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In 1968 the Labour government under
transport minister Barbara Castle set
up the National Bus Company to run the
state owned bus companies, by then most
of the non-municipal operators, in England
and Wales. One of the results of this
was the merger of Hants & Dorset
and Wilts & Dorset under the Hants
& Dorset name. The Gosport and Fareham
Provincial company also came under Hants
& Dorset's control but for legal
reasons retained the name Provincial. |
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| The combined
Hants & Dorset fleet was renumbered
and painted in NBC poppy red,
although one Daimler based at
Southampton and used on route
54 to West End was initially painted
in apple green and Southampton
took delivery of a couple of green
Leyland Nationals diverted from
London Country. The buses lost
their old fleet number plates
and were given new stick-on numbers
with coloured discs to denote
the garage. |
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| Provincial
buses acquired the NBC apple green
livery. The tours department was
merged with Shamrock & Rambler
and handed over to National Travel. |
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| Under a Conservative
government the NBC was broken
up, then privatised. Just before
this, from 1983 the bus services
of Hants & Dorset were split
into Wilts & Dorset in the
south and west, Provincial in
the Gosport and Fareham area and
Hampshirebus for the remainder.
Shamrock & Rambler, which
had become part of National Travel,
was taken back and the engineering
department was set up as a separate
company. |
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| Hampshirebus
went to Stagecoach in April 1987.
Wilts & Dorset was sold as
a private concern which in August
2003 was bought by Go Ahead. Provincial
was sold to its management and
staff who sold it to the First
Group in October 1995. |
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| In 1986 Southern
Vectis set up a subsidiary company
called Musterphantom trading as
Solent Blue Line in direct competition
for the Southampton area routes.
Southampton Citybus responded
with increased frequencies including
the use of ex London Transport
Routemasters with conductors.
As a result, Hampshirebus pulled
out of Southampton in October
1987 leaving Solent Blueline with
the former Hants & Dorset
routes in Southampton, Eastleigh
and the Waterside. |
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| Shamrock &
Rambler and Hants & Dorset
Engineering were also sold and,
with all the component companies
gone, Hants & Dorset was wound
up. |
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