Crowthers' History

S. Crowthers and Sons Pty Ltd started the family business in buses in the Wollongong region in the early 1900’s and then later around the Dapto area.

In 1939 a new electric railway was built and opened between Sutherland and Cronulla. Upon the opening of the railway, Ryder and Moore commenced operation of Route 65 between Cronulla station and South Cronulla via Shelly Beach.

 In 1952, Crowthers took over control of this service and in November 1992 renumbered the route to 985, which is still operating today.

In 1966 Crowthers released a new timetable including: Route 65 – Cronulla to Caringbah via Burraneer Bay Road, which was a regular seven day a week service as was Route 66 – Cronulla to South Cronulla loop via Ewos Parade and Nicholson Parade. Cronulla to North Cronulla generally only operated six days a week, and even more irregularly both Cronulla to Burraneer Point and Cronulla to Wanda Beach which was a short working of the North Cronulla loop, terminating at Links Ave near the beach.

By 1971, Crowthers had recognised the existence of two large patronage generators just to the west of their traditional territory. One was Sutherland Hospital and the other Miranda Fair Shopping Complex. So by the timetable of March 1, 1971 Crowthers had commenced a regular half hourly service between Caringbah and Miranda via the Hospital.

In 1982, both the Cronulla – Caringbah and Cronulla – North Cronulla services had extended their routes to Miranda, during shopping hours. By the end of the 1980’s subtle cuts were made to services in South Cronulla and the North Cronulla service all but disappeared except for peak periods on weekdays.

By 1997, Crowther’s had additional services mainly on weeknights with Route 985 between Miranda – Cronulla – South Cronulla continuing until 9.30pm.

In 1998 Paul and Barry Crowther bought the other family interests in the business and in 1999 purchased Kurnell Passenger Transport.

The 2000 Olympics was a huge achievement for Crowthers where we managed a fleet of 126 coaches and over 200 drivers for the Games Sponsors.

Following the Passenger Transport Act of 1990, a completely revised timetable and route numbers in the Sydney – wide scheme were introduced for Crowther’s routes and Nicholson’s Cronulla to Kurnell route 67. Under the new Act, there was a single contract for the two operators’ route services and so they co-operated by issuing a joint timetable and re-branding their services to ‘BusLink’.

The new timetable re-introduced Saturday afternoon services in which buses operated traveling from Cronulla, Nicholson’s route to Kurnell and Caringbah Bus Service’s routes out of Caringbah Station. There was also a new Sunday route established.

2005 saw direct transport along or near the electric train line operating the Bondi Junction – Cronulla railway services. The buses are scheduled to coincide (as best as possible) with the train arrival and departure times. In summary, services now offered by Crowthers include:

984   Cronulla – Caringbah – Miranda via North Cronulla
985   Cronulla – South Cronulla
        Cronulla – Caringbah – Miranda via Burraneer Bay Road
987   Miranda – Cronulla - Kurnell

In December 2006 the ‘One Life Once Chance’ Shire Shuttle celebrated ten years of service carrying over 500,000 patrons during this period. This service was a first for NSW and has since been reproduced in many cities - it is credited with saving many young lives.