McHarry's Buslines

Mills-Tui bodied Mercedes Benz OH1830 in October 2010
Founded 1932
Headquarters Breakwater
Service area Geelong & region
Service type Bus & coach operator
Routes 18
Fleet 177 (December 2013)
Website www.mcharrys.com.au

McHarry's Buslines is a family-owned bus company in Geelong, Victoria, dating back to 1932. It operates public transport bus routes in Geelong, and on the Bellarine Peninsula and the Surf Coast, as well as school bus and charter services.

History

The origins of McHarry's Buslines date back to 1932, when John McHarry was employed at Ford's Geelong plant as a coach-builder. He transported his own employees to the plant in his truck, and it wasn't long before he was inundated with requests from other Ford workers for a ride to work. The current managing director of the company, also called John McHarry, is the grandson of the original owner. His son, Ashley McHarry, is the company's general manager.[1]

Livery

After the inauguration of the Geelong Transit System (GTS) in the early 1980s, McHarry's public transport buses were obliged to be painted in the GTS livery. After 2000, however, the company's contract with the Victorian Government no longer required its GTS buses to wear the system livery, and so buses were progressively re-painted with McHarry's own new livery.

Livery Livery Summary
Geelong Transit SystemOverall white, with two blue horizontal stripes and the letters "GTS" written in the middle, as seen here. This livery has been phased out and all buses have been repainted in the corporate livery.
CorporateOverall white, with a red, yellow and black stripe, incorporating a stylised arrow head, as seen here.

Routes

Express bodied Scania K270UB in October 2010
Express bodied Scania K270IB and Volgren bodied Mercedes-Benz O500LE in September 2010

McHarry's operates a number of routes throughout the Geelong and surrounding regions.[2]

Route City Route
19 Geelong railway station to Deakin University via Waurn Ponds railway station
20 Geelong railway station to Deakin University via Grovedale
45 Corio to St Albans Park via North Geelong, Geelong West, Geelong City and East Geelong
61 Geelong railway station to Breakwater
62 Geelong railway station to St Albans Park
Route Regional Route
72 Jan Juc to Marshall railway station via Torquay
73 Torquay to Jan Juc via Wombah Park (local circle route)
74 Geelong railway station to Jan Juc via Wombah Park and Torquay
75 Geelong railway station to Queenscliff via Leopold
76 Geelong railway station to Queenscliff via Ocean Grove
77 Geelong railway station to Leopold
78 Drysdale to Clifton Springs to Drysdale (local circle route)
79 Geelong railway station to St Leonards via Drysdale, Clifton Springs, Portarlington and Indented Head
80 Geelong railway station to Ocean Grove via Marshall railway station and Barwon Heads
81 Drysdale to Ocean Grove
82 Ocean Grove to Queenscliff
83 Geelong railway station to Ocean Grove via Wallington
Geelong railway station to Apollo Bay (V/Line Service)

Fleet

As at March 2015 the company's fleet consisted of 181 buses and coaches.[3]

References

  1. "The McHarry's Story". McHarry's Buslines. Retrieved 2013-07-08.
  2. "McHarry's Services". McHarry's Buslines. Retrieved 2014-09-28.
  3. "McHarry's Buslines, Geelong". busaustralia.com. Retrieved 2014-09-28.