CDC Northern Territory
Darwinbus liveried Volgren bodied Mercedes-Benz OC500LE in February 2008
ParentComfortDelGro Australia
FoundedMay 1988
HeadquartersBerrimah
Service areaAlice Springs
Bathchelor
Darwin
Humpty Doo
Jabiru
Palmerston
Service typeBus services
Depots10
Fleet208 (December 2022)[1]
Chief executiveMick Hannon
Websitewww.cdcnorthernterritory.com.au
Logo of Buslink until the rebranding in 2022

CDC Northern Territory is a bus operator providing services in Alice Springs, Bathchelor, Darwin, Palmerston, Jabiru and Humpty Doo. It is the largest operator in the Northern Territory and the sole operator of the Darwinbus network.[2]

CDC Northern Territory is a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro Australia (CDC) since November 2018, and was rebranded from Buslink in July 2022.[3] The Buslink brand was also used in bus operations in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria until 2020 when these operations were also rebranded to CDC.

History

Buslink was formed in May 1988 when Darwin operator Ace Bus Service purchased the business of Matilda Tours from Ansett Trailways and merged both operations under the Buslink brand with a fleet of 25 buses.[4][5]

In 1990 Buslink began operating services from Casuarina to Darwin and Palmerston previously provided by Darwin Bus Service.[6] In July 1992 Buslink took over the Alice Springs services previously provided by Alice Bus Company.[7][8]

In 1994 the Katherine school services of Travel North were purchased with six buses.[9] In July 2007 Shuker Bus Service was purchased.

In 1999, with the purchase of Gladstone Bus & Coach, Buslink began operating bus services in Queensland under the Buslink Queensland brand.[10] In 2013, it held a 50% shareholding in Buslink Vivo.[11][12][13]

In February 2017 Buslink took over Murton's City Bus of Broken Hill.[14][15][16]

In November 2018 Buslink was purchased by ComfortDelGro Australia.[17][18]

On 1 March 2020, Buslink Sunraysia and Buslink Broken Hill were rebranded CDC Mildura and CDC Broken Hill respectively.[19] On 1 October 2020, Buslink Queensland was rebranded CDC Queensland, with Sunshine Coast operations rebranded CDC Sunshine Coast and Gladstone operations rebranded CDC Gladstone.[20][21]

In June 2022, the Northern Territory Government awarded Buslink a new six-year bus contract to operate all of Darwin's bus services following a competitive tender.[2] Buslink commenced the contract on 1 July 2022 under a new CDC Northern Territory branding and took over services previously operated by Territory Transit.[3][22]

From August to September 2022, CDC Northern Territory briefly operated a shuttle service for the German Armed Forces exercise "Rapid Pacific 2022" in Darwin.[23]

Operations

CDC Northern Territory operates:[24]

  • Darwin and Palmerston's services under the Darwinbus brand[25][26]
  • Alice Springs' services under the ASBus banner.[27]
  • Buses in Jabiru

Under its previous Buslink branding, it also used to operate:

  • Buslink Vivo - ceased in July 2019
  • Buslink Sunraysia - now part of CDC Victoria and rebranded CDC Mildura in March 2020
  • Buslink Broken Hill - now part of CDC Victoria and rebranded CDC Broken Hill in March 2020
  • Buslink Queensland - rebranded CDC Queensland in October 2020

Buslink also operated employee bus services in Darwin as a joint venture with Transdev called Buslink Vivo. The bus service ceased in July 2019.[28][29] In January 2022, it took over the operation of school services in Alice Springs and Bathchelor from Australian Transit Group.[30]

Queensland

Buslink operated in Gladstone and Sunshine Coast as Buslink Queensland. It was rebranded as CDC Queensland in October 2020.[20][21]

New South Wales

Buslink operated in Broken Hill as Buslink Broken Hill, taking over Murton's City Bus in February 2017. It was rebranded as CDC Broken Hill in March 2020.[19][31]

NSW/Victoria border

Buslink operated in Mildura and Wentworth as Buslink Sunraysia. It operated as a partnership with Transit South West, an operator in Victoria.[32] The operation was previously known as Sunraysia Bus Lines. It was rebranded as CDC Mildura in March 2020.[19]

Fleet

As at December 2022, the fleet consisted of 208 buses.[1] Fleet livery is white with blue signwriting.

References

  1. 1 2 "CDC Northern Territory". Australian Bus Fleet Lists (Bus Australia). Archived from the original on 13 December 2022. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  2. 1 2 "ComfortDelGro Australia Group Wins Bid To Operate Bus Services In Darwin". CDC Northern Territory. 2 June 2022. Archived from the original on 15 July 2022. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  3. 1 2 "Buslink Rebranding to CDC Northern Territory". CDC Northern Territory. 20 June 2022. Archived from the original on 26 March 2023. Retrieved 28 May 2023.
  4. ↑ Buslink Australian Bus Panorama issue 4/4 January 1989 page 10
  5. ↑ Alice Springs Transit Australia November 1989 page 258
  6. ↑ Northern Territory - Darwin Bus Service Australian Bus Panorama issue 6/2 September 1990 page 30
  7. ↑ Buslink, Darwin & Alice Springs Australian Bus Panorama issue 8/3 November 1992 page 54
  8. ↑ Northern Territory - Darwin Bus Service Australian Bus Panorama issue 8/4 December 1992 page 21
  9. ↑ Buslink Group Australian Bus Panorama issue 10/1 July 1994 page 39
  10. ↑ "History". CDC Queensland. Archived from the original on 30 October 2020. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
  11. ↑ Veolia Transdev and Buslink jv 'Buslink Vivo' wins Ichthys employee transport contract Archived 26 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine UBI France 20 November 2012
  12. ↑ Top end tender awarded Australasian Bus & Coach 22 November 2012
  13. ↑ Veolia Transdev awarded 140 million euro contract in Australia Transdev 7 December 2012
  14. ↑ "Buslink Acquisition in Broken Hill". Buslink. 1 March 2017. Archived from the original on 24 December 2017. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  15. ↑ Bus operator in outback New South Wales sells to national bus company Archived 8 June 2017 at the Wayback Machine ABC News 1 December 2016
  16. ↑ Murton's sells to Buslink Australian Bus issue 79 January 2017 page 7
  17. ↑ "ComfortDelgro Strengthens Foothold in Australia with Largest Acquisition to Date". ComfortDelGro. 5 November 2018. Archived from the original on 6 November 2018. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
  18. ↑ CDC to Buy Buslink for AUD$190M - Its Largest Australian Purchase to Date Australasian Bus & Coach 6 November 2018
  19. 1 2 3 "Buslink Sunraysia & Broken Hill Officially Renamed CDC Mildura & CDC Broken Hill". CDC Victoria. 1 March 2020. Archived from the original on 3 February 2023. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  20. 1 2 "Sunshine Coast school bus network changes for Term 4 effective Tuesday 6 October 2020". Buslink. 15 September 2020. Archived from the original on 30 September 2020. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  21. 1 2 "CDC Queensland". CDC Queensland. Archived from the original on 1 October 2020. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  22. ↑ "CDC Commences Services Under New Darwin Contract". CDC Northern Territory. 1 July 2022. Archived from the original on 28 March 2023. Retrieved 28 May 2023.
  23. ↑ "DTVP Procedural Details". DTVP. 5 October 2022.
  24. ↑ "Timetables and Maps". CDC Northern Territory. Archived from the original on 15 July 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  25. ↑ DarwinBus Network Archived 2013-12-27 at the Wayback Machine Buslink
  26. ↑ Urban travel at the top end Australasian Bus & Coach January 2006 pages 22-25
  27. ↑ Buslink Alice Springs Archived 2013-12-27 at the Wayback Machine Buslink
  28. ↑ "Thank You for visiting Buslink Vivo". Buslink Vivo. Archived from the original on 6 June 2019.
  29. ↑ "Buslink VIVO gets more than 15 million to work in Darwin". Transdev. 5 August 2019. Archived from the original on 21 August 2019. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  30. ↑ "Our Bus Operations". Buslink. Archived from the original on 24 February 2022.
  31. ↑ Buslink Broken Hill Officially Renamed CDC Broken Hill CDC Broken Hill 1 March 2020.
  32. ↑ Buslink Sunraysia Buslink
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