Punchbowl Bus Company

Punchbowl Bus Company

Parent Steve Scott
Commenced operation 1952
Headquarters Riverwood
Service type Bus services
Hubs Bankstown
Hurstville
Depots 2
Fleet 73 (January 2015)
Website www.punchbowlbus.com.au

Punchbowl Bus Company is an Australian bus company operating services in Sydney Region 5, servicing the Hurstville, Roselands, Bankstown, Strathfield and surrounding suburbs.

History

Custom Coaches bodied Volvo B7RLE at Central station in July 2013

Punchbowl Bus Company was formed in 1952 when Cornelius Griffin purchased Narwee Bus Service[1][2] operating routes:

In 1955 GP Bus Company was acquired with route:

In 1958 Punchbowl Bus Company was purchased with routes:

In 1965 routes 4 and 28 were later combined into route 244, operating between Bankstown and Hurstville via Chullora, Greenacre, Punchbowl and Roselands to give residents in the Greenacre/Chullora area direct access to the new Roselands Shopping Centre. Later when Punchbowl Bus Company took over route 37 Punchbowl - Bankstown, this route was integrated with route 33 Punchbowl - Hurstville to operate between Bankstown and Hurstville via Punchbowl and Roselands. During the late 1960s route 189 was extended from Punchbowl to Roselands, Riverwood and Lugarno replacing route 140, which initially operated between Riverwood and Lugarno. In January 1992 Revesby Bus & Coach Service's route 26 was replaced by an extension of route 188 from Punchbowl to Bankstown, and route 36 was amended to travel along the route of 26 at the Punchbowl end.[1][4] In 1989 route 108 was purchased from Southtrans.

In August 1997 the routes were renumbered into the Sydney wide scheme, including minor changes to routes.[5] The new routes were:

In April 1998 Punchbowl Bus Co purchased Canterbury Bus Lines with routes 450 Hurstville - Strathfield and 451 Roselands - Campsie.[6][7] Route 451 was extended to Hurstville later that year when part of route 947 was acquired from Saints creating a direct service from Hurstville to Campsie. The remainder of route 947 to Ramsgate was taken over by Southtrans.[1][8]

In December 2004, route 74/106 Hurstville - Kyle Bay and Connells Point was taken over from Harris Park Transport (renumbered 953) and 954 Hurstville - Hurstville Grove and Oatley from Moore's Tours.[9] In July 2005 routes 446 Roselands Shopping Centre - Kogarah and 447 Belmore - Greenacre were taken over from Pleasure Tours.[1][10]

Since 2005 Punchbowl's services have formed Sydney Bus Region 5.[11] In November 2008 Punchbowl purchased Goulburn Bus Service followed in October 2009 by neighbouring Noack's Bus Service.[12][13]

In March 2010 Punchbowl Bus Company implemented another route numbering reconfiguration as part of the integrated transport network planning process. This was done in order to provide more frequent and direct services. As a result, routes 447 and 451 were discontinued and many of the other routes modified. Several new routes were established, including the 939, 946 and 955. Punchbowl Bus Company also introduced the S14, a new service between Lakemba and Mount Lewis.

In August 2013 Punchbowl successfully tendered to operate Sydney Bus Region 5 for another five years from July 2014.[14]

Punchbowl for many years operated a coach charter operation. This had ceased by 2012 but still carries on with local charters using existing city buses in the fleet.

Depots

Punchbowl Bus Company has two depots. The main depot located at 56 Hannans Road, Riverwood, was the original depot of the Narwee Bus Company. A secondary depot operates from 187-189 Bonds Road, Riverwood. The former secondary depot was located at 60 Belmore Road, Punchbowl and closed when the new Bonds Road depot opened.

Fleet

Until the late 1980s, Punchbowl Bus Company were a loyal Leyland buyer. Following their withdrawal from the market, Hino, MAN, Scania and Volvos have been purchased. As at January 2015, the fleet consisted of 73 buses.[15]

Punchbowl operated Denning and later Mercedes-Benz and MAN coaches in its charter division.

From its foundation in 1952 the fleet livery was red and cream. In 2010 the Transport for New South Wales white and blue livery began to be applied.

Opal card

Since 16 July 2014, all buses have been equipped to accept the Opal card pre-paid ticketing system.[16]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 About Us Punchbowl Bus Company
  2. ↑ "Vale" Australian Bus Panorama 11/6 March 1996 page 21
  3. ↑ The Times January 2004 Page 6 Australian Timetable Association
  4. ↑ "Punchbowl private bus services since the late 1950s" Fleetline October 1992 page 183
  5. ↑ "Timetable and service changes" Fleetline September 1997 page 164
  6. ↑ "Private Buses" Fleetline May 1998 page 97
  7. ↑ Canterbury Bus Lines Australian Bus Fleet Lists
  8. ↑ "Peakhurst - Kogarah Route 94" Fleetline March 1999 page 43
  9. ↑ Moore;s Tours Australian Bus Fleet Lists
  10. ↑ Pleasure Tours Australian Bus Fleet Lists
  11. ↑ Region 5 Transport NSW
  12. ↑ About Us PBC Goulburn Bus Service
  13. ↑ PBC Goulburn Service Australian Bus Fleet Lists
  14. ↑ More than 60 new buses and improved customer service with new bus contracts Transport for NSW 29 August 2013
  15. ↑ Punchbowl Bus Company Australian Bus Fleet Lists
  16. ↑ Latest Opal roll out hits South West Sydney as new Opal Man campaign launches Transport for NSW 2 July 2014
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 8/31/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.