Hopkinsons Coaches

Coach Charter, Extended Tours, Social Outings, Corporate Transport Movements, Kids Day Out, Queensland Theme Parks, Sports Day Transfers, Weekend's Away, PLUS MORE

Hopkinsons' has provided more than 35 years of continuous service to the travelling public.

The company was originally founded in 1923 by the Try family of Merrylands, who operated a bus service to and from the Hilltop area and Parramatta. The main routes operated around the brickwork factory servicing the suburbs of Fairfield, Guildford and Merrylands. The Route numbers registered with the Department of Transport were 170 & 171. A further express service was introduced between Merrylands and Parramatta during 1970, the route number allocated was 190.

The company was trading as Merrylands Bus Company. The fleet consisted of 4 only Ford Formatruck 12 seater buses. Between 1923 and the late forties after the 2nd world war, money was scarce, so to keep up with passenger demands, the Try family built their own bus bodies onto well known chassis such as Corbett, Vulcan and Fageol. The bodies were wooden framed.

By the mid 1950’s, the area of operation of Merrylands Bus Company had expanded with the development of housing and industry. The older type petrol chassis engine was not a viable proposition to operate. The Try family commenced replacing the buses with more modern chassis such as AEC Regal – Matador –Regent and Leyland, all powered by diesel engines. Bodies were manufactured by such firms as Hope, Commonwealth Engineering, Custom Coaches and Pressed Metal.

Merrylands Bus Company was one of the first bus operators in the Sydney metropolitan area to introduce forward control bus bodies, with easier entry and space age looks. In 1957 there were a total of 16 buses in the fleet and 7 of these were forward control vehicles. Most of these buses were 45 - 49 seaters. With more modern buses being introduced into the fleet, Merrylands Bus Company commenced charters around the Sydney basin and Blue Mountain areas.

In 1978, the company was purchased by the Hopkinsons' Group and the depot was relocated to larger premises at Smithfield. The bus fleet was upgraded to modern Bedford and Volvo buses.

By this time, the area between Fairfield and Parramatta had become fully developed with housing and an Industrial estate at Smithfield. Hopkinsons' being a more aggressive bus operator, wishing to fulfil its’ obligation to the local community by giving service, introduced a better type of bus timetable with memory headways and by synchronising buses with the city rail network. Also in more recent times, Hopkinsons' has set new standards in day touring vehicles on its local bus operation with the introduction of the fully air conditioned MetroBus fleet.

Recently, Hopkinsons' have introduced the latest Volvo Low Floor with environmentally friendly engines with the new generation bus bodies.