New Zealand Bus Ltd (NZ Bus) - Kinetic Group as at 09/2023

This is a historic listing of vehicles owned and operated by New Zealand Bus Ltd (NZ Bus) - Kinetic Group as at 09/2023.

NZ Bus is New Zealand's largest urban bus company, operating in Auckland, Tauranga and Wellington. Formerly a subsidiary of Stagecoach Group and later Infratil and Next Capital, it is now owned by Kinetic Group.

In 1992, Stagecoach purchased Wellington City Transport, the largest bus operator in Wellington, from Wellington City Council. WCT had recently purchased the Auckland, Hutt Valley and north Wellington suburban bus operations of New Zealand Railways Road Services, then branded CityLine.

Stagecoach expanded its Auckland operations in 1998 by purchasing Transportation Auckland Corporation (trading as The Yellow Bus Company) from the Auckland Regional Council.

In November 2005, the business was sold to Infratil. As part of the deal, Infratil were able to use the Stagecoach name and livery for five years from the sale.

In January 2008, the company bought Whangarei school and charter business, Adams Travelines (later rebranded as NorthBus), which then won the tender to provide the urban bus service for Whangarei as Citylink Whangarei, using super low floor buses. In May 2013 NorthBus was sold to Ritchies Transport Holdings.

In April 2016, NZ Bus announced that it would repower several buses with Wrightspeed gas-turbine hybrid powertrains.

In February 2017 NZ Bus announced it would begin the trial of a BYD K9 electric bus in Auckland.

In 2018, NZ Bus reduced the size of its Wellington operations, from 73% to 28% of the city's bus routes following a retender with many passed to Tranzit Group.

In December 2018, Infratil sold NZ Bus to Australian equity buyers Next Capital for A$218–240 million, including a vendor loan of A$20–30 million. The sale was finalised in June 2019, and at the time of the sale, NZ Bus operated over 740 buses and had 1400 staff. In March 2022, the business was purchased by the Kinetic Group.

Subsidiaries and branding

Current subsidiaries and branding

● Transportation Auckland Corporation Ltd

Depots: Swanson
Branding: AT Metro
Notes: Rebranded from Go West in 2017, with the new Western Bus Network. Blue and silver with AT Metro logo livery.

Depots: Auckland Central (City), Mt Roskill, Panmure
Branding: AT Metro
Notes: Rebranded from Metrolink in 2018, with the new Central Bus Network. Blue and silver with AT Metro logo livery.

Depots: Auckland Central (City)
Branding: Link Buses
Notes: Red colour for City Link, green colour for Inner Link, orange colour for Outer Link, blue colour for Tamaki Link.

● Wellington City Transport Ltd

Depots: Various
Branding: Metlink
Notes: Former yellow and black Go Wellington brand announced in November 2006 and operated from early 2007 until rebranding in April 2018 as part of the new bus network for Metlink. Lime green, blue and yellow with Metlink logo livery. Began operating orange-branded Airport Flyer services in 2018 after loss of Hutt Valley contracts before Airport Flyer ceased operations in November 2020.

● New Zealand Bus Tauranga Ltd

Depots: Various
Branding: Bay Hopper, School Hopper
Notes: Bay Hopper yellow and School Hopper blue branding. Newest NZ Bus subsidiary for Bay of Plenty Regional Council contract, which began December 2018.

Previous subsidiaries and branding

● Cityline NZ Ltd

Depots: Various
Branding: Valley Flyer, Airport Flyer
Notes: Valley Flyer rebranded from Cityline Hutt Valley on 21 November 2007. Purple and yellow livery. Brand ceased in 2018 with loss of Hutt Valley contracts. Wellington City Transport Ltd continued to operate the Airport Flyer service until November 2020.

● Transportation Auckland Corporation Ltd

Depots: North Shore - Hibiscus Coast
Branding: North Star
Notes: Rebranded on 4 December 2006. Blue and yellow livery. Brand ceased in 2018 with loss of North Shore contracts.

Depots: Wiri
Branding: Waka Pacific
Notes: Rebranded from Stagecoach on 16 February 2009. Silver livery, with multi-coloured patterns influenced by traditional Maori designs. Brand ceased in 2016 with loss of South Auckland contracts.

● North City Bus Ltd

Depots: Upper Hutt
Branding: Valley Flyer, Runcimans
Notes: Rebranded at the same time as Valley Flyer. Purple and yellow livery. Brand ceased in 2018 with loss of Hutt Valley contracts.

Depots: Whangarei
Branding: CityLink, NorthBus
Notes: Formerly Adams Travelines. Rebranded to NorthBus. Green CityLink branding for Whangarei urban services. Company sold to Ritchies Transport Holdings in May 2013.