ComfortDelGro Australia is a major Australian public transport company and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Singapore-listed company ComfortDelGro. Founded in October 2005 as ComfortDelGro Cabcharge, a joint venture between ComfortDelGro (51%) and Australian-listed Cabcharge (49%), it became fully owned by ComfortDelGro in 2017. It operates public transport, taxi and patient transport services nationwide across Australia, except in the states of Tasmania and South Australia.
A joint venture, known as ComfortDelGro Cabcharge (CDC), was established between ComfortDelGro (51%) and Cabcharge Australia (49%) in October 2005 to purchase loss-making Westbus Group, which included Westbus (both Australia & UK), Hillsbus and Blue Ribbon from National Express and the Bosnjak family.[4] Blue Ribbon was rebranded Hunter Valley Buses at the same time. After the purchase, Westbus UK continued independently from the Westbus in Australia, despite bearing the latter's name, old logo and livery to this day. It became part of CityFleet Networks, initially also a joint venture between ComfortDelGro and Cabcharge, and now a wholly owned subsidiary of ComfortDelGro in the United Kingdom.[5] Cabcharge sold both of its stakes in CDC and CityFleet to ComfortDelGro in February and June 2017 respectively.[6][7][8]
In August 2006, the routes of Baxter's Bus Lines were purchased by and absorbed into Westbus Region 3 operations.[9][10] In August 2007, Morisset Bus Service, Sugar Valley Coachlines and Toronto Bus Service were purchased and absorbed into Hunter Valley Buses.[11] In June 2008 a bus charter division was established under the Charterplus name.
In November 2008, it was announced that Kefford Corporation in Victoria would be acquired.[12] The acquisition was finalised on 23 February 2009.[13] The group was renamed CDC Victoria, but the names of the bus companies within the group were retained until replaced by the CDC brand in 2014.
In September 2012, Deane's Transit Group comprising Deane's Buslines (renamed as Qcity Transit) and Transborder Express in southern New South Wales were purchased.[14][15] In August 2014, CDC purchased Blue Mountains Bus Company, which was subsequently renamed Blue Mountains Transit in December 2014.[16]
In December 2016, ComfortDelgro announced it had agreed to purchase Cabcharge's 49% stake.[6][17][18] The sale was completed on 16 February 2017 after Foreign Investment Review Board approval was granted.[19] The former joint venture was then renamed ComfortDelGro Corporation Australia, still keeping the abbreviation CDC.
In November 2018, the Buslink business was acquired with 401 buses operating in the Northern Territory, Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.[26][27] In the same month, Charterplus was renamed CDC Travel.
In April 2019, ComfortDelGro acquired Blanch's Bus Company and Brunswick Valley Coaches with a fleet of 48 buses and coaches in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales.[28][29] In the same month, ComfortDelGro announced it would formally establish a ComfortDelGro Corporation Australia office. Nicholas Yap, who was the incumbent CEO of CDC Victoria, was appointed as the inaugural CEO of ComfortDelGro Australia, effective 1 July 2019.[2][30][31]
In mid-2019, two of Buslink's operations, Buslink Sunraysia and Buslink Broken Hill, moved to the control of CDC Victoria.[32] In March 2020, these operations were rebranded to CDC Mildura and CDC Broken Hill respectively.[33] In October 2020, the Buslink Queensland operations were rebranded to CDC Queensland, with Buslink Sunshine Coast and Buslink Gladstone rebranded to CDC Sunshine Coast and CDC Gladstone respectively.[34][35]
In October 2021, CDC acquired a school bus contract and five buses from KA & VK Stubbs in Narrabri, New South Wales. The school bus operation was merged into CDC's existing Forest Coach Lines business in Narrabri and Wee Waa.[40]
In November 2022, it was announced that CDC retained and was awarded the contracts for Sydney bus regions 4 (Hillsbus) and 14 (Forest Coach Lines) in Sydney, as well as winning the contract for region 12 (consolidated into region 14).[42][43] The Hillsbus and Forest Coach Lines (in Sydney) brands were replaced by the CDC NSW brand when the new contracts for region 4 and the consolidated region 14 began in April and May 2023 respectively.
In August 2023, CDC moved its national head office to the Melbourne CBD after three years in Malvern and a year in Camberwell prior to that.[44][45] In December 2023, CDC entered into a scheme of arrangement to purchase its former joint venture partner A2B Australia (which had rebranded from Cabcharge in 2018), subject to shareholder and regulatory approval.[46]
CDC's Regional Australia Division (RAD) was established in early 2021 and has responsibilities over the Northern Territory, Queensland, the Australian Capital Territory and regional NSW (Blanch's, CDC Canberra and Forest outside Sydney) operations.[47][48]
CDC NSW is the first of ComfortDelGro Australia's bus operations in Australia. In 2005, Westbus, Hillsbus and Blue Ribbon were the first three bus companies to be purchased by ComfortDelGro Cabcharge. Since then, ComfortDelGro Australia continued to acquire bus operations across New South Wales. The CDC NSW brand was established in 2017 to be the umbrella brand of ComfortDelGro's operations in the state.[49]
Between April and May 2023, the Hillsbus and Forest Coach Lines (Sydney only) brands were replaced by the CDC NSW brand.[42][43]
In February 2009, when ComfortDelGro Cabcharge entered the Victorian bus market with the acquisition of Kefford Corporation for A$149 million, with its fleet of 328 buses and six depots.[12][13] Kefford was immediately renamed CDC Victoria. The fleets retained their individual identities and liveries, with small CDC Victoria markings, until they were rebranded to their respective CDC brands in 2014.[50]
CDC Northern Territory is a bus operator which operates in Alice Springs, Darwin, Palmerston, Jabiru and Humpty Doo in Northern Territory. It was rebranded from Buslink in July 2022, after ComfortDelGro acquired Buslink in 2018.[41] It operates all of Darwin and Palmerston's bus services.[51]
CDC Queensland a bus operator in Queensland, operating in Gladstone and Sunshine Coast as CDC Gladstone and CDC Sunshine Coast respectively. It was renamed from Buslink Queensland on 1 October 2020.[34][35] ComfortDelGro acquired Rockhampton-based Young's Bus Service in 2021.[36]
National Patient Transport
National Patient Transport is one of the largest private providers of non-emergency patient transport services in Australia. ComfortDelGro acquired National Patient Transport in April 2018.[22]
Western Australia
Swan Taxis
Swan Taxis Toyota Camry in November 2018, bearing the ComfortDelGro name below the Swan Taxis logo
ComfortDelGro fully owns Swan Taxis, a taxi company operates taxis in Perth. Swan Taxis was formed by Matt Reid in 1928. In October 2010, it was acquired by ComfortDelGro after an offer was made in July earlier that year.[52][53][54] In October 2017, Swan Taxis acquired Metro WA Taxi Management Pty Ltd (Metro Taxi), the largest taxi management company in Perth.[54] The acquisition marked Swan Taxis' entry into fleet management and ownership.[55]
Being ComfortDelGro Cabcharge joint venture became wholly owned by ComfortDelGro since acquisition, the Swan Taxis operation was never part of the joint venture, and therefore remains (as of 2023[update]) a direct subsidiary of Singapore's ComfortDelGro rather than a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro Corporation Australia.[3]:218
Purple Coaches
Purple Coaches is a private charter bus operator based in Bayswater, Perth. It was acquired by ComfortDelGro in August 2018.[56] As of December 2018, Purple Coaches (legal name ComforDelGro Swan Pty Ltd) is a subsidiary of Swans Taxis, and hence it is also not a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro Corporation Australia.[57]
Related Research Articles
ComfortDelGro Corporation Limited, commonly known as ComfortDelGro, is a multi-national transport group based in Singapore. It is listed on the Singapore Exchange that operates more than 40,000 vehicles across 12 countries. It was formed on 29 March 2003 through a merger of Singaporean land transport companies Comfort Group and DelGro Corporation.
Driver Group is a bus and coach operator in Melbourne, Australia. In July 2013 the five bus routes it operated were sold to CDC Victoria and was rebranded CDC Melbourne afterwards.
CDC Melbourne is a bus operator in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It operates 55 bus routes under contract to Public Transport Victoria. It is one of the brands of CDC Victoria, which is in turn a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro Australia.
CDC Victoria is a transport company which operates in Victoria and is a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro Australia. It was renamed from Kefford Corporation, which was acquired by ComfortDelGro Cabcharge in February 2009.
Westbus was an Australian bus and coach operator that operated bus services in Western Sydney from 1955 until October 2013. Founded by the Bosnjak family, it later became a subsidiary of National Express and later ComfortDelGro Cabcharge.
Hillsbus was an Australian bus company that operated services in the Hills District of Sydney. Founded in 2004 when National Express merged its Glenorie Bus Company and Westbus subsidiaries, it was later part of ComfortDelGro Australia. In early 2023, the Hillsbus brand was replaced by ComfortDelGro's CDC NSW brand.
Transborder Express was an Australian bus and coach company based in Yass that operated from 1954 until 2023. It was a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro Australia from 2012, who merged the company into CDC Canberra in 2023.
CDC Geelong, formerly known as Benders Busways, is a bus company operating in Geelong, Victoria, Australia, with routes as well as charters. It is a subsidiary of CDC Victoria, in turn a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro Australia, in turn a subsidiary of Singapore-based ComfortDelGro.
CDC Northern Territory is a bus operator providing services in Alice Springs, Bathchelor, Darwin, Palmerston, Jabiru and Humpty Doo. It is the largest operator in the Northern Territory and the sole operator of the Darwinbus network.
CDC Canberra, formerly Qcity Transit, is an Australian bus operator based in Queanbeyan, New South Wales. It operates services from Queanbeyan to Canberra, Bungendore and Yass. It is a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro Australia.
CDC Queensland, formerly Buslink Queensland, is an Australian bus operator in the Gladstone, Rockhampton and Sunshine Coast regions of Queensland. It is a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro Australia.
Transdev Australasia is an operator of bus, ferry, light rail and rail services in Australia and New Zealand. It is a subsidiary of French-based, international Transdev. It was formed in 2013 by grouping the operations of Veolia Transport Australia and former Transdev together, as a result of the global rebranding from Veolia Transdev to Transdev.
Harris Park Transport was an Australian bus company operating services in the Hills District and Southern suburbs of Sydney.
Sydney, Australia is served by a number of bus operators, with Transit systems the largest privately owned operator in New South Wales as of January 2024 when the company took-over Transdev Liverpool, Busabout and Interline. Other major operators include CDC and Busways. Most services are provided as part of the city's integrated public transport system, with routes, fares, service levels, fleet specifications and customer service standards determined by Transport for NSW. A small number of services operate outside of this network.
Coastal Liner is an Australian bus company operating services on the New South Wales Central Coast. It is a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro Australia.
CDC Broken Hill, formerly Buslink Broken Hill and Murton's City Bus, is a bus operator in the Australian city of Broken Hill. It is a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro Australia.
A2B Australia is an Australian based taxi operator.
CityFleet Networks, also known as CityFleet, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore-based ComfortDelGro that operates coach services under the brand Westbus UK, as well as taxi services in a number of UK cities under the brands ComCab, CityFleet Business and Comfort Executive.
Hunter Valley Buses is an Australian 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, now ComfortDelGro Australia.
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. Beginning from 2023, its Hillsbus, Forest Coach Lines and Blanch's Bus Company brands were phased out in favour of the CDC NSW brand.
References
↑ "Contact Us". ComfortDelGro Australia. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
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