| ComfortDelGro Cabcharge | |
| Overview | |
| Brands | Hunter Valley Hillsbus Westbus Sugar Valley Coaches Toronto Bus Service Morisset Bus Service Westrans Eastrans Benders Busways Davis |
| Mode | Commuter bus |
| Owner | ComfortDelGro Corporation Cabcharge Australia |
| Area | Western Sydney Hills District Hunter Valley Melbourne Geelong Ballarat |
| Business | |
| Key People | CEO Jim Glasson |
| Founded | 2005 |
| Operations | |
| Depots | 13 in NSW |
| Public transport | | |
ComfortDelGro Cabcharge Pty Ltd (CDC) is a major Australian operator of commuter buses. The company is the second-largest commuter bus operator in New South Wales, with small operations in Victoria. The company is a joint venture between Singapore-based ComfortDelGro Corporation and Cabcharge Australia Limited. ComfortDelGro owns a 51% stake in the business, Cabcharge 49%. CDC operates services as part of the New South Wales metropolitan bus system under the Westbus, Hillsbus and Hunter Valley brands.
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The venture was established on 3 October 2005 to purchase loss-making bus company Westbus from National Express and the Bosnjak family. The sale price was $106.7 million.[1] The company traces its origins to 1955, with the Bosnjak family's establishment of a bus company in Western Sydney.
Westbus was established in 1955 by the Bosnjak family. The company, known as Bosnjak's Bus Service, operated a fleet of five buses on a route connecting the Sydney suburbs of Canley Vale and Edensor Park. The company grew through a series of acquisitions and, in 1983, was renamed Westbus after the region, Western Sydney, in which it operated.
In 1986, Westbus established a small luxury coach service in the United Kingdom. Westbus established a separate Hillsbus brand in 1996 to run express services from the Hills District to the city, first via the new Anzac Bridge and later via the M2 Hills Motorway.
In 1989, Britain's National Express took a controlling stake in Westbus. Members of the founding Bosnjak family continued to hold stakes. The company continued to grow by acquisition.
In January 2005, with debts of $90 million and a parent unwilling to provide further funding, the company was placed into voluntary administration. Westbus's problems threatened a major disruption to Sydney's transport network: the company ranked second only to government-owned State Transit in the commuter bus industry. The company was acquired by ComfortDelGro Cabcharge in October 2005. The new owners pledged to honour the company's contractual obligations to customers and staff.[2]
The change of ownership saw the company exchange one politically well-connected shareholder, the Bosnjak family,[3] for another, Cabcharge's Reginald Kermode.
Westbus sponsor the former Sydney Spirit in the NBL.
Westbus provide public transport through the Greater Western Sydney region, including Willmot. Throughout 2006-2007 there have been escalating levels of violent attacks against buses travelling through this suburb especially after dark. This has reached the level of an attack by a person using what was reported by the bus driver and passengers as a "home made rocket launcher". All bus services throughout Wilmot, except school bus services, have been suspended pending discussions between Westbus management, the Transport Workers Union and police.[4][5]
Westbus operates services in the following areas:
In the UK, Westbus operate the 710 commuter service between Maidenhead and London, as well as offering coach hire and airport transfers.[6]
The Westbus fleet bears a distinctive sunflower-yellow livery like banana colour. The existing and planned fleet includes:
Hillsbus, named for the Sydney's Hills District came as the depots of Northmead, Seven Hills and Dural were rebranded from Westbus and Glenorie Bus (Dural) to Hillsbus in December 2004.[7] It is the sole contracted operator of Region 4 in Sydney's metropolitan bus network. Hillsbus operates services from depots in Northmead, Seven Hills, Dural and Foundry Road (Seven Hills).
Hillsbus operates the following services:
N.B. Fleet no. 9520 is sign-written as 2500th bus manufactured by Volgren Dandenong in conjunction with Hillsbus and Scania
Hillsbus is currently receiving more buses under the NSW Government's Growth Buses program.
Hunter Valley Buses Pty Ltd, trading as Hunter Valley Buses, provides commuter bus, school bus, coach and charter services in the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales.
A core element of the company's charter operations is providing transport to the state's premier wine-growing region.
Established as Blue Ribbon Coaches Services in 1986, the company operated from depots at Wallsend, Raymond Terrace, Maitland and Singleton. In 1999, the Wallsend, Raymond Terrace and Maitland depots were consolidated at a new site in Thornton. The following year, the company was sold to Westbus, the state's largest private bus operator. In 2005, Westbus and Blue Ribbon were purchased by ComfortDelGro Cabcharge resulting in Blue Ribbon being rebranded as Hunter Valley Buses.
Today Hunter Valley Buses operates a fleet of over 160 buses ranging from mini buses to luxury 5-star coaches and employs over 260 staff. Its commuter network carries 500,000 private passengers and 1 million Hunter school children annually.
Charterplus is CDC's bus charter division established in March 2008. It organises charters for the CDC group, CDC rail bus workings, as well as CDC's special event commitments. It has 19 buses in its own fleet, with access to CDC Group's other vehicles. All Charterplus vehicles operate from the Westbus Girraween depot
In November 2008 it was announced that ComfortDelGro Cabcharge had entered into a $149.2 million contract to acquire Victorian bus operator Kefford Corporation. With a fleet of 328 buses and six depots, it was the fourth largest bus operator in the state of Victoria with a market share of 16 per cent. The bus still operates in the livery of Westrans, Eastrans, Benders Busways and Davis Bus Lines, but with a CDC Victoria sticker pasted on the sides of the bus, most notable below the driver's window in the front of the bus.
These Victorian operations are based in depots operating from Altona (trading as Westrans Altona), Oakleigh (trading as Eastrans), Sunshine (trading as Westrans Sunshine) and Werribee (trading as Westrans Werribee) in metropolitan Melbourne and in the major regional centres of Geelong (trading as Benders Busways) and Ballarat (trading as Davis Bus Lines).
ComfortDelgro Cabcharge Victoria (CDC Victoria) operate metropolitan route bus services in the Altona, Caroline Springs, East Keilor, Footscray, Oakleigh, St Albans, Sunshine, Taylors Hill, Werribee and Williamstown Areas.
CDC Victoria operates a regional service in Ballarat covering, Alfredton, Black Hill, Brown Hill, Buninyong, Canandian, Creswick, Delacombe, Eureka, Invermay, Lake Gardens , Miners Rest, Mount Pleasant, Sebastopol, Webbcona and Wendouree.
CDC Victoria operates a regional service in Geelong covering, Belmont, Corio, Grovedale, Hamlyn Heights, Herne Hill, Lara, Newcomb, Newtown, North Shore, Rosewall and Waurn Ponds.
[8] Kefford operated a number of different brands across metropolitan Melbourne, as well as in the provincial cities of Geelong and Ballarat. The take over was completed on 23 February 2009.[9][10]
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