Buslines Group

The following list is of known buses both current and those previously operated by Buslines Group.

The Buslines Group Head Office is at Level 1, 1 Burwood Road, NSW.

Websites for individual operations:
Berrima Buslines
Picton Buslines
Griffith Buslines
Orange Buslines
Dubbo Buslines
Tamworth Buslines
Forster Buslines
Wingham Buslines
Ballina Buslines
Northern Rivers Buslines

The Buslines Group is the third largest private bus operators in New South Wales. It operates eight companies accross New South Wales: Berrima Buslines, Picton Buslines, Griffith Buslines, Orange Buslines, Dubbo Buslines, Tamworth Buslines, Ballina Buslines and Northern Rivers Buslines, as well as taxis at Griffith, Dubbo and Picton (Camden area cabs). The group's managing director is Frank D'Apuzzo, who with Peter Simpson took over the business from the John A. Gilbert Group in March 1996.

John A. Gilbert era:

John A. Gilbert Pty Ltd was registered as a company on 25 March 1926. The Gilberts dealt in bus chassis for many years, starting with Reos, followed by Bedfords and Mercedes-Benz from locations in Villawood. The company began bus operations in 1943 with its acquisition of a Tamworth operation, followed by the purchase of services in Orange and the Southern Highlands in 1946. The trading name Buslines of Australia was used for these operations. Services at Bathurst were secured in the mid-20th century, but sold to Bathurst Coaches (Warren Bremner) in July 1977. Dubbo town bus services were similarly purchased, but resold to Loves Bus Service only to be reaquired by the Gilbers in July 1985. The Gilberts also bought and sold a number of metropolitan routes in Sydney over the years.


John A. Gilbert Pty Ltd expanded into the North Coast with the take over of Kirkland Bros. Omnibus Service Pty Ltd, Lismore from the Bond Group around early-1989, after the company had passed through three owners since the Kirkland family sold out in 1986. Waugh & Josephson took over from Kirkland's in 1986, followed by Robert Holmes A'Court's Bell Group in 1987, the Bond Group in 1988 and finally John A. Giblert Pty Ltd in early-1989. Kevin and Earle Kirkland remained as managers throughout these changes, with Kevin Kirkland retiring in 1998. Kirkland's consolidated the Lismore town services around 1992 with the take over of the town services of Bruce's Bus Service, Simes Bros Bus Service in 1992 and M Maxwell & Sons (Lismore South route) around September 1992.


The Gilbert group returned to metropolitan route service with the take over of the Shorelink and its coach tour / charter subsidiary Koala Tours from John Knox (Muttaburra Investments Pty Ltd) on 1 October 1992. The company maintied the Shorelink and Koala Tours trading names, with vehicles repainted into the Gilberts blue stripes. Other services added included the Lindfield and Killara district routes 556-558 & 565 of Kuring-gai Bus Co (purchased 20 December 1996 with no vehicles) and route 582 Gordon - St Ives from St Ives Bus Services Pty Ltd, Pymble (purchased 6 July 1998 with nine vehicles). The Koala Tours name and vehicles were sold to Murray's Charter Coaches and Travel Service Pty Ltd in 1999. John A. Gilbert Pty Ltd sold Shorelink to Transdev NSW Pty Ltd on 3 September 2001 with 74 vehicles, seeing the Gilbert group again withdraw from Sydney metropolitan operations.

Kirkland's interstate express service between Sydney and Brisbane was sold to Pioneer Motor Service (Nowra Coaches Pty Ltd), South Nowra on 15 June 1996 with five Setra S228DTI double-deck coaches. This consisted of three daily return services from Sydney to Brisbane and offices in Brisbane, Surfers Paradise and Sydney.

Two non-commercial school runs were taken over from Barrett, Dubbo in the early-2000s with no vehicles.

Picton Omnibus Service Pty Ltd was taken over from George Lee on 29 March 2000 with around 23 vehicles. The late-model Volvo B7R and MAN 16.240s were sold in favour of standardising on Buslines-spec new vehicles and Mercedes-Benz vehicles transferred in from other arms of the group.


Buslines Group era:

The Buslines corporate identity was introduced in around 2004, with the veteran John A. Gilbert Pty Ltd company name being changed to Buslines Group Pty Ltd. All indivudual operations had their names changed to include the word Buslines instead of Coaches or other titles and a simplified version of the Gilbert's blue stripes livery was adopted consisting of white with a blue stripe.

Horizontal diversifciation into taxis occurred in the 2000's with the take over of several taxis in Dubbo. Buslines started the first taxi company in the Wollondilly Shire region with two cabs trading as Camden Area Cabs, operating out of the Picton Buslines depot. The Camden taxi fleet had grown to 12 by 2012.

Ritchies Bus Service Pty Ltd, Griffith was taken over on 1 October 2006 to form Griffith Buslines. Further expansion in the town has occurred with the gradual take over of the local town taxi cooperative. Buslines Group now operates all of the town's taxis from the Griffith Buslines depot.

The passenger and school services of Perrett's Coach Service Pty Ltd, Werris Creek were taken over with twelve vehicles on 14 April 2008 and became a part of Tamworth Buslines. Buslines subsequentally purchased the southern shed of Perrett's Henry St depot in Werris Creek.

Buslines purchased the passenger and school services of KL & DJ Selwood, Orange on 20 December 2009 with 10 vehicles. The Orange and Molong services became a part of Orange Buslines, while the Bourke to Summerville school run became a part of Dubbo Buslines.


The last remaining long-distance coach service in the Kirkland's operation, the Lismore to Brisbane service, was sold to Premier Motor Service (Nowra Coaches Pty Ltd) on 1 April 2008 with TV 3057 & TV 3058 Mercedes-Benz O404-3s. The backup vehicle (TV 1365 Austral Tourmaster) was sold separately. With the long association of the Kirkland's name and coach travel coming to an end, Kirkland's Buslines was split into two operations in the first half of 2009. Northern Rivers Buslines assumed control of the Lismore-centred and outlying township services, while Ballina Buslines took control of the Ballina and Alstonville-centred services. To facilitate this change, a new fleet numbering system was introduced in which Northern Rivers vehicles were renumbered with fleet number 1 upwards and Ballina vehicles with fleet number 101 upwards. A new depot for Ballina Buslines opened in 8 Sheather Street, Ballina.

The Federal, Eureka and Mullumbimby district services of Beaumont's Coaches, Mullumbimby were taken over in July 2009 with 7 vehicles and incorporated into Northern Rivers Buslines. Beaumont's former outstation in Goremans Road at Eureka continues to be used by Buslines.

A new depot for Orange Buslines opened located at 120 Canabolas Road, Orange in 2010, replacing the former depot at 247 Mclachlan Street, Orange. A new depot for Picton Buslines was constructed during 2011 at 18 Wonga Road, Picton and opened at the beginning of 2012, replacing the former site at 20 Hill Street, Picton.

On 2 April 2012, Jones Bros Bus Co Pty Ltd at Lithgow and Bathurst was taken over with 52 vehicles and company renamed Lithgow Buslines and Bathurst Buslines respectively.

Forster Bus Service Pty Ltd t/a Forster Coaches and Wingham Coaches was taken over from the Deane family as of 1 October 2015 with 41 buses.