Howick Bus Company Bedford OB number 3. Photo John Woolf
New Zealand does not have a nationally focused bus museum. Several museums have excellent regional collections. This web site seeks to link these collections to get a national view of New Zealand's bus heritage. In the future a photographic collection of buses that unfortunately did not make it to a museum will be put together.
The other major effort will be tracking the location of older buses and coaches in the hope that some of them will be preserved when the retire from service - perhaps it could be viewed as a virtual museum. This buses selected will be those that have been used for passenger transport in New Zealand. Emphasis will be give to
- Buses constructed in New Zealand (eg Keea, Mount Cook Denning)
- Buses which have made a significant conntribution to New Zealand Transport History
- Buses from the past that have been locaated and are, or may be, available for restoration
- Buses I feel emotional about (Ive got tto get something out of all this work).
A record of preserved New Zealand buses will also be maintained.
If is hoped that eventually all buses in larger New Zeland bus fleets from 1980 onwards will be tracked through Motor Registration records. Most buses prior to that date will have been retired from service before this can be achieved.
If you know of buses that should be listed on this site please Email
[email protected]
An index to buses and coaches in museums and private collections
Buses and coaches for possible restoration that have been located.
Tracking the location of buses and coaches still operational that hopefully one day will find there way into a museum. You are part of the sophisticated radar that keeps tabs on these buses so if something changes please email the update.
Photos of many of these buses are included. In order to avoid having a gazillion megabyte website, that costs a fortune in hosting, photos have been reduced in size to not exceed 50K. If some photo fan wishes to put together a large format photographic site I will happily maintain links on a bus by bus basis.
A promised future addition. A photographic record of buses that (like the moa) are now extinct.
Passenger Transport History.
Links to other bus sites (yes I know this stuff is two a penny but if I want a link in I have to do the reciprocal)
A list of all the wonderful people who have given me data and photos.
IE6216 1976 MAN 15.192FOC-R NZMB body B8F. This vehicle was New Zealand's first MAN to see service as
a public service vehicle. Photo Don Roberts
This page is a labour of love edited by Mike Butler of Wellington, New Zealand but relying on information from bus enthusiasts world wide. Your input is welcome.
I lived in Howick, then a semi-rural town and now a suburb of Auckland, until 1971. I was a regular user of Howick Bus Co, including my beloved Diamond-T school bus. After moving to Remuera I rode ATB route 12 or cycled to university. After a 1 year in
Dunedin I settled in Wellington in 1974 and became a regular patron of WCT/Stagecoach Wellington.