- Ritchies Coachlines
Ritchies Transport Holdings Ltd was established in 1972 and describes itself on its website as "the largest privately owned bus and coach transport operator in New Zealand" with a fleet of "over 600" vehicles spread across depots nationwide.
It is a part-owner of the Intercity and Newmans coach lines.
Ritchies' website says Ritchies was "formed in
Temuka 70 years ago by John Ritchie (Senior) and is still owned by the Ritchie family." and that its head office "was located inTimaru but at the beginning of December 2003 relocated toChristchurch ." The company "expanded into the North Island 20 years ago and now has a large operation inAuckland in addition to branches inRotorua ,Helensville ,Dargaville andRuakaka ."Long-distance services
:"see main article
Intercity (New Zealand) "Tourism services
Richies operates coach services for several
package tour operators.Urban services (past and present)
*AucklandRitchies main urban bus operations are in
Auckland operating out of depots in Swanson and Albany servicing West Auckland including Helensville and the North Shore. Ritchies also operates high-speed services on the Northern Busway on Auckland's North Shore.*BlenheimRitchies operate the local bus service in Blenheim under contract to the Marlborough District Council. There are two loops that service the town.
*Timaru and TemukaRitchies operated four
Timaru routes from the 1990s until January 2007 under contract toEnvironment Canterbury . Ritchies still operate theTemuka -Timaru service.*ChristchurchWith deregulation of bus services Ritchies entered the
Christchurch urban market with a number of routes using various buses purchased from other companies, including the ARA, Invercargill City Transport, Timaru City Transport and New Plymouth City Buses. In January 1997 Ritchies sold it's Christchurch urban contracts to the then Christchurch Transport Ltd but retained ownership of the buses passed onto CTL.*DunedinRitchies has operated urban services in
Dunedin from time to time; none at present.*Rotorua
External links
* [http://www.tourism.net.nz/listings/jump/transport/22844/page Company website]
* [http://www.intercitycoach.co.nz Intercity website]
* [http://www.newmanscoach.co.nz Newmans website]
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