NZ Bus

NZ Bus
Private
Industry Public transport
Founded 1992 (as Stagecoach New Zealand)
Headquarters Wellington, New Zealand
Parent Infratil
Website www.nzbus.co.nz

NZ Bus, formerly Stagecoach New Zealand, is New Zealand's largest bus company, operating in Auckland and Wellington, with a fleet of around 1,100 vehicles. It owned 96% of Fullers Ferries in Auckland but has sold this shareholding. It is a subsidiary of Infratil.

History

DesignLine bodied MAN 12.223 in the former Stagecoach livery on Queen Street, Auckland

In 1992, Stagecoach purchased Wellington City Transport, the largest bus operator in Wellington, from Wellington City Council. WCT had recently purchased the Auckland, Hutt Valley and north Wellington suburban bus operations of New Zealand Railways Road Services, then branded CityLine.

Stagecoach expanded its Auckland operations in 1998 by purchasing Transportation Auckland Corporation (trading as The Yellow Bus Company) from the Auckland Regional Council.

in November 2005, the business was sold to Infratil.[1][2] As part of the deal, Infratil were able to use the Stagecoach name and livery for five years from the sale.

In January 2008, the company bought Whangarei school and charter business Adams Travelines, which has since won the tender to provide the urban bus service for Whangarei as Citylink Whangarei, using super low floor buses.

In April 2016, NZ Bus announced that it would repower several buses with Wrightspeed gas-turbine hybrid powertrains.[3]

Company rebranding

A new Link bus near Auckland Hospital
Former name Depots New name Notes
Stagecoach Auckland North Shore
Hibiscus Coast		 North Star Rebranded on 4 December 2006.
Blue and yellow livery.
Swanson Go West Rebranded on 23 February 2008.
Green with graphics
City
Mt Roskill
Panmure		 Metrolink Rebranded on 12 October 2008.
Blue and silver and grey livery.
City The Link Rebranded on 14 September 2007.
Pale green livery.
Wiri Waka Pacific Rebranded on 16 February 2009.
Silver livery, with multi-coloured patterns influenced by traditional Maori designs.
Stagecoach Wellington Various Go Wellington Announced in November 2006.
Operating since early 2007.
Yellow and black livery.
Cityline Hutt Valley Various Valley Flyer Rebranded on 21 November 2007.
Purple and yellow livery.

From late 2015, all buses operated by NZ Bus in Auckland will gradually begin to appear in AT Metro colours as part of Auckland Transport's initiative to create one brand for the Auckland transport network. Link services will continue to operate in their red, green and orange branding.

Smart card ticketing

On 20 April 2008, NZ Bus confirmed that it would start using a new ticketing system to make bus travel quicker, easier and simpler for passengers in Wellington. The new system is called Snapper, and is based on RFID technology embedded in cards or portable devices such as USB sticks. The system was introduced on 4 April 2008, being piloted on Go Wellington bus route 17 over the following two months. The supplier of the technology is Korea Smart Card. Established in 2003, it is a joint venture between Seoul Metropolitan Government and LG Group, and has introduced T-money to six major cities in Korea.

NZ Bus fitted out the Auckland fleet with Snapper in 2011, despite losing a contract to provide smart card ticketing to all public transport services in the Auckland Region.[4] NZ Bus went ahead with their Snapper roll-out in Auckland despite no other public transport providers signing up it. Auckland Transport rolled out their own smart card ticketing system, the AT HOP card. All public transport operators in Auckland, including NZ Bus, were required by law to accept smart cards issued by Auckland Transport. NZ Bus suggested that their Snapper system would be able to accommodate Auckland Transport's smart cards.

References

  1. ↑ Disposal of New Zealand Operations Stagecoach 21 November 2005
  2. ↑ Stagecoach sells New Zealand unit BBC News 21 November 2005
  3. ↑ New Zealand Adopts Wrightspeed Jet And Battery Power For Buses, Forbes 2016-04-22, viewed 2016-05-22
  4. ↑ "To enter Auckland market in 2010, targets Rugby World Cup for comprehensive integrated ticketing". Snapper. Retrieved 2014-01-13.
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