CDC Melbourne

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.

History

2009–2014

In February 2009, ComfortDelGro Cabcharge acquired Kefford Corporation including the Eastrans and Westrans operations in eastern and western Melbourne respectively. 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.

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. 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. It was rebranded CDC Tullamarine and integrated into CDC Melbourne on 17 August 2018.

CDC Melbourne initially signed a ten-year performance-based contract with the Victorian government in April 2018, due to commence on 1 July 2018. 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. 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.

Depots

CDC Melbourne operates from four depots, whose names may differ from the suburbs they are located in:
*Oakleigh - located in Oakleigh South
*Sunshine - located in Albion
*Tullamarine - located in Airport West, the former depot of Tullamarine Bus Lines
*Wyndham - located in Truganina, also houses the head office of CDC Victoria

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

Fleet

As of August 2024, the fleet comprised 387 buses and coaches. Australian Bus Fleet Lists The fleet includes 50 Volvo B5LH buses which was once Australia's largest hybrid bus fleet, as well as eight of Victoria's first Volvo BZL battery electric buses.

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. A few Eastrans buses used for SmartBus route 900 were in the SmartBus livery, six of which remain in this livery as of August 2024.

Since the rebranding to CDC Melbourne, the Public Transport Victoria white and orange livery has been adopted as standard for route service buses. An orange, blue and white livery was adopted for charter buses. A small number of buses at the Tullamarine depot still bear the Tullamarine Bus Lines livery, branded with CDC Melbourne signage.

Gallery

Westrans and Eastrans

Westrans 6510AO.jpg, Westrans liveried Volgren bodied Volvo B12BLE in West Footscray in October 2009
Eastrans number 123 (7513AO) Scania on route 605 in Queen St, December 2013.jpg, Eastrans liveried Volgren bodied Scania K230UB in Queen Street in December 2013
Westrans Volvo B7RLE PTV at Williams Landing.jpg, Westrans Volvo B7RLE at Williams Landing in April 2013

CDC Melbourne

File:CDC Melbourne (Wyndham) W90 2002 Volvo B7RLE with Volgren CR221L bodywork.jpg, Volgren bodied Volvo B7RLE at Williams Landing station in December 2023
File:CDC Melbourne (Wyndham) W14 2003 Volvo B12BLE with Volgren CR221L bodywork.jpg, Volgren bodied Volvo B12BLE at Williams Landing station in December 2023
File:CDC Melbourne (Wyndham) W10 2009 Denning Phoenix with Custom Coaches CB60 Evo II bodywork.jpg, Custom Coaches bodied Denning Phoenix at Hoppers Crossing station in December 2023
File:CDC Melbourne (Wyndham) W22 2003 Irisbus Metro with Volgren CR222L bodywork.jpg, Volgren bodied Irisbus Metro at Hoppers Crossing station in December 2023
File:CDC Melbourne (Wyndham) W135 2014 Volvo B9TL with Volgren Optimus bodywork.jpg, Volgren bodied Volvo B9TL double decker at Werribee station in September 2023. This is the only double decker bus in Victoria used on route operations.

References

External links

*
*
CDC Victoria website

{{MelbournePublicTransport

Bus companies of Victoria (state)
Bus transport in Melbourne
ComfortDelGro companies