CDC NSW is a 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.[4] Beginning from 2023, its Hillsbus, Forest Coach Lines (Sydney only) and Blanch's Bus Company brands were phased out in favour of the CDC NSW brand.
The CDC NSW operations do not include CDC Broken Hill, even though the operation is located in New South Wales. The operation, together with CDC Mildura, is managed by CDC Victoria.[5] However, CDC NSW includes CDC Canberra, which is actually based in the neighbouring New South Wales city of Queanbeyan despite its name.
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.[6]
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.[7]
In March 2022, ComfortDelGro Australia announced it intended to rebrand all of its operations in New South Wales under the CDC NSW brand.[8][9] 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 would both be rebranded when the new contracts commence in April and May 2023.[10][11][12] This was followed by the rebranding of Blanch's Bus Company and Brunswick Valley Coaches on 29 January 2024,[13] and the remainder of Forest Coach Lines on 31 March 2025.[14][15]
In February 2023, CDC NSW and Red Bus Services set up a joint venture known as Red Bus CDC NSW to bid on a renewed Sydney Outer Metropolitan Bus Region 7 contract, where Red Bus was the incumbent operator.[16] A new eight-year contract was awarded to the joint venture in July 2023.[17][18] On 6 July 2024, the new contract commenced and Red Bus Services was rebranded Red Bus CDC NSW. Effective from the same day, the Sloane family (owners of Red Bus) sold Red Bus and its 50% shareholding in the joint venture to CDC NSW, with Red Bus CDC NSW fully owned by CDC NSW.[19]
In November 2022, it was announced that CDC NSW retained Regions 4 and 14, including Region 12 which was consolidated into Region 14. The Hillsbus and Forest Coach Lines (only the Sydney operations) brands were phased out in favour of the CDC NSW brand, with the new contracts for Regions 4 and 14 commencing in April and May 2023 respectively.[10][11] As a result of Region 12 consolidating into Region 14, CDC NSW also took over services from Transdev NSW.
CDC NSW operates the following services in Sydney:
CDC NSW also operated route 535 from Parramatta to Carlingford until January 2025.[20] The route was a rail replacement bus service for the closed Carlingford railway line, until the line was converted and re-opened as part of the Parramatta Light Rail in December 2024. Unlike other bus routes, route 535 charged train fares instead of bus fares.[21]
As of January 2025, CDC NSW in Sydney (excluding CDC Charter's St Mary's depot) operates 767 buses (including 2 electric buses) across seven depots:[1][22]
Foundry Road in Seven Hills – Head Office of CDC NSW – 183 buses
Outside of Sydney, CDC NSW also operates scheduled route, school bus and coach services in Northern NSW out of depots in Ballina and Billinudgel. Its service areas include Ballina, Lennox Head, Byron Bay and Mullumbimby. As of January 2025, the fleet consists of 48 buses.
Other operations
The following CDC NSW operations have their own separate branding or name.
CDC Charter is CDC's bus charter division. It organises charters for the CDC group, CDC rail bus workings, as well as CDC's special event commitments.
Initially established as Charterplus in 2008 to centralise the charter operations between the Hillsbus depots, this was expanded to the Westbus depots in 2009.[24] Charterplus was renamed CDC Travel in November 2018, and covered Sydney and Blue Mountains, while charter operations in other areas were covered by their respective local CDC bus company.[25] Charterplus was originally based at Bonnyrigg, but after the rename, all Sydney CDC Travel vehicles were then based at the St Marys depot, while others were based in the Blue Mountains.
In early 2023, CDC Travel became part of the new CDC Charter brand, which covers all of CDC's charter operations within the state. This included the charter operations of Coastal Liner.[26] Both CDC Travel and Coastal Liner brands were gradually phased out for CDC Charter.
As of January 2025, CDC Charter operates 76 buses transferred from both the New South Wales and Victorian operations.[22]
In August 2014, CDC purchased Blue Mountains Bus Company with 101 buses.[27][28] It operated depots in Emu Plains, Leura and Valley Heights.[29] 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.
As of January 2025, Blue Mountains Transit operates 73 buses.[30]
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.
In January 2023, Qcity Transit and Transborder Express were rebranded as CDC Canberra.[31]
As of January 2025, the CDC Canberra fleet consists of 154 buses.[32]
Forest Coach Lines is a bus and coach operator which operates in the Mid North Coast, and North West Slopes regions in New South Wales. Until 2023, Forest Coach Lines also operated buses in the Northern Suburbs of Sydney in Sydney Bus Region 14, with the branding phased out and replaced by the CDC NSW brand.[10][11] Forest Coach Lines was acquired by ComfortDelGro in August 2018.[33][34]
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.[35]
Red Bus CDC NSW is a bus operator which operates in the Central Coast region. Since 2024, Red Bus CDC NSW have formed Outer Sydney Metropolitan Bus Region 7. Red Bus CDC NSW was initially formed as a joint venture with Red Bus, who was the incumbent operator for Region 7 prior to 2024, and as part of a new bus contract, the joint venture was to take over Red Bus as the operator for Region 7 in July 2024. Effective from the start of the contract, CDC NSW acquired Red Bus Service and gained full ownership of the operation.[19]
Former operations
While CDC NSW was only established in 2017, Westbus and Hillsbus were two of the first three New South Wales bus companies to be acquired by ComfortDelgro Cabcharge in 2005.
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.[36][37] 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.[38][39][40] As a result, Westbus ceased to operate routes, with remaining bus fleet transferred to other ComfortDelGro Cabcharge subsidiaries.
Hillsbus was a bus operator which operated bus services in the Hills District. It was one of the first companies to be bought by ComfortDelGro Cabcharge in 2005.[41] In August 2013, Hillsbus successfully tendered to operate the Region 4 services for another five years from August 2014.[42][43] The Hillsbus brand was phased out and replaced by the CDC NSW brand in 2023.
Blanch's Bus Company
Blanch's Bus Company, established in 1976, operated 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.[44]
Blanch's Bus Company and Brunswick Valley Coaches were acquired by ComfortDelGro in April 2019.[45] Both brands were phased out and replaced by the CDC NSW brand in January 2024. At the time, the fleet consisted of 46 buses.
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