Wessex Buses 1970-1985- Mainland National Bus Company Fleets

The bus scene around Southampton and its surrounding towns in the 1970s and early 1980s was one of change. The National Bus Company had been set up in 1970 as part of the 1968 Transport Act. This brought together the former nationalised Transport Holding Company fleets such as Hants & Dorset and Wilts & Dorset and the former BET fleets such as Southdown. Gosport & Fareham Omnibus (trading as Provincial) sold out to the NBC at the same time. At first there was little sign of change, but as the decade progressed Wilts & Dorset was merged with Hants & Dorset, area boundaries changed and new standard National liveries were adopted. More was lost when the much-loved independent operator King Alfred Motor Services of Winchester sold out to NBC in 1973. However in 1983 it was all change again, when Hants & Dorset was split into Hampshire Bus and Wilts & Dorset, although their boundaries were different to those before the merger. This is the first of a pair of books about the bus scene during this time and place.