| Slogan | 'We Move People' |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1991 |
| Headquarters | Invercargill |
| Service area | Invercargill, Dunedin, Queenstown, Christchurch |
| Service type | bus service, inter-city coach service, coach charter |
| Fuel type | Diesel |
| Web site | passengertransport.co.nz citibus.co.nz |
Invercargill Passenger Transport Ltd (usually shortened to Passenger Transport) is a bus company which operates public transport routes and school transport services in Dunedin and Invercargill and leisure and tourism transport services throughout New Zealand.
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Passenger Transport operates almost all public transport in Invercargill and Dunedin.
Passenger Transport is a major operator of local school bus and coach charter trips around Invercargill and Dunedin, using vehicles from its urban and tourist fleet. A major peak of this business occurs during the summer season of cruise ship visits to Dunedin.
Passenger Transport operates inter-city coach services as part of other franchise networks:
Invercargill Passenger Transport was formed in 1991 through the privatisation of the Invercargill City Council bus fleet. In 1995 the company established a branch in Dunedin and has operated part of Dunedin's bus network since. In 2011, Passenger Transport bought competitor Citibus from the Dunedin City Council.[1]
Citibus, previously called Citibus-Newton, traces its roots back to its days as the municipal bus operator in Dunedin known as Dunedin City Transport (also variously called Dunedin Corporation Transport or Dunedin Corporation Tramways or DCT). DCT operated Dunedin's cable car system and trams (some of which were built by private developers) as a municipal transport department of the Dunedin City Council. Typically of most cities, Dunedin converted the tram and cable car routes firstly (in the 1950s) to trolley bus then to diesel bus (by the early 1980s). In the mid-1980s Rogernomics reforms, the department was incorporated as a Local Authority Trading Enterprise and named Citibus Ltd.
Newton's Coachways was a charter coach, sightseeing and school bus company owned by Stewart and Norma Newton, itself successor to an earlier family firm Mitchell's. Newton's took over the Dunedin area services and fleet of the New Zealand Railways Road Services, known as Cityline and re-branded it Newton's City Line. Newton's was taken over by Citibus in 1993, and the combined firm traded for many years as Citibus-Newton Ltd or CNL. It reverted to Citibus in 2005. In 2006 it took over small inter-city coach operator Wanaka Connexions.
By 2011, the Dunedin City Council felt Citibus was described by city mayor Dave Cull as "haemorrhaging money"[2], and the business was privatised; it is now owned by Invercargill Passenger Transport Ltd[1]. The new owners elected to retain the 'Citibus' brand, branding the service Passenger Transport Citibus[3], but decided to sell the Connexions business[4].
Citibus and its predecessors operated Leyland vehicles for nearly 90 years before their last Leyland Leopard bus left service in 2011[5]
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