(De Lijn contractor) Emiel Lenoir 302110 (KEH 538) at Le Bizet - 25 Mar 1996

Monday 25 March 1996 – MAN powered Van Hool A120 integral number 302110 (KEH 538) in the fleet of De Lijn contractor Emiel Lenoir seen departing Le Bizet for Ieper on the 1150 service 742. It was new in March 1991.

Le Bizet is one of those communities along the border of Belgium and France that fascinate me. It is possible to have one part of a village in one country and the other part of the village in another country. It is even possible to have one side of a street in one country and the opposite side of the street in another country and this is the case with the street from where the bus has just emerged.

The properties on the right are in Belgium whereas those behind the bus are in France. The ‘Taverne de la Douane’ is in France and the ‘Restau Bizet’ is in Belgium. A French registered car stands on the left and a Belgian registered car stands on the right.

In 1991 Belgium’s national bus and tramway company (known as Nationale Maatschappij van Buurtspoorwegen (NMVB) in Flemish and Société nationale des chemins de fer vicinaux (SNCV) in French) was divided to create De Lijn in the northern part of the country (Flanders) and TEC in the south (Wallonia).

A slight anomaly with regard to service 742, which covers a total distance of about 18 kilometres from Ieper to Le Bizet, is that about 5.7 kilometres operates within Wallonia. The trip takes 30 minutes.