Souter adds Reesby to expanding fleet

Sir Brian Souter, announced the acquisition of Rotorua's Reesby Buses as part of growth plans

Rotorua's Reesby Buses has been bought by Souter Group and will become part of the newly formed InMotion Group.

Group chairman Sir Brian Souter said the new name for Souter Group's transport operations reflected the company's focus on growing its urban, city to city, charter and tour service businesses.

Announcing Souter Group's acquisition of Rotorua-based coachline and urban service operator Reesby Buses, Sir Brian said putting the Souter Group's bus and ferry businesses together into the newly formed InMotion Group was an obvious next step in the businesses' growth and development. "With ManaBus.com's acquisition of nakedbus.com in May, and now the addition of Reesby, we felt it was time the group's transport interests had a separate identity," he said.

Sir Brian said Souter Group executive Bill Rae would head InMotion, and the management structure at the various operating companies, which included ferry and bus operators Fullers, 360 Discovery Cruises, Mana Coach Services, Reesby Rotorua and Howick & Eastern Buses, would remain unchanged.

The acquisition of Reesby, settled last week, expands the InMotion network to more than 340 buses and coaches and 17 ferries, carrying over 16 million passengers each year within and between towns and cities across New Zealand.

Mr Rae said Reesby, which had previously provided services to nakedbus under contract, gave InMotion's long-distance services a well-established Central North Island hub, which would improve operating efficiency and potentially increase the range of services the company could offer.

Mr Rae also said Reesby's CityRide buses were a good fit with InMotion's plan to further develop its urban service operations. "A number of provincial urban services in the North Island are coming up for tender, and we will be looking very closely at any and all of those opportunities," Mr Rae said.

"This is all in the context of a capital investment programme across the bus and ferry fleet that will continue to upgrade the services provided and the experience of our customers. We expect to invest up to $100 million over a three-year period."