CDC NSW

CDC NSW is an Australian bus operator in New South Wales, Australia. It is an umbrella brand of ComfortDelGro Australia established in 2017 to cover the latter's New South Wales operations, some of which had been owned by ComfortDelGro since 2005. It was subsequently established as a legal entity (company) in 2019.[2]

CDC NSW
ParentComfortDelGro Australia
Founded2005 (operations)
2017 (brand)
2019 (company)
Headquarters29 Foundry Road[1]
Seven Hills, New South Wales
Service areaSydney
Blue Mountains
Hunter Region
Southern Tablelands
Mid North Coast
North West Slopes
Service typeBus operator
OperatorHillsbus
Hunter Valley Buses
Forest Coach Lines
Blue Mountains Transit
CDC Broken Hill
CDC Canberra
Websitecdcbus.com.au

The CDC NSW operations do not include the CDC Broken Hill, even though the operation is located in New South Wales. Together with CDC Mildura, they are managed by CDC Victoria.[3]

From April 2023, the CDC NSW brand will replace the branding of its Hillsbus and Forest Coach Lines operations in Sydney.

History

In 2016, Singaporean company ComfortDelGro bought out ComfortDelGro Cabcharge from its joint venture partner Cabcharge and renamed the company to ComfortDelGro Australia. The CDC NSW brand began to appear in early 2017 as an umbrella branding of ComfortDelGro Australia's operations in New South Wales, which at the time consisted of Hillsbus, Blue Mountains Transit, Hunter Valley Buses, QCity Transit, Transborder Express and Charterplus. The logo was introduced on its website in April 2017.[4]

In following few years since, ComfortDelGro Australia acquired a number of bus companies in Australia, some in New South Wales such as Forest Coach Lines. However, until 2023, the majority of the New South Wales operations were not rebranded, unlike its Victorian counterparts which had been rebranded to CDC in 2014.

CDC NSW became the largest commuter bus operator in 2018/2019, with the acquisition of Forest Coach Lines, Coastal Liner and Blanch's Bus Company in that period.[5]

In March 2022, ComfortDelGro Australia announced it intended to rebrand all of its operations in New South Wales under the CDC NSW brand.[6][7] Following it successfully tendering to continue operating regions 4 and 14 in Sydney, ComfortDelGro Australia announced that its Forest Coach Lines (Sydney only) and Hillsbus subsidiaries will both be rebranded when the new contracts commence in April and May 2023.[8][9][10]

Operations

Hillsbus

Hillsbus Volgren bodied Scania L94UB in September 2022

Hillsbus a bus operator who operates bus services in the Hills District in Sydney. It was one of the first companies to be bought by ComfortDelGro Cabcharge in 2005. Since 2005, Hillsbus' services have formed Sydney Bus Region 4.[11] In August 2013 Hillsbus successfully tendered to operate the Region 4 services for another five years from August 2014.[12][13]

Hillsbus will be rebranded as CDC NSW when the new contract for Region 4 commences in April 2023.[8][9]

Hunter Valley Buses

Hunter Valley Buses is a bus operator who operates bus, coach and charter services in the Central Coast and Hunter regions of New South Wales. Previously known as Blue Ribbon, it was one of the first companies to be bought by ComfortDelGro Cabcharge in 2005. Since 2008, Hunter Valley Buses' services have formed Outer Sydney Metropolitan Bus Regions 2 and 4.[14] In August 2018, its service area expanded to include Outer Sydney Metropolitan Bus Region 11 after the purchase of Coastal Liner.

CDC Travel

CDC Travel is CDC's bus charter division for its Sydney and Blue Mountains operations.[15] Initially established as Charterplus in 2008 to centralise the charter operations between the Hillsbus depots, this was expanded to the Westbus depots in 2009.[16] It organises charters for the CDC group, CDC rail bus workings, as well as CDC's special event commitments. Charterplus was renamed CDC Travel in November 2018. Originally based at Bonnyrigg, all Sydney CDC Travel vehicles are now based at the St Marys depot with some vehicles based in the Blue Mountains.

As of July 2022, CDC Travel operates 57 buses transferred from both the New South Wales and Victorian operations.[17]

Blue Mountains Transit

Blue Mountains Transit Volgren bodied Volvo B7RLE at Scenic World in June 2021

In August 2014, CDC purchased Blue Mountains Bus Company with 101 buses.[18][19] It operated depots in Emu Plains, Leura and Valley Heights.[20] Founded in 1951 as Pearce Omnibus, it operated services in the lower Blue Mountains. In 1999, it expanded with the purchase of Katoomba-Leura Bus Service, followed in 2002 by Blue Mountains Bus Co. On 1 December 2014, CDC formally took over the operations of Blue Mountains Bus Company and rebranded it as Blue Mountains Transit.

Blue Mountains Transit now operates 73 buses as of July 2022, across the same 3 depots, which includes the recent additions of 14 ex-StationLink buses in July 2019.[21]

CDC Canberra

Qcity Transit ABM bodied Irisbus Agoraline in February 2021

In September 2012, CDC purchased Deane's Transit Group which comprised Deane's Buslines which operates local services in Queanbeyan and into Canberra, and Transborder Express which runs services between Yass, Murrumbateman, Hall and Canberra. Both brands also operate school services within their service region. On 8 July 2013, Deane's Buslines was rebranded as Qcity Transit.

As of July 2022, the combined QCity Transit and Transborder Express fleet consists of 149 buses.[22]

In January 2023, Qcity Transit and Transborder Express were rebranded as CDC Canberra.[23]

Forest Coach Lines

Forest Coach Lines Bustech bodied Volvo B7RLE in June 2015

Forest Coach Lines is a bus and coach operator which operates in the Northern Suburbs of Sydney, the Mid North Coast, and North West Slopes regions in New South Wales. Since 2005, Forest Coach Lines' services in Sydney have formed Sydney Bus Region 14. It was acquired by ComfortDelGro in August 2018.[24][25]

In October 2021, CDC merged its newly acquired school bus business from KA & VK Stubbs Pty Ltd into its Forest Coach Lines business in Narrabri and Wee Waa.[26]

The Sydney (Region 14) operations will be rebranded as CDC NSW when the new contract for Region 14 commences in May 2023.[8][9]

Blanch's Bus Company

Blanch's Bus Company, established in 1976, operates scheduled route and school bus services in the Ballina, Lennox Head, Byron Bay and Mullumbimby areas of Northern NSW out of depots in Ballina and Billinudgel. Since 2010, it also owned Brunswick Valley Coaches, while retaining the latter's brand.[27]

Blanch's Bus Company and Brunswick Valley Coaches were acquired by ComfortDelGro in April 2019.[28]

As of July 2022, the fleet consists of 49 buses.

Former operations

While CDC NSW was only established in 2017, Westbus was one of the first three New South Wales bus companies to be acquired by ComfortDelgro Cabcharge in 2005.

Westbus

Westbus Volgren bodied Volvo B7RLE at Sydney Olympic Park in March 2013

Westbus was a bus operator who operated bus services in Western Sydney. It was one of the first companies to be bought by ComfortDelGro Cabcharge in 2005. Until its cessation, Westbus' services were part of Sydney Bus Regions 1 and 3.[29][30] In 2012, these regions were put out to tender by Transport for NSW. Westbus' bids to retain both regions were not successful, with the Region 1 services operating out of St Marys and Windsor passing to Busways, while the Region 3 services operated by Bonnyrigg and Girraween passing to Transit Systems Sydney, both in October 2013.[31][32][33] As a result, Westbus ceased to operate routes, with remaining bus fleet transferred to other ComfortDelGro Cabcharge subsidiaries.

References

  1. "Head Office and Depots". CDC NSW. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
  2. "Historical details for ABN 92 054 096 892". ABN Lookup. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
  3. "CDC Victoria - Unite! Newsletter - January 2022" (PDF). CDC Victoria. January 2022. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  4. "CDC NSW". 2017. Archived from the original on 22 April 2017.
  5. "Buslink Sunraysia & Broken Hill Officially Renamed CDC Mildura & CDC Broken Hill". CDC Victoria. 1 March 2020.
  6. CDC's NSW operations to trade under one name Australian Bus issue 110 April 2022 page 7
  7. CDC New South Wales Australian Bus Panorama issue 37/6 May 2022 page 42
  8. "ComfortDelGro Australia Group Wins Bid to Expand Bus Services in Sydney". CDC NSW. 7 November 2022. Archived from the original on 7 November 2022.
  9. "ComfortDelGro wins city bus contracts worth A$1.7b in Sydney". The Business Times Singapore. 7 November 2022.
  10. "ComfortDelGro Australia wins bid to expand Sydney bus services". Australasian Bus & Coach. 9 November 2022. Archived from the original on 9 November 2022.
  11. Region 4 Archived 25 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine Transport NSW
  12. More than 60 new buses and improved customer service with new bus contracts Transport for NSW 29 August 2013
  13. Annual Report 2013 page 4 Archived 5 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine Cabcharge
  14. Outer Metropolitan Sydney Bus Contract Regions 1, 2, 3 and 4 Archived 22 June 2014 at the Wayback Machine, NSW Government Transport and Infrastructure, Retrieved 8 July 2014
  15. CDC Travel CDC NSW
  16. "History & operations". CDC Victoria. Archived from the original on 20 March 2019. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  17. CDC Group Australian Bus Fleetlists
  18. Cabcharge buys bus company for $26.5 million Blue Mountains Gazette 13 August 2014
  19. "Australia - Sydney, New South Wales". ComfortDelGro. Archived from the original on 3 November 2014. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
  20. Blue Mountains Bus Company Australian Bus Fleet Lists
  21. CDC/Blue Mountains Transit Australian Bus Fleet Lists
  22. Deane's Buslines Australian Bus Fleet Lists
  23. "History". CDC Canberra. Retrieved 2022-12-28.
  24. "ComfortDelGro Deepens Footprint in Australia With Two Acquisitions Totalling A$134.45 Million". ComfortDelgro. 7 August 2018. Archived from the original on 8 August 2018. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  25. "ComfortDelGro invests S$136.5m in Australian bus assets". Channel NewsAsia. 7 August 2018. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  26. "ComfortDelGro Australia Increases Presence in Regional NSW". ComfortDelGro Australia. 1 October 2021. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
  27. B&E Blanch Bus Lists of Australia
  28. "Comfortdelgro Further Deepens Footprint in Australia With A$28.3 Million Bus Acquisition". ComfortDelGro. 23 April 2019. Archived from the original on 8 May 2019. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
  29. Region 1 Archived 25 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine Transport NSW
  30. Region 3 Archived 25 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine Transport NSW
  31. Cut costs or bus contracts will go to private sector, minister tells drivers Sydney Morning Herald 7 November 2012
  32. Busways wins 300 bus contract in Western Sydney Archived 26 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine Busways 7 November 2012
  33. Transit Systems awarded Sydney buses contract Archived 25 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine Transit Systems 7 November 2012
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