ComfortDelGro Australia is a major Australian public transport company. Founded in October 2005 as ComfortDelGro Cabcharge, a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

between Singapore-based ComfortDelGro (51%) and Australian

Cabcharge The Cabcharge account payment system was established in 1976 to provide taxi passengers a way to pay for taxi fares by non-cash means. The payment system is owned and operated by A2B Australia (formerly Cabcharge Australia), an Australian Sec ...

(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 A2B Australia (formerly Cabcharge Australia) () is an Australian public company which was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in December 1999 and is an ASX 200 company. The company was founded by Reg Kermode. In 1976, the company esta ...

(49%) in October 2005 to purchase loss-making Westbus Group, which included

Westbus Westbus was an Australian bus and coach operator that operated bus services in Western Sydney from 1955 until October 2013. Founded by the Bosnjak family, it later became a subsidiary of National Express and later ComfortDelGro Cabcharge (now ...

(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 The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. 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 Baxter's Bus Lines is an Australian bus charter company in Sydney. Until August 2006, it operated route bus services in Western Sydney. History Baxter's Bus Lines was founded by Roy Baxter and his son Garry after the Merrylands based services o ...

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 Morisset ( ;) is a commercial centre and suburb of the City of Lake Macquarie, Central Coast in New South Wales, Australia, and is located west of Lake Macquarie just off the Sydney-Newcastle Freeway. It is also located approximately halfway ...

Bus Service, Sugar Valley Coachlines and

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

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 ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

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 Tullamarine is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Brimbank, Hume and Merri-bek local government areas. Tullamarine recorded a population of 6,733 ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

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 Coastal Liner is an Australian bus company operating services on the New South Wales Central Coast. It is a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro Australia. History Established in 1986 after the acquisition of the Dooralong to Wyong bus run from local o ...

on the Central Coast, and in September 2018,

Forest Coach Lines Forest Coach Lines is an Australian bus and coach operator. Founded in 1930 in the Northern Suburbs of Sydney, since 2016 it has expanded with purchases in the Mid North Coast and North West Slopes regions in New South Wales. It is a subsidiar ...

with operations in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, the

Mid North Coast The Mid North Coast is a country region in the north-east of the state of New South Wales, Australia. The region covers the mid northern coast of the state, beginning from Port Stephens north of Sydney, and extending as far north as Woolgoolg ...

and North West Slopes. In November 2018, the

Buslink CDC Northern Territory is a bus operator providing services in Alice Springs, Bathchelor, Darwin, Palmerston, Jabiru and Humpty Doo. It is the largest operator in the Northern Territory and the sole operator of the Darwinbus network. CDC Nor ...

business was acquired with 401 buses operating in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, 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 CDC Victoria is a transport company which operates in Victoria and is a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro Australia. It was renamed from Kefford Corporation, which was acquired by ComfortDelGro Cabcharge (predecessor of ComfortDelGro Australia) in Feb ...

. In March 2020, these operations were rebranded to CDC Mildura and

CDC Broken Hill CDC Broken Hill, formerly Buslink Broken Hill and Murton's City Bus, is a bus operator in the Australian city of Broken Hill. It is a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro Australia. History In 1902, a steam tramway opened in Broken Hill. After this cl ...

respectively. In October 2020, the Buslink Queensland operations were rebranded to

CDC Queensland CDC Queensland, formerly Buslink Queensland, is an Australian bus operator in the Gladstone, Queensland, Gladstone, Rockhampton and Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Sunshine Coast regions of Queensland. It is a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro Australia. ...

, 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 Young's Bus Service is an Australian bus operator in Rockhampton, Queensland operating services under the Translink scheme in Regional Queensland. It is the largest operator in the Rockhampton region. Service Area Young's Bus Service operate fro ...

which operates services in

Rockhampton Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. The population of Rockhampton in June 2021 was 79,967, Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. making it the fourth-largest city in the state outside of the ...

, Queensland. In August 2021, ComfortDelGro announced its intention to list ComfortDelGro Australia on the

Australian Securities Exchange Australian Securities Exchange Ltd or ASX, is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or confused within Australia as ...

. In October 2021, CDC acquired a school bus contract and five buses from KA & VK Stubbs Pty Ltd in

Narrabri Narrabri ( ) is a locality and seat of Narrabri Shire local government area in the North West Slopes, New South Wales, Australia on the Namoi River, northwest of Sydney. It sits on the junction of the Kamilaroi Highway and the Newell Highway. At ...

, 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 RATP may refer to: Transportation: * RATP Group, or ', a public transport operator based in Paris, France * RATP Iași (), a transit operator responsible for public transportation in Iași, Romania * RATP Ploiești (), a transit operator responsib ...

in December 2022. In July 2022, the remainder of the Buslink operations was renamed

CDC Northern Territory CDC Northern Territory is a bus operator providing services in Alice Springs, Bathchelor, Darwin, Palmerston, Jabiru and Humpty Doo. It is the largest operator in the Northern Territory and the sole operator of the Darwinbus network. CDC Nort ...

. 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 **

** Hillsbus ** Hunter Valley Buses ** Qcity Transit ** Transborder Express *

CDC Ballarat CDC Ballarat, formerly known as Davis Bus Lines, is an Australian bus company operating in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. It is a subsidiary of CDC Victoria, in turn a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro Australia, in turn a subsidiary of Singapore-bas ...

CDC Geelong CDC Geelong, formerly known as Benders Busways, is a bus company operating in Geelong, Victoria, Australia, operating routes as well as charters. It is a subsidiary of CDC Victoria, in turn a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro Australia, in turn a sub ...

** CDC Melbourne **CDC Mildura *

**CDC Gladstone **CDC Sunshine Coast **

*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

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 Transport for NSW, sometimes abbreviated to TfNSW, and pronounced as Transport for New South Wales, is an agency of the New South Wales Government established on 1 November 2011, and is the leading transport and roads agency in New South Wales, ...

. Westbus' bids to retain both regions were not successful, with the Region 1 services operating out of St Marys and Windsor passing to

Busways Busways is an Australian bus company operating services in Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis ...

, while the Region 3 services operated by Bonnyrigg and Girraween passing to

Transit Systems Sydney Transit Systems NSW, previously known as Transit Systems Sydney, is a bus operator in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is a subsidiary of Transit Systems. History In November 2012, Transit Systems was awarded a contract by Transport for ...

, 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

. 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 Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

regions of

. 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

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 Emu Plains is a suburb of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 58 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Penrith and is part of the Greater Western Sydney re ...

, Leura and

Valley Heights Valley Heights is a small township of the City of Blue Mountains in New South Wales, Australia. It is about from Sydney and is located east of the township of Springwood. At the , Valley Heights had a population of 1,337 people. Valley Heig ...

. 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 Queanbeyan ( ) is a city in the south-eastern region of New South Wales, Australia, located adjacent to the Australian Capital Territory in the Southern Tablelands region. Located on the Queanbeyan River, the city is the council seat of the ...

and into

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

, and Transborder Express which runs services between

Yass Yass may refer to: People * Catherine Yass (born 1963), painter * Yazz, a British pop singer from the 1980s and 1990s * Jeff Yass (born 1956), options trader, managing director and one of the five founders of the Philadelphia-based Susquehanna I ...

, Murrumbateman,

Hall In architecture, a hall is a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age and early Middle Ages in northern Europe, a mead hall was where a lord and his retainers ate and also slept. Later in the Middle Ages, the gr ...

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

, the Mid North Coast, and North West Slopes regions in

. 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 Lennox Head is a seaside village in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia, situated on the stretch of coast between Byron Bay and Ballina in Ballina Shire local government area. It had a population of 7,741 in the 2016 Aus ...

, Byron Bay and

Mullumbimby Mullumbimby is an Australian town in the Byron Shire in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales. It promotes itself as "The Biggest Little Town in Australia". The town lies at the foot of Mount Chincogan in the Brunswick Valley about 9 k ...

areas of

Northern NSW Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

out of depots in Ballina and

Billinudgel Billinudgel is a town in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia, and is part of Byron Shire. It used to be a railway town A railway town, or railroad town, is a settlement that originated or was greatly developed because of ...

. 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

. 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 Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Al ...

, Darwin,

Palmerston Palmerston may refer to: People * Christie Palmerston (c. 1851–1897), Australian explorer * Several prominent people have borne the title of Viscount Palmerston ** Henry Temple, 1st Viscount Palmerston (c. 1673–1757), Irish nobleman and ...

Jabiru The jabiru ( or ; ''Jabiru mycteria'') is a large stork found in the Americas from Mexico to Argentina, except west of the Andes. It sometimes wanders into the United States, usually in Texas, but has been reported as far north as Mississippi. ...

and Humpty Doo in

. 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 William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...

and

Sunshine Coast Sunshine Coast may refer to: * Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia **Sunshine Coast Region, a local government area of Queensland named after the region **Sunshine Coast Stadium * Sunshine Coast (British Columbia), geographic subregion of the Br ...

as CDC Gladstone and CDC Sunshine Coast respectively. It was renamed from Buslink Queensland on 1 October 2020. ComfortDelGro acquired Rockhampton-based

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 Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

. 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 Bayswater is an area within the City of Westminster in West London. It is a built-up district with a population density of 17,500 per square kilometre, and is located between Kensington Gardens to the south, Paddington to the north-east, and ...

. 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

*
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