Skip to main content

Story: Coaches and long-distance buses

New Zealand Railways Road Services bus

Image
New Zealand Railways Road Services bus

The government-owned New Zealand Railways Road Services was the biggest operator of coaches from the mid-1930s to 1991, when the company was privatised. In the 1960s the company ran a large number of Bedford SB3s with New Zealand Motor Bodies’ Omnicoach bodywork – like this one.

Reproduced courtesy of NZ Transport Agency library

Using this item

Archives New Zealand - Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga

Reference: AAVK W3493 B8925

by John LeCren

Permission of Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga must be obtained before any re-use of this material.

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page

Jane Tolerton, Coaches and long-distance buses – Early long-distance buses, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/20939/new-zealand-railways-road-services-bus (accessed 3 June 2026).

Story by Jane Tolerton, published 6 April 2010.

Comments

Bob Deslauriers
28 June 2022
I was a driver out of the Auckland depot from 1974 to 1998 when I got my redundancy payout