![InterCity double decker](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/InterCity_double_decker.jpg)
InterCity is a passenger transport and tourism company in New Zealand. Parent company Entrada Travel Group operates the country's only long distance bus network, and ferries and cruises in the
Bay of Islands
The Bay of Islands is an area on the east coast of the Far North District of the North Island of New Zealand. It is one of the most popular fishing, sailing and tourist destinations in the country, and has been renowned internationally for its ...
. Its brands are:
*InterCity, New Zealand's only long distance bus network, servicing around 600 towns and communities daily
*
Gray Line, New Zealand license holder of premium sightseeing tours within New Zealand
*GreatSights New Zealand, premium sightseeing coach services
*Fullers GreatSights, sightseeing cruises and day tours in the Bay of Islands and Northland
*awesomeNZ.com (formerly Kings Dolphin Cruises and Eco Tours), sightseeing tours and boat cruises
*Auckland Explorer Bus, hop-on hop-off sightseeing tour bus company in Auckland
*Skip Bus, low-cost North Island bus express
Ownership
InterCity is currently the only New Zealand-owned long distance bus service, after competitor
Nakedbus
nakedbus.com was a provider of low-cost long-distance bus (coachline) transport services around New Zealand. It used concepts such as yield management and no-frills to provide low fares. The company is so-named because "we have stripped out the ...
was acquired by
ManaBus
ManaBus.com was an intercity coach service operator in New Zealand. The company was owned by Brian Souter's InMotion Group. ManaBus and Nakedbus ceased operation on 15 July 2018, with the bus fleets being sold to Ritchies Transport Holdings, pa ...
, who ceased operating in 2018. In November 2018, InterCity started a new express bus service, SKIP, offering affordable, reliable and faster connections between major North Island cities.
InterCity and Entrada Travel Group are controlled by
Ritchies Transport __NOTOC__
Ritchies Transport is a New Zealand private bus operator, owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, KKR. It was established in 1972 and describes itself as "the largest privately owned bus and coach transport operator in New Zealand" with a fleet ...
and
Tranzit Group
The Tranzit Group is a company that operates buses in New Zealand. It was founded by Albert Snelgrove as Grey Bus Service in 1924. It became Blue Bus Service (with a livery change) in the early 1950s and then Tranzit Coachlines in 1985. It has ...
, each owning 46%.
History
InterCity is the direct successor to
New Zealand Railways Road Services
The New Zealand Railways Road Services (NZRRS) was a branch of the New Zealand Railways Department and later the New Zealand Railways Corporation. It operated long-distance, tourist and suburban bus services and freight trucking and parcel serv ...
long-distance routes. New Zealand Railways' rail and road services were combined in 1985 as the Passenger Business Group of the
New Zealand Railways Corporation
New Zealand Railways Corporation (NZRC) is the state-owned enterprise that owns the land beneath KiwiRail's Rail transport in New Zealand, railway network on behalf of the Crown. The Corporation has existed under a number of guises since 1982, wh ...
. ''InterCity'' began in 1987 as the
brand
A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...
for long-distance
rail
Rail or rails may refer to:
Rail transport
*Rail transport and related matters
*Rail (rail transport) or railway lines, the running surface of a railway
Arts and media Film
* ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini
* ''Rail'' ( ...
and road services.
In 1991 the rail-based assets were transferred to
New Zealand Rail and the long distance buses and ''InterCity'' name were bought by InterCity Management Limited, a group of seven of the country's largest private
coach
Coach may refer to:
Guidance/instruction
* Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities
* Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process
** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers
Transportation
* Co ...
companies - Whangarei Bus Services, Bayline Group, Ritchies Transport, Tranzit Group, Guthreys Coachlines, Nelson SBL and PTL Route Services - as a franchise-based operation. Each of the franchisees is responsible for operating set routes, usually close to their home base. Of the original seven franchisees four remain, with one new franchisee (SDK Ltd) operating services in Northland where Whangarei Bus Services previously held the franchise.
Over the years the company name has changed from InterCity Coachlines Ltd to Coachnet NZ Ltd, followed by InterCity Group Ltd and InterCity Holdings Ltd.
In 2019, the group name changed from InterCity Group to Entrada Travel Group.
Trademark protection
In 2014 InterCity Group won a landmark
Google Adwords
Google Ads (formerly Google AdWords) is an online advertising platform developed by Google, where advertisers bid to display brief advertisements, service offerings, product listings, or videos to web users. It can place ads both in the result ...
case against competitor
Nakedbus
nakedbus.com was a provider of low-cost long-distance bus (coachline) transport services around New Zealand. It used concepts such as yield management and no-frills to provide low fares. The company is so-named because "we have stripped out the ...
in the
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...
High Court for breach of trade mark.
[ ''High Court Judgement CIV-2012-404-007532''](_blank)
from www.nzherald.co.nz, retrieved 18 February 2014
Justice Raynor Asher ruled that Nakedbus deliberately infringed InterCity Group Limited’s trade mark ‘INTERCITY’, engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct that confused consumers, and illegitimately attempted to pass its business off as InterCity’s.
They ran advertisements on
Google
Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
which would respond to searches for InterCity Group’s trade mark, INTERCITY, and which promoted their buses as "inter city" in both the advertisements and on the corresponding website. The Court has confirmed that this was part of a misleading strategy to "hook" InterCity customers into travelling to their website, using InterCity’s trade mark to confuse the customers into thinking that Nakedbus was an affiliate.
Nakedbus argued that the words "inter" and "city" were just descriptors for domestic bus services. This argument was easily rejected by the Court. It recognised that ‘InterCity’ is a distinctive and well known New Zealand brand which is entitled to the usual statutory protections.
Expansion
![Dolphin Explorer in Viaduct Basin 2021](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Dolphin_Explorer_in_Viaduct_Basin_2021.jpg)
In 2006 Entrada Travel Group purchased Kings Dolphin Cruises, a
Paihia
Paihia is the main tourist town in the Bay of Islands in the Northland Region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is 60 kilometres north of Whangārei, located close to the historic towns of Russell and Kerikeri. Missionary Henry William ...
based operator of sightseeing cruises and day tours. This purchase was the group's first foray beyond road passenger transport services. It also increased InterCity's exposure to the tourism market.
Entrada Travel Group's footprint in the tourism market increased again in December 2007 when it added the
Tourism Holdings Limited
Tourism Holdings Limited usually called thl and formerly known as ''The Helicopter Line'' is a large New Zealand tourism company that has been listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange since 1986.
The company began as a scenic helicopter flight ...
Ltd businesses of
Great Sights and
Fullers Bay of Islands
Fullers GreatSights is a major tourism company based in Northland, New Zealand. Today it is Northland's largest marine tourism operator with a wide range of cruises and land tours.
History
In 1887, Albert Ernest Fuller launched the "Undine" ...
by way of a joint venture.
[ ''Financial & Investor Information''](_blank)
from www.thlnz.co.nz, retrieved 21 December 2007 In December 2008 Tourism Holdings sold its 49% stake in InterCity Holdings Limited to InterCity Group for $9.5m.
In August 2016, the company was awarded the license to operate sightseeing services in New Zealand as
Gray Line, the world's largest sightseeing brand.
In 2019, Entrada Travel Group acquired Auckland Whale & Dolphin Safari, which hosts thousands of guests every year aboard the 20-metre catamaran ''Dolphin Explorer'' on daily 4.5-hour cruises from Auckland's Viaduct Harbour.
Gray Line
In 2016 Entrada Travel Group was awarded the license to operate Gray Line sightseeing tours in New Zealand.
GreatSights New Zealand
GreatSights New Zealand is InterCity Group's daily
sightseeing
Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mor ...
subsidiary operating day tours and sightseeing from
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...
,
Rotorua
Rotorua () is a city in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island. The city lies on the southern shores of Lake Rotorua, from which it takes its name. It is the seat of the Rotorua Lakes District, a territorial authority encompass ...
,
Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...
and
Queenstown to the
Bay of Islands
The Bay of Islands is an area on the east coast of the Far North District of the North Island of New Zealand. It is one of the most popular fishing, sailing and tourist destinations in the country, and has been renowned internationally for its ...
, the
Waitomo Caves
Waitomo is a rural community in the King Country region of New Zealand's North Island. There are several solutional cave systems in the area around the village, which are popular tourist attractions. Restaurants and accommodation are centred in ...
,
Hobbiton
The Shire is a region of J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional Middle-earth, described in ''The Lord of the Rings'' and other works. The Shire is an inland area settled exclusively by hobbits, the Shire-folk, largely sheltered from the goings-on in the ...
,
Rotorua
Rotorua () is a city in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island. The city lies on the southern shores of Lake Rotorua, from which it takes its name. It is the seat of the Rotorua Lakes District, a territorial authority encompass ...
,
Aoraki
Aoraki / Mount Cook is the highest mountain in New Zealand. Its height, as of 2014, is listed as . It sits in the Southern Alps, the mountain range that runs the length of the South Island. A popular tourist destination, it is also a favourite ...
,
Te Anau
Te Anau is a town in the Southland region of the South Island of New Zealand. In Maori, Te-Anau means the Place of the Swirling Waters. It is on the eastern shore of Lake Te Anau in Fiordland. Te Anau is 155 kilometres north of Invercargill an ...
and
Milford Sound
Milford Sound / Piopiotahi is a fiord in the south west of New Zealand's South Island within Fiordland National Park, Piopiotahi (Milford Sound) Marine Reserve, and the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage site. It has been judged the world's top tra ...
.
GreatSights was formed in October 1987 following acquisition of the coach assets of Fourways Coachlines by various Newmans Group companies and was subsequently taken over by Corporate Investments Limited (CIL), then in 1993 by The Helicopter Line (later renamed
Tourism Holdings Ltd, THL).
Glass-roofed double-decker Volvo B12 coaches were introduced onto the
Milford Sound
Milford Sound / Piopiotahi is a fiord in the south west of New Zealand's South Island within Fiordland National Park, Piopiotahi (Milford Sound) Marine Reserve, and the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage site. It has been judged the world's top tra ...
route in 1996.
In 1998 THL purchased a number of assets from
Mount Cook Group
Mount Cook Group was a New Zealand tourism and transport operator founded on 2 April 1912 by Rodolph Lysaght Wigley. Originally a road transport business, the ''Mount Cook Tourist Company of New Zealand'' became a public company in 1928. By 1930 ...
including the
Gray Line New Zealand franchise, which GreatSights operated until 2006.
In 2000 GreatSights opened a visitor information centre at 180 Quay Street, Auckland. This became the departure point for all GreatSights day tours from Auckland. The centre was closed following InterCity's acquisition of GreatSights, as InterCity already operated a similar visitor information centre on
Hobson Street __NOTOC__
Hobson may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Hobson (surname)
* Hobson R. Reynolds (1898–1991), American politician and judge
Places New Zealand
* Hobson County, New Zealand, a former local authority
* Mount Hobson (Au ...
. Also as a result of the acquisition, in April 2008 the Newmans Coach Lines brand gradually began to be removed from routes that were operated by GreatSights.
In recent years GreatSights has enjoyed strong growth in line with rising visitor arrivals into New Zealand. A number of new routes and tour options have been added to the network including a new Waitomo & Rotorua tour in 2009.
Coinciding the complete fleet upgrade in 2016 the brand was refreshed and saw the introduction of diamond device to symbolize the relationship between the company's operations on land and sea.
Fullers GreatSights
Fullers GreatSights is a sub brand of GreatSights, operating cruise, ferry and land sightseeing tours from the Bay of Islands. The head office is based in the visitor centre in the Maritime Building on
Paihia
Paihia is the main tourist town in the Bay of Islands in the Northland Region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is 60 kilometres north of Whangārei, located close to the historic towns of Russell and Kerikeri. Missionary Henry William ...
's waterfront, with a visitor centre in Russell and a workshop in Opua.
The Fullers business was founded in 1886 when Albert Ernest Fuller started a business delivering coal and other essential supplies to islands in the Bay of Islands in his vessel the ''Undine''. Fuller branched out into tourism in 1927 when he started the ''Cream Trip'' service transporting cream from the islands to the mainland. Tourists would pay to ride on the ''Cream Trip'' and over time the focus of the service changed from deliveries and transport to one of sightseeing and tourism.
The business has expanded substantially over the years and today its primary focus is tourism, although it does also operate passenger and vehicle ferries. The Fullers GreatSights product range includes:
*The ''Cream Trip''
*Hole in the Rock dolphin-watching cruises
*Dolphin swimming cruises
*
Ninety Mile Beach and
Cape Reinga
, type =Cape
, photo = Cape Reinga, Northland, New Zealand, October 2007.jpg
, photo_width = 270px
, photo_alt =
, photo_caption =
, map = New Zealand
, map_width = 270px
...
day tours
*Excursions in and around
Kerikeri
Kerikeri () is the largest town in Northland, New Zealand. It is a tourist destination north of Auckland and north of the northern region's largest city, Whangarei. It is sometimes called the Cradle of the Nation, as it was the site of th ...
and
Russell
*Discover
Hokianga
The Hokianga is an area surrounding the Hokianga Harbour, also known as the Hokianga River, a long estuarine drowned valley on the west coast in the north of the North Island of New Zealand.
The original name, still used by local Māori, is ...
*Vehicle ferries between
Opua
Opua is a locality in the Bay of Islands, in the sub-tropical Northland Region of New Zealand. It is notable as the first port for overseas yachts arriving in the country after crossing the Pacific Ocean. In the original 1870s plans for the ...
and
Okiato
Okiato or Old Russell is a small town in the Bay of Islands, New Zealand, south of present-day Russell. It was founded in 1840 and served as New Zealand's first national capital until 1841, when the seat of government was moved to Auckland. ...
*Passenger ferries between Russell and Paihia
In 2009 Fullers Bay of Islands was rebranded Fullers GreatSights Bay of Islands, providing connection to InterCity's sightseeing tours in the rest of New Zealand, and a new awesomeNZ brand was introduced. The Kings Dolphin Cruises, Northern Exposure and Awesome Adventures brands were removed. ''AwesomeNZ'' branded excursions include Ninety Mile Beach day tours and Milford Sound day tours.
In 2016 the rebrand of the main GreatSights brand saw the name shortened to Fullers GreatSights.
Newmans Coach Lines
![1955 Ansair Flxible Clipper Bus (30680614642)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/1955_Ansair_Flxible_Clipper_Bus_%2830680614642%29.jpg)
Newmans Coach Lines began in
Nelson
Nelson may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey
* ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers
* ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...
in 1879 with brothers Tom and Harry Newman offering a horse-drawn coach service delivering mail around the Nelson region. The business grew rapidly and expanded to include passenger services, at first throughout the South Island and later into the North Island. In 1911 the first motor vehicle - a four-cylinder Cadillac - was introduced and in 1918 the last horse-drawn carriage was retired from service.
Newmans remained a family-owned business until 1972 when it merged with Transport (Nelson) Ltd, a trucking and mining company. There followed a period of expansion where the Newmans brand encompassed tours, rental cars and campervans and a short-lived airline brand Newmans Air which evolved into
Ansett New Zealand
Ansett New Zealand was an airline serving the New Zealand domestic market between 1987 and 2001. It was a subsidiary of Ansett Transport Industries. In order to comply with regulatory requirements relating to the acquisition of Ansett Tran ...
.
In 1988 Corporate Investments Limited took over the business and several routes were withdrawn. In 1991 an agreement was reached where competitor
Mount Cook Group
Mount Cook Group was a New Zealand tourism and transport operator founded on 2 April 1912 by Rodolph Lysaght Wigley. Originally a road transport business, the ''Mount Cook Tourist Company of New Zealand'' became a public company in 1928. By 1930 ...
ceased operating in the North Island and Newmans ceased operating in the South Island. This step was not enough and in 1992 TTRB Ltd, a consortium of four coach operators (Tranzit Group, Taranaki Coachlines, Ritchies Transport and Bayline Group), took over Newmans Coach Lines. By 1994 two of the consortium members had withdrawn and the remaining two shareholders Tranzit and Ritchies operated it as a separate business until the
Auckland power crisis in 1998 when Newmans was integrated into the InterCity Group business.
From 1995 to 2007 the Newmans brand was used on both sightseeing day tours and passenger route services. From 2008 the Newmans brand was withdrawn from sightseeing day tours in favour of GreatSights, but Newmans coach services still run between Christchurch, Queenstown, Wanaka and the West Coast glaciers.
From 1987 until 1993, operations were operated in the Australian cities of
Cairns
Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...
and
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 ...
as
Newmans Coach Lines
Newmans Coach Lines was an Australian coach charter company with operations in Sydney and Cairns.
History
In 1987, the Sydney coach operations of Chester Coaches were purchased by New Zealand-based Newmans Coach Lines. Newmans also purchased t ...
.
Hauraki Blue Cruises
In 2009 Fullers GreatSights launched the cruise catamaran Ipipiri, a 44.5m (146 foot) vessel with four levels including sundeck, restaurant and bar, and 30 ocean view cabins offering accommodation for up to 60. Ipipiri operated in the Bay of Islands for five seasons as an overnight cruise ship and was available for conferences, events and weddings.
In 2014 Ipipiri was relocated to Auckland. Trading as Hauraki Blue Cruises under the GreatSights brand, it offered overnight cruises, lunch cruises, and a charter venue for weddings, conferences and events in the
Hauraki Gulf
The Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana is a coastal feature of the North Island of New Zealand. It has an area of 4000 km2,[North Island
The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...](_blank)
destinations, including
Whangarei,
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...
,
Hamilton Hamilton may refer to:
People
* Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname
** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland
** Lord Hamilt ...
,
Rotorua
Rotorua () is a city in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island. The city lies on the southern shores of Lake Rotorua, from which it takes its name. It is the seat of the Rotorua Lakes District, a territorial authority encompass ...
,
Taupo,
Tauranga
Tauranga () is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty region and the fifth most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of , or roughly 3% of the national population. It was settled by Māori late in the 13th century, colonised by ...
and
Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...
. Skip buses were suspended from 25 March 2020.
Environmental projects
Entrada Travel Group has embarked on a number of sustainability projects since 1998.
In May 2007 InterCity joined
Landcare Research Landcare may refer to:
* Australian Landcare Council, a now superseded Australian government body
* Landcare in Australia, umbrella approach promoting land protection in Australia
* Landcare Research, New Zealand
*The Landcare movement in Australi ...
's
CarboNZero programme but withdrew when the New Zealand Government introduced an
Emissions Trading Scheme
Emissions trading is a market-based approach to controlling pollution by providing economic incentives for reducing the emissions of pollutants. The concept is also known as cap and trade (CAT) or emissions trading scheme (ETS). Carbon emission t ...
.
In 2010 Entrada Travel Group's Bay of Islands operations were awarded an Enviro Gold rating by Qualmark. Fullers GreatSights and InterCity Group's coaching division both currently hold Qualmark Gold ratings.
Qualmark Endorsements
/ref>
References
External links
*
Entrada Travel Group
Gray Line
sightseeing
GreatSights New Zealand
Fullers GreatSights
awesomeNZ.com
Auckland Hop On Hop Off Explorer
Skip Bus
Newmans Coachlines
*
{{Authority control
Bus companies of New Zealand
Gray Line Worldwide
Transport companies established in 1991
New Zealand companies established in 1991