Sunbus was an Australian bus operator in the
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
n state of
Queensland. It operated in 5 regional areas across the state under contract to the
Government of Queensland under the
TransLink Translink (or TransLink) may refer to:
* TransLink (British Columbia), the public transport operator in Vancouver, Canada
* Translink (Northern Ireland)
Translink is the brand name of the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company (NITHCo), a ...
banner. As of 2022 Sunbus has changed its name as part of a business re-brand by the parent company,
Kinetic
Kinetic (Ancient Greek: κίνησις “kinesis”, movement or to move) may refer to:
* Kinetic theory of gases, Kinetic theory, describing a gas as particles in random motion
* Kinetic energy, the energy of an object that it possesses due to i ...
. Sunbus has now been dissolved into the Kinetic brand with its fleet of buses reflecting this change.
History
In 1995, Harry Blundred, the proprietor of
Thames Transit
Thames Transit was a bus and coach company which operated in the Oxford area. As well as running a number of local services, it also ran a regular service to London (via the M40 motorway) under the ''Oxford Tube'' brand. It was sold in July 1 ...
in the United Kingdom, was awarded the operating rights to route services in a number of regions in
Queensland following the
state government
A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonomy, or ...
deciding to put the operation of these services out to tender. Sunbus were awarded the rights to operate services in the
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 ...
,
Ipswich,
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 ...
,
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 ...
and
Townsville regions. As part of the deal, Sunbus was also responsible for the operation of school bus services in the region, however these were sold in 1997 to fellow British bus operator
Stagecoach
A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are draw ...
.
In January 2000, the Ipswich business was sold to the
Pulitano Group and in September 2003 Hagan's, Bus Service,
Toowoomba was purchased and rebranded Garden City Sunbus. This was sold in April 2009 to the Pulitano Group.
In April 2008, Blundred sold the remaining Sunbus operations to
Transit Australia Group
Transit Australia Group (TAG) was one of Australia's leading mass transit specialists headquartered on the Gold Coast in Queensland.
The company operated Sunbus ( Sunbus Cairns, Sunbus Magnetic Island, Sunbus Rockhampton, Sunbus Sunshine Coas ...
.
In November 2008,
Magnetic Island Bus Services was purchased and in April 2010 the Townsville operation was expanded with the acquisition of Hermit Park Bus Service.
In April 2019, Transit Australia Group was purchased by AATS Group, parent company of
Skybus and majority owned by
OPTrust. In August 2019, AATS Group was rebranded the
Kinetic Group.
In late 2022, Sunbus was officially branded as
KINETIC
Kinetic (Ancient Greek: κίνησις “kinesis”, movement or to move) may refer to:
* Kinetic theory of gases, Kinetic theory, describing a gas as particles in random motion
* Kinetic energy, the energy of an object that it possesses due to i ...
with all new advertising now showing the Kinetic Brand. All new buses will display the Kinetic logo with the current fleet of Sunbus slowly being updated to reflect the new brand name. The current website for Sunbus will stay active until early 2023 before it will be deactivated, directing customers to the new Kinetic website.
Operations
Sunbus operated as:
*
Sunbus Cairns
Sunbus Cairns, previously Marlin Coast Sunbus, was the principal bus operator in Cairns, Queensland operating services under the TransLink (Queensland) scheme in the Cairns region. It is one of Sunbus' operations. As of late 2022, Sunbus has ch ...
*Sunbus
Magnetic Island
*
Sunbus Rockhampton
Sunbus Rockhampton previously Capricorn Sunbus was the principal bus operator in Rockhampton, Queensland operating services under the QConnect scheme in Regional Queensland. It was one of Sunbus' operations. As of 2022 Sunbus has changed its n ...
*
Sunbus Sunshine Coast
*
Sunbus Townsville
Sunbus Townsville was the principal bus operator in Townsville, Queensland, Australia, operating services under the Translink (Queensland) scheme in Regional Queensland. It is one of Sunbus' operations. As of 2022 Sunbus has changed its name as ...
Fleet
As at July 2022, the fleet consisted of 275 buses.
Sunbus
Australian Bus Fleet Lists When Sunbus commenced it introduced a large number of Mercedes-Benz Vario midibuses. These were replaced by Bustech bodied Volvo B7RLEs, B12BLEs, Bustech MDis and XDis. Fleet livery was light blue.
References
External links
Showbus gallery
External links
Translink timetables
{{Kinetic Group
Bus companies of Queensland
Transport companies established in 1995
Kinetic Group companies
1995 establishments in Australia