D is for Delaine Buses

Saturday 25th February

It’s the archetypal family owned business. Delaine Buses is one of the very few left in the bus industry. Fiercely independent and hugely proud of its heritage which can be traced back to 1890 when the family’s carpentry and general contracting business began carrying people to local fairs and markets using their horse and cart.

Fast forward 133 years and Anthony Delaine-Smith, is this year’s President of the Omnibus Society. He gave a fascinating address to a well attended meeting in London last month outlining the company’s proud history and modern day ethos.

I spent yesterday enjoying the Delaine experience travelling on the Company’s network based on its home town of Bourne, Lincolnshire with two well established routes from there to Peterborough (101 direct via Market Deeping and 201 via Stamford) while route 301 runs between Spalding and Stamford via Market Deeping and there’s a cluster of less frequent routes (401-404) serving Bourne and surrounds.

You can’t fail to be impressed by the family’s dedication providing an outstanding bus service to residents of Bourne and the surrounding area. They and their predecessors have accumulated many decades of vast experience running the business from before the 1930s licensing era through over 50 years of regulation to 1986’s deregulation and the almost 40 years since then, seeing many local government reorganisations and changed funding regimes, experiencing the pandemic and now threats from the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority to introduce franchising.

It was instructive to listen to Anthony’s thoughts on all these challenges gleaned from a refreshing hands on experience of the industry which I couldn’t help thinking was in stark contrast to some well paid executives now heading up the big Groups, as well as politicians, industry onlookers and armchair commentators.

Despite the company’s proud public display of heritage – its livery and graphics haven’t changed much over the decades ….

…. this is a company which embraces the modern world with, for example, a website meeting all the needs of passengers with clearly laid out information including timetables, route maps, vehicle trackers, tickets (including mobile tickets using the MyTrip app) and for enthusiasts, details of the fleet and history. A few well resourced much larger companies and even one Group in particular could learn a thing or two about website presentation from Delaine. The company also uses social media.

The company’s 33 strong bus fleet has been dominated by Volvo B7TL double decks over the years but more recently five ADL Enviro 200s and three Enviro 400s have been purchased, the latter bought ‘used’ from Abellio in London.

My first journey yesterday morning was on the company’s flagship route 101 north from Peterborough to Bourne. In fact I caught the 102 variant which goes as far as Market Deeping before taking a tour of that area and returning to Peterborough. The route interworks with the half hourly 101 with the hourly 102 slotting in between one of the half hours.

From Market Deeping I caught the 101 that left Peterborough fifteen minutes behind us on to Bourne. Numbers travelling on both journeys were below ten but buses heading south towards Peterborough were noticeably busier.

Bourne has long been Delaine’s home town where its bus garage can be found on Spalding Road ….

…. as well as it’s very own Bus Museum on the same site.

There’s a small and basic bus station just to the north of the town centre which has Delaine’s timetables on display.

I was very impressed to see full timetables with details shown of times in both directions at every bus stop passed on my travels. That’s very unusual these days, and a refreshingly welcome kick back against modern departure displays.

After spending some time in Bourne I caught the hourly route 201 back to Peterborough via Stamford. This includes a small circuit of the west side of Stamford before reaching the bus station.

We only carried half a dozen towards Stamford but the journey onwards from Stamford to Peterborough was the busiest with 25 on board, 16 of whom travelled through to Peterborough.

The 201 enters Peterborough via Werrington rather than sticking to the A15 as the 101 does but this doesn’t cost much of a time penalty as the road used runs largely parallel – it was probably the old A15 at one time.

What did cause a time penalty was where the 201 crosses the East Coast Main Line at a level crossing. We had about an eight minute delay there which meant a late arrival into Peterborough, although the 201 does have a generous recovery time of 21 minutes.

I had a ride on the company’s other main route – the 301 between Stamford and Spalding back in 2020. My recollection is of a very efficient journey which all went to plan.

As befits the company’s ethos the interiors of the fleet are traditional looking but with a smart moquette and the latest single decks have a wheelchair bay on the nearside and buggy space on the offside.

There’s no usb or Wi-Fi but there are next stop displays….

… and some rather official looking notices on the stairwell panel on double decks.

There are also cove panels promoting tickets and return times from Peterborough…

…. as well as a network route map although it’s difficult to make it out at the angle where it’s placed.

The Company promotes its three main routes on the sides of each bus outlining the places served.

In his presentation Anthony explained the company hasn’t sought to expand or overreach itself even though opportunities have presented themselves with retrenchment by other operators. Instead the company just concentrates on doing what it does well, serving the defined geographic market it always has done.

Long may that continue; the company is a beacon of excellence and residents in this part of Lincolnshire are very lucky to have Delaine providing consistent and reliable bus services.

There’s always a risk a traditional family owned business may succumb to takeover or sell out to a bigger company due to issues with succession. I was delighted to see Anthony’s family join him at his Omnibus Society Presidential Address indicating the next generation are already well established in the business and enthusiastic for the challenges that lie ahead.

That is really good to see and long may Delaine continue its staunch independence and success.

Roger French

Previous AtoZ blogs: Avanti West Coast, Blackpool Transport, Chiltern Railways

Blogging timetable: 06:00 TThS