De Lijn contractor - Gruson Autobus 307102 (AEL 514) at Poperinge Station - 25 Mar 1996

Monday 25 March 1996 – Gruson Autobus 307102 (AEL 514) seen at Poperinge railway station when operating a De Lijn ‘Belbus’ service. ‘Belbus’ is a network of smaller bus services serving the rural communities on a ‘dial a ride’ principle. It is a Mercedes-Benz O 609D new in November 1995 with Denolf & Depla bodywork/conversion.
In addition to operating its own vehicles De Lijn, the national bus and tramway company of northern Belgium, employs numerous contractors whose vehicles carry six digit fleet numbers – the first four are the De Lijn contract number and the remaining two are the operators own fleet number. Therefore this is Gruson 02 operating De Lijn contract 3071. (In 2003 it was assigned to De Lijn contract 5071 and became 507102).
De Lijn (Vlaamse Vervoersmaatschappij De Lijn) was created in 1991 from the northern part of NMVB (Nationale Maatschappij van Buurtspoorwegen).