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8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Ventura Bus Lines site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site

9. Contact - got a question about Ventura Bus Lines, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.

10. Payment - ready to pay for your Ventura Bus Lines, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.

{{Infobox Company|name = Ventura Bus Lines|logo = |type = Private Bus Operator|genre = Public Transport - Bus|foundation = 1924|location_city = [Melbourne|location = |origins =|key_people = Andrew Cornwall|area_served = North-East, East and South Eastern Melbourne|industry =|products =|services =|revenue =|operating_income =|net_income =|num_employees =|parent = Ventura Motors|divisions =|subsid =|owner =|slogan = "Providing Dependable, friendly bus services whilst actively improving air quality".|homepage = http://www.venturabus.com.au/

|dissolved =|footnotes =-->Ventura is a privately owned [bus and Coach (vehicle) operator in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Victoria, Australia, Australia. As of 2005, it is the largest private bus operator in Melbourne. As a Buses in Melbourne, it operates a number of List of Melbourne bus routes under contract from the Victorian State Government. The company has recently purchased the Melbourne operations of National Express' National Bus Company for A$45 million, and also owns Mount Dandy Bus. Routes operated by Ventura are predominantly located in Melbourne's eastern and northern suburbs. It also operates EastCoast, a business which services Scania AB buses and trucks.

Ventura buses feature a distinct light-blue livery, with a navy-blue stripe running horizontally across the sides of the bus, and Ventura's logo in yellow. New National buses also use this livery.

History Early history Ventura was founded in 1924 by a World War I veteran named Harry Cornwall. Cornwall had been an employee of Track & Kintrack, an operator based in St Kilda, Victoria, but decided to form his own bus company when his employer refused to let him run a bus service along dirt roads through what was then Melbourne's outer east. Cornwall began operating a bus route between Box Hill and the city, and later running buses along dirt tracks between Box Hill and Mentone, which roughly equates to the modern 700 bus route. Its first depot was the petrol station on the corner of Station Street and Canterbury Road, in Box Hill South.

1950s - 1970s Between 1952 and 1969, Ventura purchased Clarinda Transport, High Street Road Bus Service and Knibbs Bus Service. It also added a service between Blackburn and Clayton (roughly equivalent to the current 703 service), added Waverley and East Burwood services, and (in 1957) opened its Oakleigh South depot at the corner of Centre and Warrigal Roads. Also during this time-frame, Ventura closed its Box Hill South depot and replaced it with a new depot at Mahoney's Road, East Burwood.

In 1969 purchased several bus routes around Mitcham, Victoria from C Young. In 1970 Boronia Bus Lines was acquired; the two purchases added 12 route services to the company.

1980s In 1987, Ventura acquired Bentleigh Bus Lines, Rennies Bus Services, Willis Bus Services and Hawthorn Bus Services. As a result of these pruchases, it sold its East Burwood depot and replaced it with its Knoxfield depot.

Quince's In 1988, the then Metropolitan Transit Authority called for tenders on all of Melbourne's bus routes. Prior to the completion of tenders, Met employees reportedly told the Driver Group (then operating under the Waverley Transit brand) 'not to bother' entering tenders for some of their existing routes. At the completion of the tender process, 7 bus routes previously operated by Ventura, and 3 previously operated by Waverley Transit were tendered out to a company called Quince's, which had 60 buses used mostly for charter and school services.

In the case Waverley Transit V Metropolitan Transit Authority, Waverley Transit launched a Supreme Court challenge to the results of the tendering process. The verdict deemed that the State Government had acted inappropriately during the tendering process, and as the contract between the State Government and Quince's was illegal, thus restored the bus routes to Ventura and Waverley Transit. In the wake of this verdict, the Met launched an appeal, with Waverley Transit launching a counter-appeal; the cases lasted into the early 1990s. The final verdict of these cases pointed out that the licenses to operate bus routes, as well as the bus routes themselves, were legally the property of the respective bus companies and not the State Government.

In spite of this, Quince received the rights to operate a number of new cross-suburban bus routes cutting across a number of bus operator territories, including a route from Brighton to Lilydale.

1990s In 1998, Quince's lost their bus routes. Ironically, Quince's long cross-suburban bus routes were broken up, with sections divided between Ventura and Driver (for instance, the Monash University - Brighton leg of one Quince's route became part of Ventura route 703, the Glen Waverley - Mitcham section became part of Ventura route 736).

In 1999, the Minister for Transport, Peter Batchelor, released a Press Release congratulating Ventura on having provided 75 years of service. At the time of the press release, Ventura was already Victoria's 3rd largest bus company ( Source).

2000s In 2000, Ventura purchased Mount Dandy Bus. In 2004, it purchased the National Bus Company from the National Express Group for A$45 million, becoming the largest private bus operator in Melbourne. While the company has announced that it will continue to use the National Bus Company brand until bus contracts come under re-tender in 2007, new National Buses are painted in the Ventura livery. Through National Express, Ventura purchased what remains of the old government fleet, which is often of particular interest to bus spotters, though this section of the fleet will be phased out over the coming years.

2002 Onwards On the 5th of August 2002, the Victorian State Government introduced the first SmartBus service (as a trial project) run by Ventura that replaced the old timetable of the 703 Middle Brighton Railway Station - Blackburn Railway Station with a new, high frequency SmartBus service on route 703 that offers:



The other route which was introduced on the same day were the combined 888/889 route service operated by Grenda Bus Services on Springvale Road from Nunawading Railway Station to Chelsea Railway Station.

Due to the success of the initial SmartBus trial (patronage increased by up to 25%), the Victorian State Government have introduced another SmartBus service that Ventura operates, the route 700 service from Box Hill Railway Station to Mordialloc Railway Station along Warrigal Road. This was implemented on 14th of June 2005, in which this service improvement was delivered after a delay of a few months.

Bus Fleet Ventura bought many Leyland Motors buses between the 1950s and the 1980s. These were Leyland Leopards and Tiger Cubs, then later on the company purchased many Leyland Tigers. A number of these are still in service, but will probably be sold off in coming years. Ventura also purchased a substantial number of ex-Adelaide Leyland Worldmasters.

The purchases of Bentleigh Bus Lines/Hawthorn Bus Service saw the fleet expand further. Many non-Leyland buses joined the fleet including Mercedes-Benz, Denning Elwoods, Volvo B10M's, Leyland Leopards, Isuzu ECR and Bedford Vehicles. Most of these buses were sold off by the early 1990s but the Elwoods survived in the fleet until 2001 (although a small number were sold off in 1993) and the B10M's remain in the fleet to this day.

Ventura purchased a batch of 10 Mercedes-Benz O305's from the STA in Sydney in 1991. These were withdrawn between 1999 and 2001.

When Ventura needed some new buses in 1992. Leyland had stopped producing chassis, so they had to find another supplier, they purchased two Scania L113s and a Volvo B10M with Volgren bodies for evaluation. They decided to purchase more Scanias after the evaluation period.

Scania has been the main chassis used in the Ventura fleet. L113 chassis were bought in high and low floor format with both Volgren (delivered from 1992-98) and North Coast bodies (1998-99) and Scania L94 with North Coast and Custom Coaches bodies entered the fleet between 1999 and 2006.

Ventura purchased a pair of Mercedes-Benz O500 chassis with North Coast bodies in 2003 for evaluation.

There is also a batch of Designline MAN's delivered to South Oakleigh depot by end of December 2006, and have been in service since 2 January 2007.

4 of them are in blue Ventura livery and the rest wear a Smartbus livery, similar to that adorning the Grendas and Eastrans Smartbuses used on Route 900.

Routes



Livery

Depots Former Depots:

Current Depots:

Acquired Companies

Brands Brands operated by Ventura Motors include:

See also External links

{{Infobox Company|name = Ventura Bus Lines|logo = |type = Private Bus Operator|genre = Public Transport - Bus|foundation = 1924|location_city = [Melbourne|location = |origins =|key_people = Andrew Cornwall|area_served = North-East, East and South Eastern Melbourne|industry =|products =|services =|revenue =|operating_income =|net_income =|num_employees =|parent = Ventura Motors|divisions =|subsid =|owner =|slogan = "Providing Dependable, friendly bus services whilst actively improving air quality".|homepage = http://www.venturabus.com.au/

|dissolved =|footnotes =-->Ventura is a privately owned [bus and Coach (vehicle) operator in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Victoria, Australia, Australia. As of 2005, it is the largest private bus operator in Melbourne. As a Buses in Melbourne, it operates a number of List of Melbourne bus routes under contract from the Victorian State Government. The company has recently purchased the Melbourne operations of National Express' National Bus Company for A$45 million, and also owns Mount Dandy Bus. Routes operated by Ventura are predominantly located in Melbourne's eastern and northern suburbs. It also operates EastCoast, a business which services Scania AB buses and trucks.

Ventura buses feature a distinct light-blue livery, with a navy-blue stripe running horizontally across the sides of the bus, and Ventura's logo in yellow. New National buses also use this livery.

History Early history Ventura was founded in 1924 by a World War I veteran named Harry Cornwall. Cornwall had been an employee of Track & Kintrack, an operator based in St Kilda, Victoria, but decided to form his own bus company when his employer refused to let him run a bus service along dirt roads through what was then Melbourne's outer east. Cornwall began operating a bus route between Box Hill and the city, and later running buses along dirt tracks between Box Hill and Mentone, which roughly equates to the modern 700 bus route. Its first depot was the petrol station on the corner of Station Street and Canterbury Road, in Box Hill South.

1950s - 1970s Between 1952 and 1969, Ventura purchased Clarinda Transport, High Street Road Bus Service and Knibbs Bus Service. It also added a service between Blackburn and Clayton (roughly equivalent to the current 703 service), added Waverley and East Burwood services, and (in 1957) opened its Oakleigh South depot at the corner of Centre and Warrigal Roads. Also during this time-frame, Ventura closed its Box Hill South depot and replaced it with a new depot at Mahoney's Road, East Burwood.

In 1969 purchased several bus routes around Mitcham, Victoria from C Young. In 1970 Boronia Bus Lines was acquired; the two purchases added 12 route services to the company.

1980s In 1987, Ventura acquired Bentleigh Bus Lines, Rennies Bus Services, Willis Bus Services and Hawthorn Bus Services. As a result of these pruchases, it sold its East Burwood depot and replaced it with its Knoxfield depot.

Quince's In 1988, the then Metropolitan Transit Authority called for tenders on all of Melbourne's bus routes. Prior to the completion of tenders, Met employees reportedly told the Driver Group (then operating under the Waverley Transit brand) 'not to bother' entering tenders for some of their existing routes. At the completion of the tender process, 7 bus routes previously operated by Ventura, and 3 previously operated by Waverley Transit were tendered out to a company called Quince's, which had 60 buses used mostly for charter and school services.

In the case Waverley Transit V Metropolitan Transit Authority, Waverley Transit launched a Supreme Court challenge to the results of the tendering process. The verdict deemed that the State Government had acted inappropriately during the tendering process, and as the contract between the State Government and Quince's was illegal, thus restored the bus routes to Ventura and Waverley Transit. In the wake of this verdict, the Met launched an appeal, with Waverley Transit launching a counter-appeal; the cases lasted into the early 1990s. The final verdict of these cases pointed out that the licenses to operate bus routes, as well as the bus routes themselves, were legally the property of the respective bus companies and not the State Government.

In spite of this, Quince received the rights to operate a number of new cross-suburban bus routes cutting across a number of bus operator territories, including a route from Brighton to Lilydale.

1990s In 1998, Quince's lost their bus routes. Ironically, Quince's long cross-suburban bus routes were broken up, with sections divided between Ventura and Driver (for instance, the Monash University - Brighton leg of one Quince's route became part of Ventura route 703, the Glen Waverley - Mitcham section became part of Ventura route 736).

In 1999, the Minister for Transport, Peter Batchelor, released a Press Release congratulating Ventura on having provided 75 years of service. At the time of the press release, Ventura was already Victoria's 3rd largest bus company ( Source).

2000s In 2000, Ventura purchased Mount Dandy Bus. In 2004, it purchased the National Bus Company from the National Express Group for A$45 million, becoming the largest private bus operator in Melbourne. While the company has announced that it will continue to use the National Bus Company brand until bus contracts come under re-tender in 2007, new National Buses are painted in the Ventura livery. Through National Express, Ventura purchased what remains of the old government fleet, which is often of particular interest to bus spotters, though this section of the fleet will be phased out over the coming years.

2002 Onwards On the 5th of August 2002, the Victorian State Government introduced the first SmartBus service (as a trial project) run by Ventura that replaced the old timetable of the 703 Middle Brighton Railway Station - Blackburn Railway Station with a new, high frequency SmartBus service on route 703 that offers:



The other route which was introduced on the same day were the combined 888/889 route service operated by Grenda Bus Services on Springvale Road from Nunawading Railway Station to Chelsea Railway Station.

Due to the success of the initial SmartBus trial (patronage increased by up to 25%), the Victorian State Government have introduced another SmartBus service that Ventura operates, the route 700 service from Box Hill Railway Station to Mordialloc Railway Station along Warrigal Road. This was implemented on 14th of June 2005, in which this service improvement was delivered after a delay of a few months.

Bus Fleet Ventura bought many Leyland Motors buses between the 1950s and the 1980s. These were Leyland Leopards and Tiger Cubs, then later on the company purchased many Leyland Tigers. A number of these are still in service, but will probably be sold off in coming years. Ventura also purchased a substantial number of ex-Adelaide Leyland Worldmasters.

The purchases of Bentleigh Bus Lines/Hawthorn Bus Service saw the fleet expand further. Many non-Leyland buses joined the fleet including Mercedes-Benz, Denning Elwoods, Volvo B10M's, Leyland Leopards, Isuzu ECR and Bedford Vehicles. Most of these buses were sold off by the early 1990s but the Elwoods survived in the fleet until 2001 (although a small number were sold off in 1993) and the B10M's remain in the fleet to this day.

Ventura purchased a batch of 10 Mercedes-Benz O305's from the STA in Sydney in 1991. These were withdrawn between 1999 and 2001.

When Ventura needed some new buses in 1992. Leyland had stopped producing chassis, so they had to find another supplier, they purchased two Scania L113s and a Volvo B10M with Volgren bodies for evaluation. They decided to purchase more Scanias after the evaluation period.

Scania has been the main chassis used in the Ventura fleet. L113 chassis were bought in high and low floor format with both Volgren (delivered from 1992-98) and North Coast bodies (1998-99) and Scania L94 with North Coast and Custom Coaches bodies entered the fleet between 1999 and 2006.

Ventura purchased a pair of Mercedes-Benz O500 chassis with North Coast bodies in 2003 for evaluation.

There is also a batch of Designline MAN's delivered to South Oakleigh depot by end of December 2006, and have been in service since 2 January 2007.

4 of them are in blue Ventura livery and the rest wear a Smartbus livery, similar to that adorning the Grendas and Eastrans Smartbuses used on Route 900.

Routes



Livery

Depots Former Depots:

Current Depots:

Acquired Companies

Brands Brands operated by Ventura Motors include:

See also External links



 

Ventura Bus Lines



 
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