Forster Bus Service / Wingham Bus Service
This is a historic listing of vehicles owned and operated by Forster Bus Service / Wingham Bus Service.
| Operator Information | Full Fleet List Disposal List | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accreditation: | Forster Bus Service Pty Ltd, Acc No. 8230, Forster & Wingham |
| Depot Address/s: | 28 Kularoo Drive, Forster Wallanbah Road, Dyers Crossing Coomba Rd, Pacific Palms Industrial Close, Wingham |
| School Runs: | Bus 1 Bungwahl to Tuncurry Bus 2 Coomba Park to Forster and Forster Heights to Forster Bus 3 Smiths Lake & Pacific Palms to Tuncurry Bus 4 Forster to One Mile and Green Point Bus 5 Green Point to Tuncurry (AM) and Forster to One Mile and Cape Hawke Drive (PM) Bus 6 Dyers Crossing / Nabiac to Forster Bus 7 Nabiac to Forster Bus 8 Failford to Forster and One Mile to Forster Bus 10 Tuncurry to Forster Bus 11 One Mile to Forster (AM) and from Tuncurry (PM) Bus 12 Forster to Forster Heights and Forster to Forster Keys Bus 13 One Mile to Forster and Forster to Tuncurry Bus 16 Coomba Park to Pacific Palms Bus 17 Smiths Lake to Bungwahl and Bungwahl to Pacific Palms Bus 18 Smiths Lake to Pacific Palms Bus 19 Wang Wauk to Krambach Bus 20 Firefly to Krambach Bus 21 Wang Wauk to Nabiac Bus 22 Kharkatt to Chatham High Bus 23 Forster to Gloucester Bus 30 McQueens to Wingham Bus 31 Killabakh to Wingham Bus 32 Mooral Creek to Wingham Bus 33 Kimbriki to Wingham Bus 34 Yarratt - Youngs Rd to Wingham Bus 35 Rocks Crossing to Mt George Bus 36 Bootawa to Wingham and Wingham town area Bus 37 Bungay Rd to Wingham and Wingham town area Bus 38 no longer operates Bus 39 Elands to Wingham and Wingham town area Bus 40 Caparra to Wingham and Taree Christian Bus 41 Bobin Creek to Bobin School Bus 42 Glenwarren to Wingham |
| Website: | www.forsterbus.com.au |
GL & J Nixon purchased Forster Bus Service from Mr Charlie Brown on 20 April 1979 with a fleet of 6 vehicles (2 AEC Regent double deckers, 2 Hino coaches and 2 Bedford / CCMCs). Around 1982 the business of D & W Thomas of Bungwahl was acquired with 3 buses (an Albion Viking / Comair, an AEC Reliance / Watt and an Austin / PMC). The Forster fleet had grown to 16 by March1989, with all but one of the vehicles from the previous operators having been replaced (MO 7667). The fleet as at March 1989 consisted:- (full details to be uploaded in future).
MO 0514 Nissan RB30
MO 0750 Mercedes-Benz OC1617
MO 0778 Mercedes-Benz OC1621
MO 1040 Toyota Coaster
MO 3696 Austral Tourmaster
MO 3708 Leyland Atlantean
MO 5935 Leyland Atlantean
MO 7000 Mazda T3500
MO 7667 Bedford YLQ2
MO 7764 Mercedes-Benz OC1617
MO 8134 Leyland Atlantean
MO 8767 Bedford BLP2
MO 9377 Nissan RB30
MO 9538 Bedford VAM70
MO 9919 MCA - Cummins
TV 573 Austral Tourmaster
After selling Southtrans in September 1999, the Deane family took over Forster Bus Service from GL & J Nixon on January 1 1999. Initially run by Matthew Deane, he moved to the Snow to run a ski lodge. Brenton Deane became involved in the operation after selling Clipper Tours in 2003 and took over as Managing Director in 2005/2006. Matthew Deane returned after 3 seasons in the snow and is operations manager. The Deanes main focus has been the slow standardisation of the fleet as much as possible on Hino and Cummins, resulting in the sale and purchase of a few second hand vehicles, as well as new buses.
Forster Bus Service Pty Ltd took over Wisely's Bus & Coach Service Pty Ltd, Wingham with twenty vehicles on 1 June 2011. A new trading name of Wingham Coaches was adopted for the operation and all vehicles recieved new sign writing. The Deanes Coaches trading name was revived around this time as an additional trading name for the coach operation.
After Busways North Coast Pty Ltd discontinued their Sydney to Tuncurry service on 22 October 2010, Forster Coaches commenced a trial service from Sydney to Tuncurry starting the day after on 23 October 2011. The service has a similar timetable to the Busways service (with revisions made as of 12/12/12) and is generally conducted by one of the BCI Explorer 3 axle coaches.
The Deane family sold Forster Coaches & Wingham Coaches to the Buslines Group with 41 buses as of 1 October 2015.
