Busabout Group NSW

The Calabro family’s involvement in the Australian bus industry can be traced back to August 1951 with the take over of Routes 40 Cabramatta - Bonnyrigg and Route Liverpool - Bonnyrigg - Green Valley from GW Stanton t/a Cabramatta - Bonnyrigg Bus Service.

After selling the family business to Westbus on 8 June 1989 with nearly 70 buses, family members moved on to new business interests in the Australian bus industry. Tony and Joe Calabro took over Surfside Buslines from Greyhound (Russell Penfold) with 56 buses in June 1989, followed by a string of take overs culminating in the take over of Sunbus from Transit Australia in April 2008. A subsequent restructure has consolidated the Calabro’s Queensland business interests under the Transit Australia Group. Gold Coast-based bus bodybuilder Bustech Pty Ltd, which was founded by the Calabros in 1998, is also a part of the Transit Australia Group.

In New South Wales, Tony and Joe Calabro (cousins to the Queensland-based Calabros of Transit Australia Group) took over Hawkesbury Valley Bus Service at Oakville from RC Kirkpatrick on 2 November 1990. In 1994, a 50% share in Nevilles Bus Service Pty Ltd at Casula was acquired, leading to the name change to Busabout. Liverpool Transit Co Pty Ltd was purchased from the Garrard family in 1997 with around 25 buses.

The neighbouring companies were operated independently until 2001, when the Calabros purchased Nevilles Bus Service Pty Ltd outright. As of 15 October 2001, the companies were formally amalgamated under the Busabout banner, although the independent companies (Nevilles Bus Service Pty Ltd and Liverpool Transport Co Pty Ltd) remained.
The formation of the Sydney Metropolitan Bus Service Contract System saw the Calabros contracts absorbed into MBSC Regions 1, 2 & 3:
- Hawkesbury Valley Buses services under Area 1 Management Company Pty Ltd (contract shared with Westbus & Busways)
- Busabout services under Area 2 Management Company Pty Ltd (contract shared with Interline)
- Busabout services running north of Hoxton Park Rd (the boundary between Region 2 & Region 3) absorbed into Region 3, with Busabout given shared operation of Routes 805 & 807 with Metro-Link (as part of Area 3 Management Company Pty Ltd, a consortium of Westbus, Metro-Link, Hopkinsons and Busabout).

Following the Calabros unsuccessful bids to retain their contracts in the first round of competitive tendering announced in 2012, all services in Region 1 (Hawkesbury Valley) passed to Busways as of October 6 2013 with 2 contract buses and all services in Region 3 (Busabout) passed to Transit Systems as of October 13 2013 with 3 contract buses. Hawkesbury Valley Buses remained as a charter operator.
In the second round of tendering, the Calabros were unsuccessful in their bid to retain Region 2, but successfully gained Region 15 for Campbelltown and Camden from Busways. Region 2 passed to Interline with 33 contract buses as of 1 June 2014, while Region 15 provided 35 contract buses from Busways. Additional vehicles consist of 16x MAN 18.320 HOCL-R-NL / Bustech, most of the 27 buses retained from Region 2, as well as transfers from Hawkesbury Valley & Busabout Wagga Wagga.

To reflect the large scale fleet transition that occurred as of June 1 2014, the New South Wales-based Calabro company fleetlists for Busabout, Busabout Wagga Wagga and Hawkesbury Valley were merged into a new ‘Busabout Group’ combined listing.

Charter-only Hawkesbury Valley Buses ceased taking bookings from 24 April 2017 and vehicles advertised for sale in June 2017 in anticipation of vacating the Oakville depot. Pegasus Coach Tours began to lease the Oakville depot from the Calabros in July 2017.

Further historical and fleet information is available in the following historic fleet listings:
Busabout fleet list as at 31 May 2014
Busabout Wagga Wagga fleet list as at 31 May 2014
Hawkesbury Valley fleet list as at 5 October 2013
Liverpool Transport Co fleet list as 14 October 2001
Calabro Bros Bus Service fleet list as at 8 June 1989