Greyhound Australia
Pinkenba, Queensland, Australia | |
Service type | Coach operator |
---|---|
Destinations | Adelaide Brisbane Broome Cairns Canberra Darwin Melbourne Sydney Toowoomba various regional destinations |
Fleet | 228 (January 2021) |
Website | www |
Greyhound Australia is an Australian coach operator that ran services in all mainland states and territories until reduction of services in the 2000s.
It is owned by Entrada Travel Group. The company was established in 1928 and is not affiliated with similarly named companies in other countries.
History
Greyhound Coaches was formed in Toowoomba 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,
In March 2000, Greyhound Pioneer Australia entered discussions with
In October 2004, McCafferty's sold the combined business to
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]
In 2019, Greyhound Australia signed a three-month contract with
In February 2021, Greyhound Australia agreed terms to sell its Greyhound Resources business that provides mine transport for workers in the Bowen Basin, Hunter Valley, South Australia and Northern Territory to the Kinetic Group with 170 vehicles. The deal is expected to close in April 2021.[17]
From 11 December 2021 onwards, Greyhound Australia will once more be servicing the intercity routes it lost on 31 December 2014 to
- Brisbane to Mount Isa via Toowoomba, Roma, Charleville, Augathella, Blackall, Longreach, Winton and Cloncurry
- Mount Isa to Brisbane via Cloncurry, Winton, Longreach, Blackall, Augathella, Charleville, Roma and Toowoomba
- Brisbane to Charleville via Toowoomba, Dalby, Chinchilla, Miles, Roma, Mitchell and Morven
- Charleville to Brisbane via Morven, Mitchell, Roma, Miles, Chinchilla, Dalby and Toowoomba
Routes
Greyhound Australia's routes, as at February 2020, are:[18]
- Sydney to Canberra
- Thredbo– snow season (June to September) only
- Sydney to Melbourne via Canberra
- Melbourne to Adelaide – operated by Firefly Express under a codeshare agreement
- Brisbane to Sydney via Pacific Highway
- Brisbane to Byron Bay
- Brisbane to Noosa Junction
- Brisbane to Hervey Bay
- Agnes Water
- Brisbane to Cairns
- Brisbane to Toowoomba
- Brisbane to Miles
- Brisbane to Charleville (Commencing 11 December 2021)
- Brisbane to Mount Isa (Commencing 11 December 2021)
- Rainbow Beach
- Mackay to Cairns
- Rockhampton to Emerald
- Longreach
- Townsville to Alice Springs
- Townsville to Mount Isa (Commencing 11 December 2021)
- Adelaide to Alice Springs
- Alice Springs to Darwin – Daily
- Darwin to Broome
Former routes
- Adelaide to Perth Nullarbor Plain service ran from the 1970s until 2005[19]
- Kynoch Coaches[20]
- Melbourne to Toowoomba ceased March 2013[21][22]
- Broome to Perth[21][22]
- Canberra to Wagga Wagga ceased in August 2017[23]
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.[24][25][26]
Some intrastate services in Queensland are subsidised by the
Fleet
In the 1970s, Greyhound imported a fleet of
Other Greyhound operations
Despite its name, Greyhound Australia has never had any affiliation with Greyhound Lines, Greyhound Canada, Greyhound Mexico or Greyhound UK.
References
- FleetlineMay 1988 page 115
- ^ "The odd coachfellows" The Age 25 September 1978
- Australian Bus Panoramaissue 5/5 March 1990 page 23
- ^ "Australian Coachlines Group" Australian Bus Panorama issue 9/5 January 1994 page 36
- ^ a b c Greyhound Australia's History Archived 25 February 2019 at the Wayback Machine Greyhound Australia
- ^ "Express" Australian Bus Panorama April 1999 issue 14/5 page 19
- ^ "Greyhound-Pioneer/Queensland Coach Co" Australian Bus Panorama October 1999 issue 15/2 page 21
- ^ a b "Greyhound/QCC/McCafferty's/Premier Motor Service" Australian Bus Panorama issue 16/1 August 2000 page 18
- ^ "Greyhound Pioneer Australia" Australian Bus Panorama issue 15/5 April 2000 page 38
- Australasian Bus & Coach
- ^ McCaffertys welcome Greyhound rejection Archived 27 June 2013 at archive.today Australasian Bus & Coach
- ^ "National & Manufacturing" Australian Bus Panorama issue 16/2 October 2000 page 19
- ^ McCaffertys finally get Greyhound Archived 27 June 2013 at archive.today Australasian Bus & Coach
- ^ Courier-Mail3 October 2011
- ^ Suncoast Pacific Coaches Archived 23 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine Bus Australia Fleet Lists
- The Guardian Australia. 28 January 2020. Archivedfrom the original on 20 February 2020. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
- ^ Greyhound Resources sold to Skybus-Kinetic Australasian Bus & Coach 4 February 2021
- ^ Timetables Archived 18 February 2020 at the Wayback Machine Greyhound Australia
- ^ Nullabor bus service proves too costly ABC News 10 October 2005
- ^ New qconnect contract boost Qld long distance bus services Archived 26 April 2022 at the Wayback Machine Queensland Government 5 February 2008
- ^ a b Greyhound drop Melbourne-Toowoomba, Perth-Broome services Archived 4 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine Backpacker Trade News 14 February 2013
- ^ a b Greyhound cancels runs Archived 4 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine Australasian Bus & Coach 1 March 2013
- ^ Frost, Jeremy (1 September 2017). "Greyhound buses cancelled from Wagga to Canberra". The Daily Advertiser. Archived from the original on 24 December 2017. Retrieved 24 December 2017.
- ^ CountryLink Greyhound Commercial
- ^ Western timetable NSW TrainLink 20 October 2013
- ^ Contract Award Notice Detail - S09014 NSW Government eTendering 1 December 2010
- ^ Long distance coaches Archived 10 May 2021 at the Wayback Machine Department of Transport & Main Roads 19 December 2014
- ^ Greyhound Archived 20 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine Driver Bus Lines
- ^ "McCaffertys Fleet List". 4 May 2004. Archived from the original on 4 May 2004. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
- ^ Greyhound Australia Archived 10 December 2020 at the Wayback Machine Bus Australia Fleet Lists
External links
- Media related to Greyhound Australia at Wikimedia Commons
- Official website
- Showbus Greyhound gallery
- Showbus Greyhound Pioneer Australia gallery
- Showbus Greyhound Australia gallery