De Lijn contractor - Gruson Autobus 357141 (KWK 218) in Abele - 24 Aug 2003

Sunday 24 August 2003 (approx. 1800) – Gruson Autobus 357141 (KWK 218) seen in the village of Abele on the border of Belgium and France. The village straddles the border with some houses in each country. There was once a Customs Office which is now a café with a small museum. The red and white border barrier, which now remains permanently open, can be seen on the right by the horse drawn cart.

The bus, a Mercedes-Benz O 345 Connecto that was new in March 2003, had worked the De Lijn service 69b from Ieper via Poperinge and was about to return. This service had its origins as a substitution service for the Poperinge-Abele railway. The service into Poperinge from Kortrijk and Ieper was numbered 69. The replacing bus service west of Poperinge to Abele became bus service 69b. Gruson had operated the service under contract to Belgian Railways (NMBS) from about 1950. The NMBS bus services were taken over by De Lijn around 1991.

De Lijn (Vlaamse Vervoersmaatschappij De Lijn) was created in 1991 from the northern part of NMVB (Nationale Maatschappij van Buurtspoorwegen). The company operates its own large bus and tram fleet which carry four digit fleet numbers but the buses operated by contractors carry six digit fleet numbers – the first four digits relate to the De Lijn contract number with the final two digits are the operators own fleet number.