Surfside Buslines
 | |
| Parent | Transit Australia Group |
|---|---|
| Service area |
Gold Coast Tweed Valley |
| Service type | Bus operator |
| Routes | 74 |
| Hubs |
Southport bus station Broadbeach South bus station Gold Coast Airport Harbour Town Shopping Centre Pacific Fair Shopping Centre The Pines Shopping Centre Tweed City bus station |
| Stations |
Beenleigh Coomera Helensvale Nerang Robina Varsity Lakes |
| Depots |
Coomera Ernest Tweed Heads |
| Fleet | 393 (October 2015) |
| Website | www.surfside.com.au |
Surfside Buslines is an Australian bus operator on the Gold Coast in Queensland. It operates 53 services under contract to the Government of Queensland under the TransLink banner. It also operates eight services in the adjoining Tweed Valley of northern New South Wales under contract to the Government of New South Wales.
Surfside operates Gold Coast Tourist Shuttle, operating coach services from the Gold Coast Airport to hotels and theme parks. Surfside Buslines is part of the Transit Australia Group.
History
Until June 1989 Surfside was owned by Greyhound owner Russell Penfold when it was sold to Joe and Tony Calabro with 56 buses.[1][2]
In 1993 Tweed Bus Service was purchased with 51 buses,[3] followed in February 1995 by Gold Coast Citybus,[4] in September 1998 by Gold Coast Tourist Shuttle[5] and in May 2001 by Coomera Bus Lines.[6]
Service area
Surfside operates from Beenleigh on the north of the Gold Coast as far south as Pottsville in northern New South Wales.
Ticketing
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Queensland Services
TransLink ticketing applies to all Queensland route & school services.
New South Wales Services
Surfside has its own zone and fare system for New South Wales services.
Cross Border Travel
Queensland fares apply to any travel that originates within Queensland where travel is going to continue into New South Wales or that originates within New South Wales where travel is going to continue into Queensland.
Translink's go card is not available for use on Surfside's New South Wales Services, however go card can be used on Queensland services that start or finish at the Tweed Mall.
Fleet
In the 1970s Surfside built up a fleet of Leyland Nationals. In the 1980s some Volvo B59 and Volvo B10Rs and Volvo B10ML articulateds were purchased. Following the sale to the Calabros, large numbers of ex ACTION Volvo B58s, MAN SL200s and SG192 articulateds were purchased to replace the Leyland Nationals. Amogst the buses purchased with Tweed Bus Service were Leyland Tigers and Hinos. To replace the Gold Coast Citybus fleet, ex Brisbane Transport and TransAdelaide Volvo B59s and ex State Transit Authority Mercedes-Benz O305s were purchased.
From the mid 1990s Surfside began to standardise on Mercedes-Benz and Volvo chassis for its route bus fleet and Hinos for school buses. Initially bodied by external suppliers, since 1998 all buses have been bodied by the Calabro's Bustech. Since 2008 all purchases have been Bustech MDi and XDis integral buses. Surfside has also received a steady flow of second hand buses including from the Calabro's Sydney operations, Busabout and Hawkesbury Valley Buses. Since 2013 Surfside Buslines have also received eight Bustech CDis double deck buses.
As at October 2015, the fleet consisted of 393 buses and coaches.[7] Vehicles are registered in both New South Wales and Queensland, although the fleet is utilised interchangeably, particularly the school bus fleet. The only restriction is the different ticket machines used in each state.
Under Russell Penfold ownership, Surfside had an orange with blue stripe livery. The Calabros introduced a blue with yellow livery.
Since 2008 all deliveries and repaints have been in TransLink colours, with blue body, green ends, a green and blue wavy stripe down each side and the TransLink logo toward the back. This is also being applied to the vehicles used in New South Wales to facilitate easy transfer between depots, albeit without the Translink decals. The Gold Coast Tourist Shuttle coaches are painted orange.
In 2007 Australian diecast model company Trax Models released a 1:76 scale model of a Mercedes-Benz 709D Reeve Burgess minibus in Surfside livery.[8]
References
- ↑ "Stateliner takes over Greyhound" Australian Bus Panorama 5/5 March 1990 page 23
- ↑ "Surfside Bus Lines" Australian Bus Panorama issue 6/6 February 1991 page 45
- ↑ "Surfside Bus Lines" Australian Bus Panorama issue 9/5 January 1994 page 40
- ↑ "Surfside Bus Lines" Australian Bus Panorama issue 10/7 April 1995 page 54
- ↑ "Gold Coast Tourist Shuttle" Australian Bus Panorama issue 14/5 April 1999 page 56
- ↑ Major bus buys for Kefford & Hill Australasian Bus & Coach
- ↑ Surfside Bus Lines Australian Bus Fleet Lists
- ↑ "Surfside Buslines". modelbuszone.co.uk. Retrieved 2 August 2014.