Ritchies Transport is a New Zealand private bus operator, owned by
KKR.[1] It was established in 1972 and describes itself as "the largest privately owned bus and coach transport operator in New Zealand" with a fleet of over 1500 vehicles spread across depots nationwide.[2] It owns a 46% stake in
InterCity.[3]
Services
Richies operates
coach services for several
package tour operators, as well as urban services, usually under contract to local councils:
Auckland: Ritchies' main urban bus operations are in
Auckland, operating out of depots in Swanson and Albany servicing
West Auckland including Helensville and the North Shore. Ritchies also operates
high-speed Northern Express NX1 services on the
Northern Busway on Auckland's
North Shore, under contract to
Auckland Transport.
Blenheim: Ritchies operate the local bus service in
Blenheim under contract to the
Marlborough District Council. There are two loops that service the town.
Christchurch: With deregulation of bus services Ritchies entered the
Christchurch urban market with a number of routes using various buses purchased from other companies, including the
Auckland Regional Authority,
Invercargill City Transport, Timaru City Transport and New Plymouth City Buses. In January 1997, Ritchies sold its Christchurch urban contracts to
Christchurch Transport Ltd but retained ownership of the buses. It was announced on 4 November that Ritchies has purchased the assets of
Red Bus Ltd for an undisclosed sum. Red Bus operates a number of urban services from the airport area to the south east of the city.
Dunedin: Ritchies amalgamated
Dunedin bus lines Turnbull Motors, Peninsular Motor Services and Southern Services in 1975.[4] Since then, Ritchies has operated urban services in Dunedin from time to time. From 1 July 2011, it has operated the
Opoho–
Shiel Hill,
Pine Hill–
Lookout Point, and
University–
Concord routes.[5]
Queenstown: In 2016, Ritchies took over Connectabus, Queenstown's privately owned public transport service and continues to run the services. In 2017, Ritchies bought out Alpine Connexions in
Wānaka, integrating their Queenstown–Wānaka services into its own.[citation needed]
Timaru and Temuka: Ritchies was founded in this small South Canterbury city. They have operated four
Timaru urban bus routes contracted to
Metro since 28 June 2010, previously operated by
Christchurch Bus Services.[citation needed] They also run the Timaru–
Temuka bus route.[citation needed]