Cavanagh's - Kempsey
This is a historic listing of vehicles owned and operated by Cavanagh's - Kempsey.
| Operator Information | Full Fleet List Disposal List | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accreditation: | CA & C Cavanagh Pty Ltd, Acc No. 4120, Kempsey |
| Depot Address/s: | 1 Tozer Street, Kempsey Frederick Kelly St, South West Rocks Ocean Avenue,Stuarts Point Lake Road, Port Macquarie (formerly 17 Chestnut Road, Port Macquarie) - Portbus |
| Livery: | See livery summary |
| Service Runs: | 341 Kempsey West No 1 342 Kempsey East 343 Kempsey South 345 Kempsey - Euroka 346 Kempsey West No 2 348 Kempsey - South West Rocks district 349 Kempsey West No 3 351 Kempsey - Stuarts Point 363 Kempsey - ? |
| School Runs: | This is only a partial listing of school services Kempsey town runs (incl Broughton St and North St runs) Kempsey - Arakoon Kempsey - Belmore River Kempsey - Dondingalong (x2) Kempsey – Euroka Kempsey - Hat Head Kempsey - New Entrance Kempsey - Old Station Road Kempsey - South West Rocks (x2) Kempsey - Stuarts Point (x2) Macksville - Stuarts Point (x2) South West Rocks Public School Stuarts Point - Barraganyattai |
| Website: | www.cavanaghs.com.au/ |
Early history sourced from the Cavanagh’s website:
Cavanagh’s formed in March 1952 as a partnership between Clyde and Clare Cavanagh, and Wilfred Ryan, with the purchase of three buses and the South and East Kempsey town services from King’s Bus Service. Clyde and Clare eventually purchased Wilfred Ryan’s share of business as it began to grow with the purchase of the Stuarts Point service. Existing services extended into the Burnt Bridge and the Dondingalong areas. In approximately 1965, the West Kempsey service was purchased from King’s Bus Service. Cavanagh’s branched out into the coach tour market in the late 1960s.
Expansion continued with the purchase of the school bus and coach charter business of McKay, Gladstone in December 1989 with 5 buses, and then the 7 bus fleet of Mercury Roadlines, Kempsey in 1996, with route 348 serving the South West Rocks district.
In 2001, Cavanagh’s expanded into Queensland with the purchase of Logan Coaches and Beaudesert from Jimmy Hill. Refer to QLD fleet lists for these operations which were renamed “Cavbus”.
Portbus (operating under CA & C Cavanagh’s accreditation) was started in 2002 providing buses and coaches for charter out of 17 Chestnut Road, Port Macquarie. The original allocation for this operation was 6 Leyland Leopards ex Blue Ribbon, Thornton and a Scania K113TR ex Red Bus Service, Bateau Bay. The Port Bus allocation as of 6/08 included (18) MO 8930, (23) MO 9791, (46) MO 3167, MO 4217, MO 5083, MO 5172, MO 5280, MO 8884, MO 9272, MO 9580, MO 9614 and XPG 173.
In 2002, Cavanagh’s successfully tendered for the 5 year Newcastle - Taree via Gloucester and Port Macquarie - Wauchope Countrylink rail coach contracts. These were taken over from King Bros Bus Service Pty Ltd as of 01/01/03, and MO 4817 MAN 18.250 and MO 5281 Volvo B7R were repainted into Countrylink livery to operate these services, based out of the Portbus, Port Macquarie depot. Cavanagh was not successful in re-tendering for another 4 year term in 2007 and hence ceased operating these services as of 31/12/07.
Recent developments include the take over of the South West Rocks Taxi Service in 2004. Cavglass was formed in 2007 taking over Glasshouse Country Coaches, Beerwah, QLD from Jimmy Hill.
By November 2014 new services on the Kempsey to Macksville corridor were in operation:
1. AM Kempsey - Macksville service run (connects Coffs Jarbour school services at Macksville), returns to St Pauls Kempsey. PM in reverse.
2. AM Stuart Point - Macksville (connects Coffs Jarbour school services at Macksville), then to Kempsey with schools other than St Pauls Kempsey, then service run from Kempsey to Stuarts Point. PM in reverse.
