Punchbowl Bus Company

The Punchbowl Bus and Coach Company operates public buses in the south and inner south western suburbs of Sydney. It currently operates routes 940, 941, 942, 943, 944, 945, 450, 451, 953, 954 and various school specials. It also operates the following Nightride buses- N10 City to Sutherland, N11 City to Cronulla, N20 Rockdale to Riverwood, N30 City to Macarthur (subcontracted out to another company), N40 City to East Hills (subcontracted out to another company), N50 City - Liverpool, N60 City - Faifield via Parramatta.

History

Punchbowl Bus company started in 1952 as Narwee Bus Service. This company ran Route 4 between Punchbowl and Bankstown, Route 28 between Punchbowl and Hurstville, Route 33 between Punchbowl and Hurstville and Route 189 between Punchbowl and Bankstown. In 1955, G P Bus Company, which operated Route 140 Riverwood - Lugarno was acquired. In 1958, Punchbowl Bus Company, which operated Routes 29 between Peakhurst and Hurstville, 36 between Punchbowl and Mortdale, and 188 between Punchbowl and Mortdale was purchased. 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 complex. Later when Punchbowl Bus Co took over route 37 this route was integrated with route 33 to operate between Bankstown and Hurstville via Punchbowl and Roselands. During the late 1960's route 189 was extended from Punchbowl to Roselands, Riverwood and Lugarno replacing route 140, which initially operated between Riverwood and Lugarno. In 1992, 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. In 1989, route 108 (operated by Saints then Southtrans) was acquired.

In 1997, major changes to route numbering took place, including minor changes to routes. Route 940 replaced routes 33 and 29, Route 941 replaced route 244, Route 942 replaced route 189, Route 943 replaced route 108 and 29, Route 944 replaced routes 36 and 29, and Route 945 replaced route 188. In April 1998 Punchbowl Bus Co purchased route 450 (Hurstville to Strathfield) and route 451 (Roselands to Campsie)from Canterbury Bus Lines. Route 451 was extended to Hurstville later that year when part of route 947 was acquired from Saints making a direct service from Hurstville to Campsie. The remainder of route 947 is operated by Southtrans to Ramsgate. Route 953 was taken over from Harris Park Transport cite web| work=Bus Australia | title=Charterbus Direct- formerly Harris Park Transport | url=http://www.busaustralia.com/fleetlists/harrispark.htm | accessdate=25 August | accessyear=2006] and route 954 from Moore's Tours on 22 December2004cite web| work=Bus Australia | title=Moore's Tours | url=http://www.busaustralia.com/fleetlists/moores.htm | accessdate=25 August | accessyear=2006] . Routes 446 and 447 taken over from Pleasure Tours on 11 July 2005.

Current Routes

These routes were instituted in 1997 with a major route renumbering programme.

Former Routes

These routes operated prior to route reorganisation and renumbering in 1997.

Depots

The current main depot is on Hannans Road in Riverwood. This is the original depot of the Narwee Bus Company. A former depot of the old Punchbowl Bus Company was located on the corner of Canterbury and Belmore Rd at Punchbowl. There is also a satellite depot located on Belmore Road near Wiggs Road.

ee also

* Buses in Sydney
* List of bus routes in Sydney

External links

* [http://www.punchbowlbus.com.au/ Punchbowl Bus Co.] The official site.
* [http://www.busaustralia.com/ Bus Australia] An enthusiast site.

References

Other sources

1. [http://www.punchbowlbus.com.au/company.htm Punchbowl Bus Co. history]
2. [http://www.aattc.org.au/The%20Times%20January%202004S.pdf#search=%22punchbowl%20bus%22 The Times Jan 2004]