CDC Melbourne
Volgren bodied Scania K230UB at Wyndham Vale station in June 2015
ParentCDC Victoria
Headquarters28 Prosperity Street, Truganina
Service areaMelbourne
Service typeBus operator
Routes55
DepotsOakleigh South
Sunshine
Wyndham
Tullamarine
Fleet377 (June 2022)
Websitewww.cdcvictoria.com.au

CDC Melbourne is a bus operator in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It operates 55 bus routes under contract to Public Transport Victoria. It is one of the brands of CDC Victoria, which is in turn a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro Australia.

As at 2018, CDC Melbourne was the third-largest commuter bus operator in Melbourne, with 16% of the market share in the city.[1]

History

2009–2014

For the history of the Westrans and Eastrans brands, see CDC Victoria.
Westrans liveried Volgren bodied Volvo B12BLE in West Footscray in October 2009
Eastrans liveried Volgren bodied Scania K230UB in Queen Street in December 2013
Westrans Volvo B7RLE at Williams Landing in April 2013

In February 2009, ComfortDelGro Cabcharge acquired Kefford Corporation including the Eastrans and Westrans operations in eastern and western Melbourne respectively.[2] At the time of its acquisition by CDC in 2009, Kefford was the fourth-largest bus operator in Victoria with a 16% market share, and with a fleet of 328 buses and six depots. The Eastrans and Westrans brands were retained following the acquisition.

In July 2011, Eastrans commenced route 601 as a high frequency shuttle between Huntingdale station and Monash University. In July 2013, CDC acquired the route operations of Driver Group with five routes (routes 612 and 623 - 626) and 42 buses, and integrated into the Eastrans brand.[3][4][5][6][7]

2014–present

In October 2014, Eastrans and Westrans were combined and rebranded as CDC Melbourne.

In December 2017, the Wyndham depot was opened in the suburb of Truganina, replacing the Altona and Werribee depots which were subsequently closed.[8][9] The head office of CDC Victoria and the Operations and Customer Centre (OCC) were also moved from Altona and Sunshine respectively into the new depot.

In May 2018, Tullamarine Bus Lines was acquired by ComfortDelGro Australia with 34 buses.[10][11][12] It was rebranded CDC Tullamarine and integrated into CDC Melbourne on 17 August 2018.[9]

CDC Melbourne initially signed a ten-year performance-based contract with the Victorian government in April 2018, due to commence on 1 July 2018.[13] However, in June 2018, the government offered a seven-year contract to all Melbourne bus operators, with no end-of-term access to staff, depots, fleet and intellectual property.[14] This meant that under this contract, operators are not obliged to transfer any of their assets to the government. CDC Melbourne (including Tullamarine Bus Lines) successfully negotiated with the government and secured a seven-year contracts for its Melbourne metropolitan bus services, which commenced on 1 August 2018.[1][15][16]

Depots

CDC Melbourne operates from four depots, whose names may differ from the suburbs they are located in:[17]

CDC Melbourne also used to operate from Altona and Werribee depots until they moved into the Wyndham depot which opened in December 2017.[8][9]

Fleet

As of June 2022, the fleet comprised 377 buses and coaches.[18]

Liveries

Westrans fleet livery was white with red stripes for buses at Altona (now closed) and Sunshine depots, and white with blue stripes at the Werribee depot (now closed). Eastrans fleet livery was white with white and green stripes. The Public Transport Victoria white and orange livery has been adopted as standard for route service buses and an orange, blue and white livery was adopted for charter buses. However some older buses still retained the old Westrans livery with CDC Melbourne signage.

References

  1. ^ a b "Annual Report 2018". ComfortDelGro. Archived from the original on 10 May 2019. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  2. ^ "Kefford Group finds a buyer". Australian Bus & Coach. 20 November 2008. Archived from the original on 5 November 2013.
  3. ^ "ComfortDelGro Expands Melbourne Operations Through A $22.0 Million Acquisition" (PDF). ComfortDelGro. 20 May 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 November 2013.
  4. ^ Skelton, Andrew (20 May 2013). "Acquisition of further Bus Route Service Business in Melbourne" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  5. ^ "Updates and News". CDC Victoria. Archived from the original on 6 June 2014.
  6. ^ Driver Group sells Melbourne route operations Australian Bus issue 57 May 2013 page 10
  7. ^ Driver's Exit Route Bus Services Australian Bus Panorama issue 29/1 July 2013 page 18
  8. ^ a b "CDC Victoria - Unite! Newsletter - March 2018" (PDF). CDC Victoria. March 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 April 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  9. ^ a b c "CDC Victoria - Unite! Newsletter - September 2018" (PDF). CDC Victoria. September 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 April 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  10. ^ "CDC Vic pays deposit for north-west Melbourne bus operator". Australasian Bus & Coach. 13 April 2018. Archived from the original on 9 May 2018. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  11. ^ "CDC Victoria further strengthens bus footprint in Victoria" (PDF). CDC Victoria. 13 April 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 June 2018. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  12. ^ CDC Takes Tullamarine Bus Lines Australian Bus Panorama issue 34/1 July 2018 page 26
  13. ^ "New Melbourne Bus Contracts Put Passengers First". Premier of Victoria. 2 April 2018. Archived from the original on 11 May 2018. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  14. ^ "Bus Contracts Backflip; Vic Govt Offers New Seven-Year Option Without Assets Acquisition". Australasian Bus & Coach. 18 June 2018. Archived from the original on 19 April 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  15. ^ "Metropolitan Bus Services Contract - CDC". Buying for Victoria. Archived from the original on 9 October 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  16. ^ "Metropolitan Bus Services Contract - Tullamarine Bus Lines". Buying for Victoria. Archived from the original on 9 October 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  17. ^ "Head Office and Depots". CDC Victoria. Archived from the original on 30 August 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  18. ^ CDC Group Archived 3 March 2022 at the Wayback Machine Australian Bus Fleet Lists

External links

ComfortDelGro
Public transport in Melbourne
Categories