Manly Coaches was an Australian bus charter company in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

History

On 30 October 1978, Chris Brownlee, trading as Manly Transport Service, purchased route 135

Manly wharf Manly Wharf is a heritage-listed passenger terminal wharf and recreational area located at West Esplanade and serving Manly, a Sydney suburb in the Northern Beaches Council local government area of New South Wales, Australia. Since the 1850s, ...

Manly Hospital Manly Hospital provided medical services to the Northern Beaches area of Sydney, Australia before the transfer of services to Northern Beaches Hospital. ThNorthern Sydney Local Health Districtmanaged Manly Hospital. History Manly Hospital was es ...

- North Head from Neil Smith with four buses. On 1 July 1989, the business of Cremorne Bus Service with route 224 Cremorne Point wharf - Cremorne Junction -

Chowder Bay Clifton Gardens is an urban locality in the suburb of Mosman in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Clifton Gardens is located in the local government area of the Municipality of Mosman and is part of the Lower North Shore. Clifton Gardens is a ...

was purchased from Eddie Hayman with seven buses.Manly Bus Service History
Australian Bus Fleet Lists On 11 February 1990, Manly commenced operating a service between

and

Armidale Armidale is a city in the Northern Tablelands, New South Wales, Australia. Armidale had a population of 23,967 as of the 2021 census. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. It is the administrative centre for the Northern Tablelands reg ...

commenced under contract to

CountryLink CountryLink was a passenger rail and road service brand that operated in regional areas of New South Wales, and to and from Canberra, Brisbane and Melbourne. Originally created as a business unit (or sub-brand) of the State Rail Authority of Ne ...

as a replacement for the ''

Northern Tablelands Express The Northern Tablelands Express is the legacy name for the passenger train service in Australia between Sydney and Armidale, and between Sydney and Moree, operated by the New South Wales Government Railways and its successors since June 1941. H ...

'' with Denning coaches in a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

with Fantastic Aussie Tours. In 1992, Manly took over the Great Sights day tour operation from

Newmans Coach Lines Newmans Coach Lines was an Australian coach charter company with operations in Sydney and Cairns. History In 1987, the Sydney coach operations of Chester Coaches were purchased by New Zealand-based Newmans Coach Lines. Newmans also purchased ...

. On 23 June 1994, the Great Sights tourist operation was sold to the

Driver Group Driver Group is a bus and coach operator in Melbourne, Australia. In July 2013 the five bus routes it operated were sold to CDC Victoria and was rebranded CDC Melbourne afterwards. History Driver Brothers was formed in March 1931, when Eric ...

Manly vehicles continued to operate the Great Sights tour program until 12 September 1994, when

Clipper Tours Clipper Tours was an Australian coach operator in Sydney. Founded by Thomas O’Brien in 1945-46 History Clipper Tours was formed by Thomas O’Brien in 1945-46 the first vehicle was a stretched passenger vehicle professionally converted by W. ...

took over. An association with Fantastic Aussie Tours saw some vehicles painted in the Fantastic Aussie Tours livery of red and blue which was derived from that of Bus Australia, which became the basis for the Manly Coaches colour scheme in the 1990s. The trading name Manly Coaches was adopted for the charter operation in 1997, replacing the previous trading names of Manly Bus Service and Manly Coach Tours. Route 224 was taken over by Sydney Buses on 3 July 1995, followed by route 135 on 19 July 1998 with Manly continuing to trade as a charter operator. On 9 June 2003, Chris Brownlee sold the business to Geoff Harper. In September 2016 the business was sold to

Forest Coach Lines Forest Coach Lines is an Australian bus and coach operator. Founded in 1930 in the Northern Suburbs of Sydney, since 2016 it has expanded with purchases in the Mid North Coast and North West Slopes regions in New South Wales. It became a subsid ...

with no vehicles.

Fleet

When operations ceased in September 2016, the fleet consisted of 14 ex Sydney Buses

Mercedes-Benz O305 The Mercedes-Benz O305 is a single deck, double deck or articulated bus manufactured by Mercedes-Benz in Mannheim, West Germany from 1969 until 1988. It was built as either a complete bus or a bus chassis and was the Mercedes-Benz adaptation ...

buses.Manly Coaches
Australian Bus Fleet Lists

References

{{Reflist

External links

Company website
Bus companies of New South Wales Bus transport in Sydney Manly, New South Wales Transport companies disestablished in 2016 2016 disestablishments in Australia Defunct bus companies of Australia