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Greyhound Australia
 | |
 MotorCoach Australia at the Jolimont Centre, Canberra in August 2009 | |
| Slogan | Connecting People With People |
|---|---|
| Parent | KordaMentha (85%) Chapman Group (15%) |
| Founded | 1928 |
| Headquarters | Pinkenba |
| Service type | Coach operator |
| Destinations | Adelaide Brisbane Broome Cairns Canberra Darwin Melbourne Sydney Toowoomba various regional destinations |
| Fleet | 236 (January 2018) |
| Website | www.greyhound.com.au |
Greyhound Australia is Australia's only long national distance coach operator running services in all mainland states and territories. It is owned by KordaMentha (85%) and the Chapman Group (15%).
Contents
1 History
2 Routes
3 Former routes
4 Other services
5 Fleet
6 Other Greyhound operations
7 References
8 External links
History
Mills-Tui bodied Scania K380IB at Wagga Wagga station in March 2009
Irizar Century bodied Scania K380IB at Wagga Wagga station in July 2009
Irizar Century bodied Mercedes-Benz OH1830 in Perth in October 2013 with fluorescent yellow stripe and hazard light for operation on mining sites
Greyhound Coaches was formed in 1928 by Russell Penfold with a service between Toowoomba and Brisbane. In 1956 and again in 1962 Greyhound attempted to enter the interstate passenger express field but without success. In 1968, after entering the market a third time, the company succeeded in establishing services between Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide with Perth and Darwin added in the 1970s creating a national coach company.[1]
In 1975, the South Australian operations were franchised to Adelaide operators Murray Valley Coaches and Stateliner.[2]
In November 1989, the Penfold family sold Greyhound Coaches to Stateliner with the exception of the Brisbane - Gold Coast and Brisbane - Toowoomba services that were sold separately.[3] In 1992 Greyhound, Pioneer and Bus Australia merged with the combined operation rebranded Greyhound Pioneer Australia.[4][5]
In February 1999, Queensland Coach Company was formed by Greyhound Pioneer Australia to body 94 Scania coaches over five years to renew the fleet.[6] Originally an alliance was formed with bodybuilder Alan B Denning with it proposed the Galaxy body design be used. But following the collapse of the Clifford Corporation, the rights to the Austral Pacific Majestic body were purchased.[7] In July 2000, Queensland Coach Company ceased trading and was put into administration.[8]
In March 2000, Greyhound Pioneer Australia entered discussions with McCafferty's Coaches about a potential merge.[9][10] Subsequently Premier Motor Service made an unsuccessful takeover bid for the business.[8][11] In September 2000, a takeover bid from McCafferty's was accepted.[5][12][13]
In October 2004, McCafferty's sold the combined business to ANZ Bank and George Chapman with both operations rebranded as Greyhound Australia.[5] In 2006 ANZ sold its shares to KordaMentha.[14]
In 2005, the Sunshine Coast to Byron Bay services of Suncoast Pacific were purchased.[15] In October 2011, the Oz Experience backpacker business was purchased.[14]
Routes
Greyhound Australia's routes with frequencies as at March 2015 are:[16]
Sydney to Canberra - 7 x Daily
Sydney to Thredbo - Daily snow season (June - September) only
Canberra to Melbourne - 3 x Daily
Melbourne to Adelaide - Daily, operated by Firefly Express under a codeshare agreement
Brisbane to Sydney via Pacific Highway - 3 x Daily
Brisbane to Sydney via New England Highway & Toowoomba - Daily
Brisbane to Byron Bay - 2 x Daily
Brisbane to Noosa Junction - Daily
Brisbane to Noosaville - Daily
Brisbane to Hervey Bay - Daily
Brisbane to Agnes Water - Daily
Brisbane to Cairns - 3 x Daily
Brisbane to Toowoomba - 7 x Daily
Brisbane to Roma - 2 x Daily
Australia Zoo to Rainbow Beach - Daily
Mackay to Cairns - Daily
Rockhampton to Emerald - 5 x per week
Rockhampton to Longreach - 2 x per week
Townsville to Alice Springs - 2 x per week
Adelaide to Alice Springs - Daily
Alice Springs to Darwin - Daily
Darwin to Broome - 6 x per week
Darwin to Jabiru - 3 x per week
Former routes
Adelaide to Perth Nullarbor Plain service ran from the 1970s until 2005[17]
Toowoomba to Rockhampton ceased 31 December 2007 passing to Kynoch Coaches[18]
Melbourne to Toowoomba ceased March 2013[19][20]
Broome to Perth[19][20]
Brisbane to Charleville ceased 31 December 2014 passing to Bus Queensland Toowoomba[21]
- Brisbane to Mount Isa ceased 31 December 2014 passing to Bus Queensland Toowoomba[21]
Townsville to Mount Isa ceased 31 December 2014 passing to Bus Queensland Toowoomba[21]
Canberra to Wagga Wagga ceased in August 2017[22]
Other services
Greyhound Australia provide coaches for transportation of mine workers, coaches used on these duties carry large fleet numbers, fluorescent yellow stripes and a roof mounted flashing orange light. Between July 2010 and June 2014, Greyhound Australia operated services between Lithgow and Gulgong, Coonabarabran and Baradine under contract to CountryLink.[23][24][25]
Some intrastate services in Queensland are subsidised by the Queensland Government.[21]
Fleet
In the 1970s, Greyhound imported a fleet of Eagle 05 and 10 coaches.[26] In the 1980s it purchased Austral Tourmasters and Volgren bodied Volvo B10Ms. In 1995, it standardised on Scania coaches. More recently it has purchased Iveco, Mercedes-Benz and Volvos. As at January 2018, the fleet consisted of 236 coaches.[27]
In the 1970s, Greyhound adopted an orange and white livery. In 1993 a grey, white and blue livery was introduced following the formation of Greyhound Pioneer Australia. McCafferty's gold livery was applied when it took over the business in 2000 before the current red livery was introduced in 2004.
Other Greyhound operations
Despite its name, Greyhound Australia has never had any affiliation with the FirstGroup-owned Greyhound Lines, Greyhound Canada, Greyhound Mexico, or Greyhound UK operations.
References
^ "Greyhound Australia" Fleetline May 1988 page 115
^ "The odd coachfellows" The Age 25 September 1978
^ "Stateliner takes over Greyhound" Australian Bus Panorama issue 5/5 March 1990 page 23
^ "Australian Coachlines Group" Australian Bus Panorama issue 9/5 January 1994 page 36
^ abc Greyhound Australia's History Greyhound Australia
^ "Express" Australian Bus Panorama April 1999 issue 14/5 page 19
^ "Greyhound-Pioneer/Queensland Coach Co" Australian Bus Panorama October 1999 issue 15/2 page 21
^ ab "Greyhound/QCC/McCafferty's/Premier Motor Service" Australian Bus Panorama issue 16/1 August 2000 page 18
^ "Greyhound Pioneer Australia" Australian Bus Panorama issue 15/5 April 2000 page 38
^ Greyhound and McCaffertys talk Australasian Bus & Coach
^ McCaffertys welcome Greyhound rejection Australasian Bus & Coach
^ "National & Manufacturing" Australian Bus Panorama issue 16/2 October 2000 page 19
^ McCaffertys finally get Greyhound Archived 27 June 2013 at Archive.today Australasian Bus & Coach
^ ab Greyhound deal to take backpackers along for ride Courier-Mail 3 October 2011
^ Suncoast Pacific Coaches Bus Australia Fleet Lists
^ Timetables Greyhound Australia
^ Nullabor bus service proves too costly ABC News 10 October 2005
^ New qconnect contract boost Qld long distance bus services Queensland Government 5 February 2008
^ ab Greyhound drop Melbourne-Toowoomba, Perth-Broome services Backpacker Trade News 14 February 2013
^ ab Greyhound cancels runs Australasian Bus & Coach 1 March 2013
^ abcd Long distance coaches Department of Transport & Main Roads 19 December 2014
^ Frost, Jeremy (1 September 2017). "Greyhound buses cancelled from Wagga to Canberra". The Daily Advertiser. Retrieved 24 December 2017..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/12px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#33aa33;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}
^ CountryLink Greyhound Commercial
^ Western timetable NSW TrainLink 20 October 2013
^ Contract Award Notice Detail - S09014 NSW Government eTendering 1 December 2010
^ Greyhound Driver Bus Lines
^ Greyhound Australia Australian Bus Fleet Lists
Also Trading in other names as OZ Experience and OZexpress
External links
Media related to Greyhound Australia at Wikimedia Commons- Company website
- Showbus Greyhound gallery
- Showbus Greyhound Pioneer Australia gallery
- Showbus Greyhound Australia gallery
Media related to Greyhound Australia at Wikimedia Commons
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