JJ Kavanagh and Sons is

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

's largest private coach operator. It was founded in 1919 by J.J. Kavanagh with the operation of a service connecting

Urlingford Urlingford () is a town, as well as a Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish within the barony of Galmoy. It is located in the north west of County Kilkenny, along the boundary with County Tipperary, in Leinster, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. A ...

with Kilkenny City. The company has expanded greatly since the 1990s with the take-over of Kenneally's coach operators in Waterford. Its head office is in Urlingford, County Kilkenny. There are also offices in

Naas Naas ( ; ga, Nás na Ríogh or ) is the county town of County Kildare in Ireland. In 2016, it had a population of 21,393, making it the second largest town in County Kildare after Newbridge. History The name of Naas has been recorded in th ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

, Clonmel,

Nenagh Nenagh (, ; or simply ''An tAonach'') meaning “The Fair of Ormond” or simply "The Fair", is the county town and second largest town in County Tipperary in Ireland. Nenagh used to be a market town, and the site of the East Munster Ormond ...

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

and Carlow. JJ Kavanagh and Sons is a member of the CTTC.

History

Beginnings (1919-1980)

''JJ Kavanagh and Sons'' was founded in 1919 by JJ Kavanagh with the running of a daily coach service between Urlingford and Kilkenny. Over the following years, the company gradually expanded with in an increase in fleet size and number of routes with the introduction of an Urlingford - Clonmel route. At the time, the company had a lucrative delivery contract with some of Ireland's largest newspaper companies.

Change in Market and Rapid Expansion (1980-2010)

With the decline in the prominence of the newspaper in Ireland JJ Kavanagh and Sons lost their lucrative delivery deal and were forced to find new sources of finance. Under management of current managers, JJ and Paul the business has seen rapid expansion over the past three decades as they have launched many intercity routes as well as becoming prominent transporters in the private travel area in Ireland. The expansion of intercity routes has been made possible for the company as a result of their acquisition of a number of coach companies across the south-east of Ireland in Naas, Nenagh, Waterford and Clonmel as well as the opening of sub-offices in Carlow and Dublin.

International Expansion and Beyond (2011- )

To further boost profits the company sought international expansion. Expansion occurred with the purchase of Mullany's coaches in

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The deal is believed to have been in the region of €1million.

Services Operated

The company also currently operates a number of local bus services, including those in Waterford and Tramore and intercity express services From Dublin Airport and Dublin city to Limerick, Waterford, Clonmel, Carlow and Kilkenny. It has also started a new service (2019) Dublin Airport and Dublin City hourly to Nass Co.Kildare

Fleet

The company's coach fleet, which operates on intercity services, is made up of over 100 modern Setra 400 series Neoplan Tourliner and as of late Mercedes Tourismo coaches which feature air conditioning, reclining seats, on-board toilets, seatbelts, USB sockets and audio/visual facilities. The number plate of each bus is made up entirely of number ones. It was the first coach company in Ireland to introduce free

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wav ...

onto some of its coaches in 2009. The bus fleet operated by the company on the town and city routes is made up of

Mercedes-Benz Citaro The Mercedes-Benz Citaro is a single-decker, rigid or articulated bus manufactured by Mercedes-Benz/ EvoBus. Introduced in 1997, the Citaro is available in a range of configurations, and is in widespread use throughout Europe and parts of Asia ...

s. J. J. Kavanagh & Sons became the first operator of the MCV Evora in

, taking delivery of three examples in early 2018.

Other works

JJ Kavanagh and Sons plays a very active role in the Kilkenny and Carlow G.A.A. scene, sponsoring numerous of the hurling and gaelic football competitions in the counties. They currently sponsor the Kilkenny camogie team.

References

External links

JJ Kavanagh & Sons
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jj Kavanagh And Sons Bus transport in the Republic of Ireland Bus companies of the Republic of Ireland Transport in County Kilkenny Transport in County Tipperary