Kefford Corporation
| Founded | early 1850s |
|---|---|
| Service area |
Melbourne Ballarat Geelong |
| Service type | Truck, bus & coach operator |
| Depots |
Altona Ballarat Geelong Oakleigh Sunshine Werribee |
| Website | www.kefford.com.au |
The Kefford Corporation was a transport company which operated in Victoria from the early 1850s until 2009.
History
The Kefford Corporation was started in the early 1850s when Richard Papworth Kefford began operating horse-drawn lorries in Collingwood. The business later began operating trucks but sold that side of its business in 1976.[1]
In January 1976 Kefford Corporation became a public transport operator, with the purchase of Point Cook - Werribee Passenger Service, Werribee. In the 1980s and 1990s a number of other bus operations were purchased.[2]
- December 1981: Davis Motor Service, Ballarat[3]
- July 1987: Bono Bus Lines, Maidstone, with bus Route 406, operation re-branded as Westrans and operating from a new depot in Footscray. The Bono family continues to operate Firefly Express in Maidstone [4]
- January 1988: Sinclair's Bus Service with routes 605 Melbourne City Centre - Elsternwick and 630 Elwood - Monash University[5]
- January 1988: Sitch Group and subsidiaries:[5]
- Altona Bus Lines, Altona
- Footscray - Yarraville Bus Service, Yarraville
- North Sunshine Bus Service, Sunshine
- St Albans Bus Service, Sunshine
- Sitch Bus Service, Sunshine
- May 1991: St Kilda Bus Service with route 606 Port Melbourne - St Kilda[6]
- March 1999: Benders Buslines, Geelong[7][8]
In the 1990s, the Point Cook - Werribee, Bono and Sitch services were rebranded as Westrans, and the former Sinclair services as Eastrans.
In December 2008, ComfortDelGro Cabcharge acquired Kefford Corporation for A$149.2 million.[9] At the time Kefford was the fourth-largest bus operator in Victoria, with a fleet of 328 buses and six depots, and with a market share of 16%.
References
- ↑ Kefford Corporation Tiltaway
- ↑ Melbourne Metropolitan Bus Operators and Fleet Listings. Melbourne: Bus & Coach Society of Victoria. 1991. pp. 31–34.
- ↑ "Victorian Buses in the Eighties" Australian Bus Panorama 6/1 July 1990 page 13
- ↑ "Victorian Buses in the Eighties" Australian Bus Panorama 6/8 May 1991 page 14
- 1 2 "Victorian Buses in the Eighties" Australian Bus Panorama 7/1 August 1991 page 3
- ↑ "Kefford Group Fleets" Australian Bus Panorama 7/1 August 1991 page 35
- ↑ Major bus buys for Kefford & Hill Australasian Bus & Coach
- ↑ "Kefford Expands" Australian Bus Panorama 15/4 February 2000 page 22
- ↑ Smith, Chris (2008-12-20). "Kefford Group Finds a Buyer". Australasian Bus and Coach. Bauer Trader Media. Retrieved 2015-11-20.