Pioneer Coaches Pty Ltd - Bexley (consolidated fleetlist 1918-2001)
This is a historic listing of vehicles owned and operated by Pioneer Coaches Pty Ltd - Bexley (consolidated fleetlist 1918-2001).
| Operator Information | Full Fleet List | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Depot Address/s: | 737 Forest Road, Bexley |
| Livery: | Iffland's ownership: Sky blue roof, red window surrounds and waist band. Dark blue body from m/o 620 Bedford. The red window surrounds were dropped. Harbridge's ownership: Sky blue roof colour changed to grey. Coaches painted in a creamy white with red and blue bands. |
Pioneer Coaches Pty Ltd, Bexley:
Cornelius (Con) Iffland purchased two omnibus licenses for the Rockdale - Bexley horse bus route from his cousin John Murphy, Bexley for 100 pounds in 1916. In 1918 he purchased his first motor buses.
On 24 October 1918, Hurstville Council gave consent to the police traffic branch for Con Iffland to operate between Rockdale, Bexley and Hurstville via Forest Road. This service was allocated route number 112 from 13 November 1925. Route 112 was extended from Rockdale to Brighton-Le-Sands in 1930.
Con Iffland's brother, Harry Iffland, commenced Route 118 Hurstville - Patrick Street and Stoney Creek Road via Patrick Street in late-1930.
On 30 October 1931, due to the Transport Coordination Act, Route 112 was split as follows:-
- Route 112 became Rockdale - Mimosa Street, Bexley. The Rockdale - Brighton-Le-Sands section ceased.
- Wilison Road, Bexley - Hurstville section of Route 112 was amalgamated with Harry Iffland's Route 118 Hurstville - Patrick Street as Route 118 Willison Road - Hurstville - Patrick Street and Stoney Creek Road.
In December 1931 Route 118 was extended from Willison Road to Croydon Road, thus overlapping Route 112. In February 1932, the services amalgamated as Route 112 Rockdale - Forest Road, Bexley - Hurstville - Patrick Street and Stoney Creek Road. Harry Iffland purchased the bus assets of Con Iffland in March 1932.
Pioneer Coaches Pty Ltd was formed on 29 November 1934. Neville Iffland, son of Con, became manager at this point, serving in this position until 1982.
Route 112 was extended from Patrick Street and Stoney Creek Road to Beverly Hills Station as from June 1949.
Les and Sylvia Marr(nee Iffland) took over management in 1982.
The Iffland family sold the shareholding in Pioneer Coaches Pty Ltd along with Route 112 and 13 buses to Kevin and Margaret Harbridge in December 1986.
On 11 May 1992, Route 455 Kingsgrove - Kogarah via Hurstville was purchased from Allways Bus & Coach Service, Kingsgrove (Stuart Fraser and Marc Larsen) with no buses.
Route 49 Rockdale - Carlton was gained from State Transit Authoriy of New South Wales (STA), who had purchased this route from Sydney Coachlines (TR Crowe), Kingsgrove that same day.
Route were renumbered Sydney Region Route Number System on 1 April 1997 as follows:-
- Route 452 Beverly Hills - Hurstville - Forest Road, Bexley - Rockdale (ex Route 112).
- Route 453 Rockdale - Carlton (ex Route 49). From this date selected trips were extended from Carlton to Hurstville and Kingsgrove.
- Route 455 stayed as previously.
Several service changes occurred on 18 January 1999: Route 455 was extended from Kogarah to Rockdale Plaza, and Route 453 was truncated to operate Rockdale - Carlton - Hurstville off peak, with a Rockdale - Willison Road peak hour shuttle.
Pioneer Coaches Pty Ltd, under Harbridge family ownership, also developed a coach charter business.
On 15 January 2001, all three routes and 16 buses were sold to Connex NSW Pty Ltd (t/a Connex Southtrans), Taren Point. This ended the fine tradition and remarkably high standards of the blue Pioneer Coaches fleet. See separate listing for details of the closing fleet as at 15/1/01.
Acknowledgments: Information compiled by Allan Ofak, based on John Birchmeier's book "The Blue Buses of Forest Road", which is available for purchase here.
