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 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 ...

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 parish within the barony of Galmoy. It is located in the north west of County Kilkenny, along the boundary with County Tipperary, in Leinster, Ireland. Access The town lies on the R639. The M8 motorwa ...

with

Kilkenny City Kilkenny (). is a city in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region and in the province of Leinster. It is built on both banks of the River Nore. The 2016 census gave the total population of Kilkenny as 26,512. Kilkenn ...

. 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 Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

Clonmel Clonmel () is the county town and largest settlement of County Tipperary, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is noted in Irish history for its resistance to the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, Cromwellian army which sacked the towns of Dro ...

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 Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Nenagh used to be a market town, and the site of the ...

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 Carlow ( ; ) is the county town of County Carlow, in the south-east of Ireland, from Dublin. At the 2016 census, it had a combined urban and rural population of 24,272. The River Barrow flows through the town and forms the historic bounda ...

. 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, a ...

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 Setra is a German bus brand of EvoBus GmbH, itself a wholly owned subsidiary of Daimler Truck AG. The name "Setra" comes from "selbsttragend" (self-supporting). This refers to the integral nature of the construction of the vehicles back in th ...

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 wave ...

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 The MCV Evora (stylised as ''eVoRa''; internal designation: MCV C123) is a single-decker bus bodywork produced by Manufacturing Commercial Vehicles (MCV) since 2018, as the successor to the MCV Evolution. The Evora is currently available on Volvo B ...

, taking delivery of three examples in early 2018.

Other works

JJ Kavanagh and Sons plays a very active role in the

Kilkenny Kilkenny (). is a city in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region and in the province of Leinster. It is built on both banks of the River Nore. The 2016 census gave the total population of Kilkenny as 26,512. Kilken ...

and

G.A.A. scene, sponsoring numerous of the

hurling Hurling ( ga, iománaíocht, ') is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic Irish origin, played by men. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goals, the number of p ...

and

gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

competitions in the counties. They currently sponsor the Kilkenny

camogie Camogie ( ; ga, camógaíocht ) is an Irish stick-and-ball team sport played by women. Camogie is played by 100,000 women in Ireland and worldwide, largely among Irish communities. A variant of the game of hurling (which is played by men onl ...

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