport Act 1928, when the "Big Four" rail operators (including Southern) 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
Bournemouth
Bournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. According to the 2001 Census the town has a population of 163,444, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is also the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth...
, Poole
Poole
Poole is a large coastal town and seaport in the county of Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester, and Bournemouth adjoins Poole to the east. The Borough of Poole was made a unitary authority in 1997, gaining administrative independence from Dorset County Council...
, Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
, Lymington
Lymington
Lymington is a port on the west bank of the Lymington River on the Solent, in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England. It is to the east of the South East Dorset conurbation, and faces Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight which is connected to it by a car ferry, operated by Wightlink. The town...
, Fareham
Fareham
The market town of Fareham lies in the south east of Hampshire, England, between the cities of Southampton and Portsmouth, roughly in the centre of the South Hampshire conurbation.It gives its name to the borough comprising the town and the surrounding area...
and Winchester
Winchester
Winchester is a historic cathedral city and former capital city of England. It is the county town of Hampshire, in South East England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs, along the course of...
. Hants & Dorset replaced the trams operated by Poole Corporation, in 1934.
Nationalisation
The railway's half-share in Hants & Dorset ensured the bus operator's state control in 1948 under the Transport Holding CompanyTransport Holding Company
The Transport Holding Company was a British Government owned company created by the Transport Act 1962 to administer a range of state-owned transport, travel and engineering companies that were previously managed by the British Transport Commission ; it came into existence on 1 January...
, following the post-war Labour government's strongly pro-nationalisation agenda, which included the assent of the Transport Act 1947.
Common Management & Merger
Wilts & Dorset
Wilts & Dorset is a bus company in England covering Poole, Bournemouth, East Dorset, South Wiltshire and West Hampshire. Its local headquarters is in Poole, but it is owned by the Go-Ahead Group, a major UK transport group....
fall under common management, at Hants & Dorset’s head office in Bournemouth.
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
National Bus Company UK
The National Bus Company was, from 1969 to 1988, a nationalised bus company in England and Wales. NBC did not run buses itself, but was the owner of a number of regional subsidiary bus operating companies.-History:-Background:...
in 1969, following Labour's 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
Pewsey
Pewsey is a large village, often considered a small town, at the centre of the Vale of Pewsey in Wiltshire about west of London. It is well connected to London, the West Country and Wales being close to the M4 motorway and the A303. Also, the village is served by Pewsey railway station on the...
in the north, Poole to Fareham
Fareham
The market town of Fareham lies in the south east of Hampshire, England, between the cities of Southampton and Portsmouth, roughly in the centre of the South Hampshire conurbation.It gives its name to the borough comprising the town and the surrounding area...
in the south, Basingstoke in the east and Shaftesbury
Shaftesbury
Shaftesbury is a town in Dorset, England, situated on the A30 road near the Wiltshire border 20 miles west of Salisbury. The town is built 718 feet above sea level on the side of a chalk and greensand hill, which is part of Cranborne Chase, the only significant hilltop settlement in Dorset...
& Warminster
Warminster
Warminster is a town in western Wiltshire, England, by-passed by the A36, and near Frome and Westbury. It has a population of about 17,000. The River Were runs through the town and can be seen running through the middle of the town park. The Minster Church of St Denys sits on the River Were...
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
Western National
Western National was a bus operating company in South West England from 1929 to the 1990s.-Early history:Western National Omnibus Company Ltd started in 1929 as a joint venture between the Great Western Railway and the National Omnibus & Transport Company...
in Swanage
Swanage
Swanage is a coastal town and civil parish in the south east of Dorset, England. It is situated at the eastern end of the Isle of Purbeck, approximately 10 km south of Poole and 40 km east of Dorchester. The parish has a population of 10,124 . Nearby are Ballard Down and Old Harry Rocks,...
in 1974.
Hants & Dorset had a reputation among National Bus Company 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.
Provincial
The National Bus Company acquired the Gosport & Fareham Omnibus Co Ltd (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 1878 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
Midland Red
Midland Red was a bus company which operated in the English Midlands from 1905 to 1981. It was the trading name used by the Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company , which was renamed Midland Red Omnibus Company in 1974...
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 AndoverAndover, Hampshire
Andover is a town in the English county of Hampshire. The town is on the River Anton some 18.5 miles west of the town of Basingstoke, 18.5 miles north-west of the city of Winchester and 25 miles north of the city of Southampton...
, Basingstoke, Blandford Forum, Bournemouth, Eastleigh
Eastleigh
Eastleigh is a railway town in Hampshire, England, and the main town in the Eastleigh borough which is part of Southampton Urban Area. The town lies between Southampton and Winchester, and is part of the South Hampshire conurbation...
, Fareham, Lymington
Lymington
Lymington is a port on the west bank of the Lymington River on the Solent, in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England. It is to the east of the South East Dorset conurbation, and faces Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight which is connected to it by a car ferry, operated by Wightlink. The town...
, Pewsey, Poole, Ringwood
Ringwood
Ringwood is a historic market town and civil parish in Hampshire, England, located on the River Avon, close to the New Forest and north of Bournemouth. It has a history dating back to Anglo-Saxon times, and has held a weekly market since the Middle Ages....
, 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 it was, in 1983, that Hants & Dorset Motor Services Ltd was wound up, its three operating successors either introducing or re-introducing new company names where once Hants & Dorset had dominated. The head office offered company secretarial support, for a time.
There re-emerged the name Wilts & Dorset
Wilts & Dorset
Wilts & Dorset is a bus company in England covering Poole, Bournemouth, East Dorset, South Wiltshire and West Hampshire. Its local headquarters is in Poole, but it is owned by the Go-Ahead Group, a major UK transport group....
, 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
Go-Ahead Group
The Go-Ahead Group plc is a rail and bus operating company that was created following the privatisation of the UK's train and bus industries. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.-Early history:...
in 2003.
Recognising the increasing level of joint working, Hants & Dorset's Fareham activities merged with the Gosport & 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 First Group as First Provincial, then merged into First Hampshire & Dorset
First Hampshire & Dorset
First Hampshire & Dorset is a subsidiary bus company within FirstGroup, which operates buses and trains throughout Great Britain.First Hampshire & Dorset has its head office in Empress Road, Southampton and operates bus services in the Weymouth and Bridport areas in Dorset; and services in...
in 2003.
Finally, the former Hants & Dorset operations in Basingstoke, Winchester & Southampton became Hampshire Bus, whose head office was at 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 1986. It was acquired by Stagecoach
Stagecoach Group
Stagecoach Group plc is an international transport group operating buses, trains, trams, express coaches and ferries. The group was founded in 1980 by the current chairman, Sir Brian Souter, his sister, Ann Gloag, and her former husband Robin...
, but in 1987 Stagecoach sold the Southampton area operations to Solent Blue Line
Solent Blue Line
Solent Blue Line Ltd formerly Musterphantom Ltd is a bus company which operates buses in Hampshire, England under the names Bluestar and Uni-link. The company was taken over along with its parent, Southern Vectis in 2005 by The Go-Ahead Group. From 25 February 2008, all previous Solent Blue Line...
(itself acquired by the Go-Ahead Group in 2005). Stagecoach retains the Winchester, Andover and Basingstoke operations.
Though it has disappeared as a trading name, the Hants & Dorset Motor Services Ltd name survives as the registered, legal name of Damory Coaches
Damory Coaches
Damory Coaches is a bus and coach operator based in Blandford Forum in Dorset, England. Officially registered as Hants & Dorset Motor Services Limited, Damory Coaches is a subsidiary of Wilts & Dorset, which is itself part of the much larger Go-Ahead Group...
, a subsidiary of Wilts & Dorset.
Hants and Dorset is still a bus refurbishment company and is known as Hants and Dorset trim
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.