McCafferty's Coaches

McCafferty's Coaches was an Australian family run interstate coach operator from 1940 to 2004. In October 2004 the McCafferty family sold its shares and its operations were rebranded as part of Greyhound Australia

McCafferty Coaches
Over 60 Denning Landseers were purchased
in the 1980s and 1990s
ParentJack McCafferty
FoundedApril 1940
Ceased operationOctober 2004
HeadquartersToowoomba
Service areaAdelaide
Brisbane
Cairns
Darwin
Melbourne
Mount Isa
Perth
Sydney
Toowoomba
various regional destinations
Service typeCoach services
Fleet129 (January 2004)[1]

History

McCafferty's Coaches was formed in April 1940 when Jack McCafferty began a service from Picnic Point to Rangeville in Toowoomba.[2] In 1955 McCafferty's began operating a service from Toowoomba to the Gold Coast.[3] Over the next few decades McCafferty's expanded to operate long distance services throughout Queensland.

In December 1980 McCafferty's entered the interstate coach market with a Brisbane to Sydney service[4] extending to Melbourne in December 1983.[5] In November 1992 McCafferty's commenced operating Melbourne to Adelaide and Adelaide to Darwin services[6] followed by Sydney - Canberra - Adelaide in late 1993 and Darwin - Broome - Perth in May 1995 making it a national operator.[7] The latter service was withdrawn in June 1996.[8][9]

The Brisbane to Charleville service was acquired from Skennars in 1992.[10] In 1999 McCafferty's purchased MotorCoach Australia from the administrator of Clifford Corporation.[11] As well as building coaches for McCafferty's it also completed orders for external customers.[12] It closed in 2004 having completed over 60 coaches.

In March 2000 McCafferty's entered into negotiations with Greyhound Pioneer Australia about a possible merge.[13] In September 2000 a takeover bid from McCafferty's for Greyhound was accepted.[14][15] As part of the deal the McCafferty family sold their shares to Tony McCafferty.[16] In October 2004 the McCafferty family sold its shares to ANZ Bank and George Chapman, and both operations were rebranded as Greyhound Australia.[17][18][19]

Fleet

From the late 1960s, McCafferty's purchased exclusively new Denning coaches. In the first half of the 1990s, 40 second-hand Denning Landseers from a variety operators were purchased for its interstate expansion.[20] From 1994 it began purchasing MotorCoach Australia coaches.[21][22]

In the 1970s McCafferty's coaches were painted in a white with blue and black, then into the early 1980s, a magenta and blue livery appeared. In 1987 a silver, grey, blue and red livery was introduced followed by a two-tone gold and blue livery, originally intended as a special livery to mark the company's 50th anniversary in 1990, but adopted as standard. The final livery was a sand-like "Platinum" with blue colour scheme to celebrate the company's 60th anniversary.[23]

References
  1. "McCaffertys Fleet List". web.archive.org. 4 May 2004. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
  2. "Jack McCafferty" Fleetline March 1999 page 49
  3. "Vale - Jack McCafferty" Australian Bus Panorama 14/4 page 2
  4. "Victorian Buses in the Eighties" Australian Bus Panorama 6/1 July 1990 page 10
  5. "Victorian Buses in the Eighties" Australian Bus Panorama 6/2 September 1990 page 13
  6. "McCafferty's" Australian Bus Panorama 8/4 December 1992 page 38
  7. "McCafferty's" Australian Bus Panorama 10/9 July 1995 page 34
  8. "McCafferty's" Australian Bus Panorama 11/9 June 1996 page 38
  9. "Private Operators" Fleetline September 1996 page 171
  10. "McCafferty's Coaches" Australian Bus Panorama 8/1 July 1992 page 36
  11. "Manufacturing Update" Australian Bus Panorama 15/5 April 2000 page 17
  12. MotorCoach Australia gallery
  13. "Greyhound Pioneer Australia" Australian Bus Panorama 15/5 April 2000 page 38
  14. "National & Manufacturing" Australian Bus Panorama 16/2 October 2000 page 19
  15. McCafferty finally gets Greyhound Archived 27 June 2013 at Archive.today Australian Bus & Coach
  16. McCafferty to take Greyhound within days Australasian Bus & Coach
  17. McCafferty sues over $10 mil Australian Bus & Coach
  18. Greyhound Australia's History Archived 6 August 2013 at the Wayback Machine Greyhound Australia
  19. "End of the Road for McCafferty's Coaches" The Chronicle (Toowoomba) 2 November 2004
  20. McCafferty's Bus Australia Fleet Lists
  21. "McCafferty's Coaches" Australian Bus Panorama October 1994 page 34
  22. Greyhound Australia Australian Bus Fleet Lists
  23. McCafferty's Australia Showbus
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