Murrays Coaches is an Australian express and coach charter company.

History

Murrays was founded by Bill Murray in the early 1950s as a school bus operator in

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

. The operation was taken over by Ron Murray in 1970 by which time it was operating services to

Captains Flat Captains Flat is a town in the Southern Tablelands of rural New South Wales, Australia, in Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council. It is south of Queanbeyan. Captains Flat township is bounded by the non-urban parts of the locality of Captains Flat ...

, Kowen Forest,

Naas Naas ( ; or ) is the county town of County Kildare in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In 2022, it had a population of 26,180, making it the largest town in County Kildare (ahead of Newbridge, County Kildare, Newbridge) and the List of urban ar ...

Tidbinbilla Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve is a protected area, on the fringe of Namadgi National Park. Tidbinbilla is a short drive from the capital city of Australia, Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory. The nature reserve consists of a large val ...

, Uriarra and Williamsdale with 10 buses. Murrays were operating seven school buses when the services were taken over by Deane's Buslines in November 1997. At some point Murrays diversified into coach operation, initially to the

Snowy Mountains The Snowy Mountains, known informally as "The Snowies", is an IBRA subregion in southern New South Wales, Australia, and is the tallest mountain range in mainland Australia, being part of the continent's Great Dividing Range, a cordillera syste ...

. By the mid-1980s Murrays were operating interstate services from Canberra to

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Wollongong Wollongong ( ; Dharawal: ''Woolyungah'') is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near water' or 'sound ...

and

Narooma Narooma () is a town in the Australian state of New South Wales on the far south coast. The town is on the Princes Highway, which crosses the Wagonga Inlet to North Narooma. The heritage town of Tilba, New South Wales, Central Tilba is nearby t ...

. These services continue today. In May 1979, Murrays purchased Sydney bus routes 6 Arncliffe to Earlwood and 49 Carlton to Rockdale. These were sold in October 1982 to Brighton Bus Lines after the laws requiring tourist vehicle licences to be attached to route service operators were relaxed. In late 1988, an operation commenced on the Gold Coast followed in 1989 by

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. Murrays expanded rapidly in the early 1990s, capitalising on the growth of inbound tourism and the departure of some of its rivals. In May 1998 the Koala Tours business in Sydney was purchased. In May 2015, Murrays commenced operating a service in Queensland from Miles to

Brisbane Airport Brisbane Airport is an international airport serving Brisbane, the capital of the Australian state of Queensland. The airport services 31 airlines flying to 50 domestic and 29 international destinations, total amounting to more than 22.7 mill ...

Fleet

Murrays initial coach fleet was built up with ex Ansett Pioneer GMC PD4107s and

Mercedes-Benz O302 The Mercedes-Benz O302 is a coach chassis manufactured by Mercedes-Benz between 1965 and 1974. History The Mercedes-Benz O302 was launched in May 1965 as a replacement for the O321. It was manufactured by Mercedes-Benz's Mannheim plant. Its bo ...

and O303s. In the mid 1980s Murrays purchased a number of new Mercedes-Benz,

Volvo The Volvo Group (; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distribution and sale of truck ...

and Austral coaches. Following the collapse of Deluxe Coachlines and Sunliner Express amongst others, Murrays was able to renew its fleet with large numbers of near-new Austral, Denning and

Scania Scania ( ), also known by its native name of Skåne (), is the southernmost of the historical provinces of Sweden, provinces () of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous w ...

coaches. In the mid-1990s it took delivery of 120 PMC Australia bodied MANs and Scanias. Between 2008 and 2011, Murrays conducted a major fleet renewal purchasing over 60 BCI coaches. As at January 2020, the fleet consisted of 199 vehicles.Murrays Coaches
Australian Bus Fleet List Until the early 1990s, Murrays had a livery of three greens and black when a new livery of white with green signwriting was adopted.

References

External links

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{{Regional NSW public transport Bus companies of Australia Companies based in Canberra