Greyhound Australia

MotorCoach Australia in Canberra in August 2009
Parent	KordaMentha (85%) Chapman Group (15%)
Founded	1928
Headquarters	Pinkenba
Service type	Coach operator
Destinations	Adelaide Brisbane Broome Cairns Canberra Darwin Melbourne Sydney Toowoomba various regional destinations
Fleet	241 (March 2015)
Website	www.greyhound.com.au

Greyhound Australia is Australia's only long national distance coach operator running services in all mainland states and territories. It is owned by KordaMentha (85%) and the Chapman Group (15%).

History

Mills-Tui bodied Scania K380IB at Wagga Wagga station in March 2009

Irizar Century bodied Scania K380IB at Wagga Wagga station in July 2009

Irizar Century bodied Mercedes-Benz OH1830 in Perth in October 2013 with fluorescent yellow stripe and hazard light for operation on mining sites

Greyhound Coaches was formed in 1928 by Russell Penfold with a service between Toowoomba and Brisbane. In 1956 and again in 1962 Greyhound attempted to enter the interstate passenger express field but without success. In 1968, after entering the market a third time, the company succeeded in establishing services between Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide with Perth and Darwin added in the 1970s creating a national coach company.^[1]

In 1975, the South Australian operations were franchised to Adelaide operators Murray Valley Coaches and Stateliner.^[2]

In November 1989, the Penfold family sold Greyhound Coaches to Stateliner with the exception of the Brisbane - Gold Coast and Brisbane - Toowoomba services that were sold separately.^[3] In 1992 Greyhound, Pioneer and Bus Australia merged with the combined operation rebranded Greyhound Pioneer Australia.^[4][5]

In February 1999, Queensland Coach Company was formed by Greyhound Pioneer Australia to body 94 Scania coaches over five years to renew the fleet.^[6] Originally an alliance was formed with bodybuilder Alan B Denning with it proposed the Galaxy body design be used. But following the collapse of the Clifford Corporation, the rights to the Austral Pacific Majestic body were purchased.^[7] In July 2000, Queensland Coach Company ceased trading and was put into administration.^[8]

In March 2000, Greyhound Pioneer Australia entered discussions with McCafferty's Coaches about a potential merge.^[9][10] Subsequently Premier Motor Service made an unsuccessful takeover bid for the business.^[8][11] In September 2000, a takeover bid from McCafferty's was accepted.^[5][12][13]

In October 2004, McCafferty's sold the combined business to ANZ Bank and George Chapman with both operations rebranded as Greyhound Australia.^[5] In 2006 ANZ sold its shares to KordaMentha.^[14]

In 2005, the Sunshine Coast to Byron Bay services of Suncoast Pacific were purchased.^[15] In October 2011, the Oz Experience backpacker business was purchased.^[14]

Routes

Greyhound Australia's routes with frequencies as at March 2015 are:^[16]

Former routes

• Adelaide to Perth Nullarbor Plain service ran from the 1970s until 2005^[17]
• Toowoomba to Rockhampton ceased 31 December 2007 passing to Kynoch Coaches^[18]
• Melbourne to Toowoomba ceased March 2013^[19][20]
• Broome to Perth^[19][20]
• Brisbane to Charleville ceased 31 December 2014 passing to Bus Queensland Toowoomba^[21]
• Brisbane to Mount Isa ceased 31 December 2014 passing to Bus Queensland Toowoomba^[21]
• Townsville to Mount Isa ceased 31 December 2014 passing to Bus Queensland Toowoomba^[21]

Other services

Greyhound Australia provide coaches for transportation of mine workers, coaches used on these duties carry large fleet numbers, fluorescent yellow stripes and a roof mounted flashing orange light. Between July 2010 and June 2014, Greyhound Australia operated services between Lithgow and Gulgong, Coonabarabran and Baradine under contract to CountryLink.^[22][23][24]

Some intrastate services in Queensland are subsidised by the Queensland Government.^[21]

Fleet

In the 1970s, Greyhound imported a fleet of Eagle 05 and 10 coaches.^[25] In the 1980s it purchased Austral Tourmasters and Volgren bodied Volvo B10Ms. In 1995, it standardised on Scania coaches. More recently it has purchased Iveco, Mercedes-Benz and Volvos. As at March 2015, the fleet consisted of 241 coaches.^[26]

In the 1970s, Greyhound adopted an orange and white livery. In 1993 a grey, white and blue livery was introduced following the formation of Greyhound Pioneer Australia. McCafferty's gold livery was applied when it took over the business in 2000 before the current red livery was introduced in 2004.

Other Greyhound operations

Greyhound Australia has never had any affiliation with the FirstGroup owned Greyhound Lines, Greyhound Canada, Greyhound Mexico, or Greyhound UK operations.

References

External links

• Media related to Greyhound Australia at Wikimedia Commons
• Company website
• Showbus Greyhound gallery
• Showbus Greyhound Pioneer Australia gallery
• Showbus Greyhound Australia gallery