ComfortDelGro Australia

ComfortDelGro Australia is a major Australian public transport company. Founded in October 2005 as ComfortDelGro Cabcharge, a joint venture between Singapore-based ComfortDelGro (51%) and Australian Cabcharge (49%), today it is a fully owned subsidiary of ComfortDelGro.

History

A joint venture, known as ComfortDelGro Cabcharge (CDC), was established between ComfortDelGro (51%) and Cabcharge Australia (49%) in October 2005 to purchase loss-making Westbus Group, which included Westbus (both Australia & UK), Hillsbus and Blue Ribbon from National Express and the Bosnjak family. Blue Ribbon was rebranded Hunter Valley Buses at the same time. After the purchase, Westbus UK continued independently from the Westbus in Australia, despite bearing the latter's name, old logo and livery to this day. It became part of CityFleet Networks, initially also a joint venture between ComfortDelGro and Cabcharge, and now a wholly owned subsidiary of ComfortDelGro in the United Kingdom. Cabcharge sold both of its stakes in CDC and CityFleet to ComfortDelGro in February and June 2017 respectively.

In August 2006, the routes of Baxter's Bus Lines were purchased by and absorbed into Westbus Region 3 operations.CDC Group
Australian Bus Fleetlists"Changes Galore in Sydney"
''Buses Worldwide'' November 2007 page 8 In August 2007, Morisset Bus Service, Sugar Valley Coachlines and Toronto Bus Service were purchased and absorbed into Hunter Valley Buses.Toronto Bus Service
Australian Bus Fleet Lists In June 2008 a bus charter division was established under the Charterplus name.

In November 2008, it was announced that Kefford Corporation in Victoria would be acquired.Kefford Group finds a buyer
''Australian Bus & Coach'' 20 November 2008 The acquisition was finalised on 23 February 2009. The group was renamed CDC Victoria, but the names of the bus companies within the group were retained until replaced by the CDC brand in 2014.

In September 2012, Deane's Transit Group comprising Deane's Buslines (renamed as Qcity Transit) and Transborder Express in southern New South Wales were purchased. In August 2014, CDC purchased Blue Mountains Bus Company, which was subsequently renamed Blue Mountains Transit in December 2014.Cabcharge buys bus company for $26.5 million
''Blue Mountains Gazette'' 13 August 2014

In December 2016, ComfortDelgro announced it had agreed to purchase Cabcharge's 49% stake. The sale was completed on 16 February 2017 after Foreign Investment Review Board approval was granted. The former joint venture was then renamed ComfortDelGro Corporation Australia, still keeping the abbreviation CDC.

In April 2018, ComfortDelgro acquired Tullamarine Bus Lines in Melbourne and integrated it into CDC Melbourne in August 2018. At the same time, it acquired National Patient Transport, one of the largest private providers of non-emergency patient transport services in Australia. In August 2018, ComfortDelgro acquired Coastal Liner on the Central Coast, and in September 2018, Forest Coach Lines with operations in Sydney, the Mid North Coast and North West Slopes.

In November 2018, the Buslink business was acquired with 401 buses operating in the Northern Territory, Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. In the same month, Charterplus was renamed CDC Travel.

In April 2019, ComfortDelGro acquired Blanch's Bus Company and Brunswick Valley Coaches with a fleet of 48 buses and coaches in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales. In the same month, ComfortDelGro announced it would formally establish a ComfortDelGro Corporation Australia office. Nicholas Yap, who was the incumbent CEO of CDC Victoria, was appointed as the inaugural CEO of ComfortDelGro Australia, effective 1 July 2019.United Revamped
CDC Victoria June 2019

In mid-2019, two of Buslink's operations, Buslink Sunraysia and Buslink Broken Hill, moved to the control of CDC Victoria. In March 2020, these operations were rebranded to CDC Mildura and CDC Broken Hill respectively. In October 2020, the Buslink Queensland operations were rebranded to CDC Queensland, with Buslink Sunshine Coast and Buslink Gladstone rebranded to CDC Sunshine Coast and CDC Gladstone respectively.

In July 2021, ComfortDelGro announced it has reached an agreement to acquire Young's Bus Service which operates services in Rockhampton, Queensland. In August 2021, ComfortDelGro announced its intention to list ComfortDelGro Australia on the Australian Securities Exchange.

In October 2021, CDC acquired a school bus contract and five buses from KA & VK Stubbs Pty Ltd in Narrabri, New South Wales. The school bus operation was merged into CDC's existing Forest Coach Lines business in Narrabri and Wee Waa.

Also in the same month, ComfortDelGro (the Singapore parent company), through its subsidiary ComfortDelGro Transit, was shortlisted as part of the WestGo consortium to construct and operate the Sydney Metro Western Sydney Airport. The consortium was ultimately not awarded the contract, losing out to the Parklife Metro consortium involving RATP Dev in December 2022.

In July 2022, the remainder of the Buslink operations was renamed CDC Northern Territory.

In November 2022, it was announced that CDC retained and was awarded the contracts for Sydney bus regions 4 (Hillsbus) and 14 (Forest Coach Lines) in Sydney, as well as winning the contract for region 12 (consolidated into region 14). The Hillsbus and Forest Coach Lines (in Sydney) brands would be replaced by the CDC NSW brand when the new contracts for region 4 and the consolidated region 4 begin in April and May 2023 respectively.

Operations

ComfortDelgro Corporation Australia operates:
*CDC NSW
**Blanch's Bus Company
***Brunswick Valley Coaches
**Blue Mountains Transit
**CDC Travel
**Forest Coach Lines
**Hillsbus
**Hunter Valley Buses
** Qcity Transit
**Transborder Express
*CDC Victoria
**CDC Ballarat
**CDC Broken Hill
**CDC Geelong
**CDC Melbourne
**CDC Mildura
* CDC Northern Territory
*CDC Queensland
**CDC Gladstone
**CDC Sunshine Coast
** Young's Bus Service
*National Patient Transport

CDC's Regional Australia Division (RAD) was established in early 2021 and has responsibilities over the Northern Territory, Queensland, the Australian Capital Territory and regional NSW (Blanch's, QCity, Forest outside Sydney) operations.

CDC NSW

CDC NSW is the largest commuter bus operator having overtaken State Transit in 2018/2019, with the acquisition of Forest Coach Lines, Coastal Liner and Blanch's Bus Company in that period.

Westbus

Westbus was a bus operator who operated bus services in Western Sydney. It was one of the first companies to be bought by ComfortDelGro Cabcharge in 2005. Until its cessation, Westbus' services were part of Sydney Bus Regions 1 and 3. In 2012, these regions were put out to tender by Transport for NSW. Westbus' bids to retain both regions were not successful, with the Region 1 services operating out of St Marys and Windsor passing to Busways, while the Region 3 services operated by Bonnyrigg and Girraween passing to Transit Systems Sydney, both in October 2013. As a result, Westbus ceased to operate routes, with remaining bus fleet transferred to other ComfortDelGro Cabcharge subsidiaries.

Hillsbus

Hillsbus a bus operator who operates bus services in the Hills District in Sydney. It was one of the first companies to be bought by ComfortDelGro Cabcharge in 2005.
Since 2005, Hillsbus' services have formed Sydney Bus Region 4. In August 2013 Hillsbus successfully tendered to operate the Region 4 services for another five years from August 2014.

Hillsbus will be rebranded as CDC NSW when the new contract for Region 4 commences in April 2023.

Hunter Valley Buses

Hunter Valley Buses is a bus operator who operates bus, coach and charter services in the Central Coast and Hunter regions of New South Wales. Previously known as Blue Ribbon, it was one of the first companies to be bought by ComfortDelGro Cabcharge in 2005. Since 2008, Hunter Valley Buses' services have formed Outer Sydney Metropolitan Bus Regions 2 and 4. In August 2018, its service area expanded to include Outer Sydney Metropolitan Bus Region 11 after the purchase of Coastal Liner.

CDC Travel

CDC Travel is CDC's bus charter division for its Sydney and Blue Mountains operations. Initially established as Charterplus in 2008 to centralise the charter operations between the Hillsbus depots, this was expanded to the Westbus depots in 2009. It organises charters for the CDC group, CDC rail bus workings, as well as CDC's special event commitments. Charterplus was renamed CDC Travel in November 2018. Originally based at Bonnyrigg, all Sydney CDC Travel vehicles are now based at the St Marys depot with some vehicles based in the Blue Mountains.

As of July 2022, CDC Travel operates 57 buses transferred from both the New South Wales and Victorian operations.

Blue Mountains Transit

In August 2014, CDC purchased Blue Mountains Bus Company with 101 buses. It operated depots in Emu Plains, Leura and Valley Heights. Founded in 1951 as Pearce Omnibus, it operated services in the lower Blue Mountains. In 1999, it expanded with the purchase of Katoomba-Leura Bus Service, followed in 2002 by Blue Mountains Bus Co. On 1 December 2014, CDC formally took over the operations of Blue Mountains Bus Company and rebranded it as Blue Mountains Transit.

Blue Mountains Transit now operates 73 buses as of July 2022, across the same 3 depots, which includes the recent additions of 14 ex-StationLink buses in July 2019.

QCity and Transborder Express

In September 2012, CDC purchased Deane's Transit Group which comprised Deane's Buslines which operates local services in Queanbeyan and into Canberra, and Transborder Express which runs services between Yass, Murrumbateman, Hall and Canberra. Both brands also operate school services within their service region. On 8 July 2013, Deane's Buslines was rebranded as Qcity Transit.

As of July 2022, the combined QCity Transit and Transborder Express fleet consists of 149 buses.

Forest Coach Lines

Forest Coach Lines is a bus and coach operator which operates in the Northern Suburbs of Sydney, the Mid North Coast, and North West Slopes regions in New South Wales. Since 2005, Forest Coach Lines' services in Sydney have formed Sydney Bus Region 14. It was acquired by ComfortDelGro in August 2018.

In October 2021, CDC merged its newly acquired school bus business from KA & VK Stubbs Pty Ltd into its Forest Coach Lines business in Narrabri and Wee Waa.

The Sydney (Region 14) operations will be rebranded as CDC NSW when the new contract for Region 14 commences in May 2023.

Blanch's Bus Company

Blanch's Bus Company, established in 1976, operates scheduled route and school bus services in the Ballina, Lennox Head, Byron Bay and Mullumbimby areas of Northern NSW out of depots in Ballina and Billinudgel. Since 2010, it also owned Brunswick Valley Coaches, while retaining the latter's brand.

Blanch's Bus Company and Brunswick Valley Coaches were acquired by ComfortDelGro in April 2019.

As of July 2022, the fleet consists of 49 buses.

CDC Victoria

In February 2009, when ComfortDelGro Cabcharge entered the Victorian bus market with the acquisition of Kefford Corporation for A$149 million, with its fleet of 328 buses and six depots. Kefford was immediately renamed CDC Victoria. The fleets retained their individual identities and liveries, with small CDC Victoria markings, until they were rebranded to their respective CDC brands in 2014.

CDC Northern Territory

CDC Northern Territory is a bus operator which operates in Alice Springs, Darwin, Palmerston, Jabiru and Humpty Doo in Northern Territory. It was rebranded from Buslink in July 2022, after ComfortDelGro acquired Buslink in 2018. It operates all of Darwin and Palmerston's bus services.

CDC Queensland

CDC Queensland a bus operator in Queensland, operating in Gladstone and Sunshine Coast as CDC Gladstone and CDC Sunshine Coast respectively. It was renamed from Buslink Queensland on 1 October 2020. ComfortDelGro acquired Rockhampton-based Young's Bus Service in 2021.

National Patient Transport

National Patient Transport is one of the largest private providers of non-emergency patient transport services in Australia. ComfortDelGro acquired National Patient Transport in April 2018.

Other ComfortDelGro operations in Australia

These operations are operations of ComfortDelGro in Australia that are not part of ComfortDelGro Corporation Australia.

Swan Taxis

ComfortDelGro fully owns Swan Taxis, a taxi company operates taxis in Perth. Swan Taxis was formed by Matt Reid in 1928 and in October 2010, it was acquired by ComfortDelGro after an offer was made in July earlier that year. In October 2017, Swan Taxis acquired Metro WA Taxi Management Pty Ltd (Metro Taxi), the largest taxi management company in Perth. The acquisition marked Swan Taxis' entry into fleet management and ownership.

Being wholly owned by ComfortDelGro since acquisition, the Swan Taxis operation was never part of the ComfortDelGro Cabcharge joint venture, and therefore remains a separate entity to ComfortDelGro Corporation Australia.

Purple Coaches

Purple Coaches is a private charter bus operator based in Bayswater, Perth. It was acquired by ComfortDelGro in August 2018. As of December 2018, Purple Coaches (legal name ComforDelGro Swan Pty Ltd) is a subsidiary of Swans Taxis, and hence it is also not a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro Corporation Australia.

References

External links

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ComfortDelGro AustraliaBus Australia CDC Victoria gallery

{{Outer Metropolitan Sydney public transport

Australian companies established in 2005
Australian subsidiaries of foreign companies
Bus companies of Australia
ComfortDelGro companies

Transport companies established in 2005