Sunbus Rockhampton previously Capricorn Sunbus was the principal bus operator 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 ) , 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_ ...

operating services under the QConnect scheme in Regional Queensland. It was one of

Sunbus Sunbus was an Australian bus operator in the Australian state of Queensland. It operated in 5 regional areas across the state under contract to the Government of Queensland under the TransLink banner. As of 2022 Sunbus has changed its name as ...

' operations. 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 May 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, commenced operating the route services in

formerly operated by

Rockhampton City Council The City of Rockhampton was a local government area in the Central Queensland region of Queensland, Australia, encompassing most of the suburban area of the regional city of Rockhampton. The city covered an area of , and existed as a local gove ...

."Rocky Transit" ''Australian Bus Panorama'' 11/2 September 1995 page 43 Initially branded Rocky transit it was later renamed Capricorn Sunbus. 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 April 2008, Blundred sold Capricorn Sunbus along with the other

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 April 2019, Transit Australia Group was purchased by AATS Group, parent company of Skybus and majority owned by

OPTrust OPTrust, officially the OPSEU Pension Trust, is a legal trust formed by the contractual agreement between the two plan sponsors, Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) and the Government of Ontario. It manages one of Canada's largest pensi ...

. In August 2019, AATS Group was rebranded the

Kinetic Group Kinetic Group (formerly known as AATS Group) is an Australian-based multinational bus company that wholly owns a number of bus operations in Australia and New Zealand, including the SkyBus business, which operates bus services to a number of a ...

. 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.

Service Area

Sunbus operates routes in most Rockhampton suburbs including the northern suburb of Parkhurst, the eastern suburbs of Lakes Creek and Koongal, the southern suburbs of The Range and Allenstown and the western suburb of West Rockhampton. The area with the best service coverage is the busy North Rockhampton arterial road Musgrave Street in North Rockhampton. The Sunbus depot is located in the suburb of Kawana.

Fleet

As of June 2013, the fleet consisted of 17 buses, primarily

Bustech BusTech Group is an Australian bus-building manufacturer with production facilities in Burleigh Heads, Queensland, Edinburgh Adelaide, South Australia and Burnie, Tasmania. BusTech Group produces fully built up integral route buses, school bus ...

MDis and XDis.Sunbus Rockhampton
Australian Bus Fleet Lists The fleet livery is light blue. It commenced operations with a fleet of ex

Public Transport Corporation The Public Transport Corporation (PTC) was a Victoria State Government owned statutory authority formed under the Transport Act 1983 which operated passenger and freight trains, trams and bus services. The PTC was also responsible for directly ...

Ansair Ansair was an Australian bus bodybuilder owned by Ansett Transport Industries and later the Clifford Corporation. History Ansair was founded by Reg Ansett in 1945 at Tullamarine, to make bodies for his Ansett Pioneer coaches, as well as manufa ...

bodied

Volvo B59 The Volvo B59 was a rear-engined bus chassis manufactured by Volvo in Sweden between 1970 and 1979. The first Volvo B59 was delivered to the Københavns Sporveje (The City Transport Authority in Copenhagen, Denmark) in 1970, and was fitted with ...

s. These were replaced by a fleet of

Mercedes-Benz Vario The Mercedes-Benz Vario (model designation BM667/668/670) is a full-size commercial heavy van manufactured by Mercedes-Benz between 1996 and 2013. History The Vario was launched in 1996 as a facelifted version of the Mercedes-Benz T2. The bod ...

References

{{Kinetic Group Bus companies of Queensland Kinetic Group companies Rockhampton Transport companies established in 1995 1995 establishments in Australia

History

Service Area

Fleet

See also

References