It’s a cloudy Sunday afternoon in early autumn in Melbourne when Andrew Cornwall speaks at Mornington Racecourse. In front of a crowd of participants and families, colleagues and lifelong friends, the CEO of Ventura Bus Lines looks back on a century of evolution of the bus and coach company.
“Today’s birthday party is in honor of the Ventura’s,” he says.
“This includes our drivers, professional mechanics, fleet support, operations and corporate team. “
On a day of celebration, Cornwall and his team paid tribute to all those who, over the past century, helped shape Ventura’s adventure as one of Victoria’s leading family bus operators and coaches. This adventure began in 1920, when Henry “Harry” Cornwall, Andrew’s grandfather, ended his service in World War I with the 2nd Australian Auxiliary Mechanical Transport Company.
After five years of service, Harry found himself in the city of Ventura, California, located northwest of Los Angeles. The coastal community, due to its ties to Italy’s San Buenaventura, has temporarily become the “city of good fortune. “This fortune moved halfway around the world in 1924 when, back in Melbourne and functioning as a bus driver for St Kilda’s Track.
It all started on December 24 when Harry bought a 14-seater Reo for around £810 and began circulating it between Box Hill and Melbourne’s CBD. In 1930, the good fortune of this road led to more ambitious projects. With expansion in mind, Harry decided to run his buses on the Box Hill and Mentone service, crossing a dirt road that would soon become the popular suburban artery of Warrigal Road.
Harry’s luck with Ventura’s call wasn’t limited to building a developing bus company: those early routes allowed him to meet Myra Lucy Hammond. As a passenger taking the bus from Ventura to work at Melbourne’s Benevolent Asylum on Warrigal Road, Cheltenham, a site now known. When Kingston Centre, Myra and Harry started chatting. In 1932, the couple married and had five children.
Hard paints soon brought more joy and good luck to Cornish life, as Ventura continued to be a hit in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs. Having first operated out of a gas station on the corner of Station St and Canterbury Road in Box Hill, Ventura also owned a small depot on Mentone’s Beach Road in the 1940s. Soon after, he acquired more land, this time at the corner of Center Road and Warrigal Road in Oakleigh. This area became a fashionable warehouse in 1957, offering the long term. infrastructure of the bus company.
Unfortunately, Harry didn’t get to see the final details of Oakleigh’s deposit. In 1952, he tragically passed away, leaving Myra with a difficult decision to make regarding the Ventura company. She would keep the business within the Cornwall family. , appointing CEOs to run the operation while the circle of family members remained involved.
By 1969, the next generation of Cornwall was in a position to take the helm of Ventura, with Harry and Myra’s son Ken serving as the operator’s CEO. For 28 years, Ken led Ventura through a rich era of expansion and diversification, marked by acquisitions and the addition of exciting bus technology.
After an era when Ventura buses ran on coal fuel due to shrinking bus facilities and fuel restrictions, Ventura’s new era has rediscovered fortune. At the heart of this expansion was the company’s focus on the passenger experience, with fleet standardisation programmes, adding the arrival of one of Victoria’s first low-floor fleets. In addition to cutting-edge ideas, plus overhauling bus routes and educational staff, Ventura has a familiar force in Victoria’s bus scene.
The investment in Boronia Bus Lines in 1970 was one of Ventura’s most important decisions in its history, allowing the operator to own nine additional Bedford buses and 12 line services. This heralded further expansion into expansion areas, with Ventura buses offering routes around the opening of the Knox City Mall.
When it came time to scale further, Ken began buying used cars and refurbishing them to build Ventura’s fleet at maximum cost effectiveness. In the face of government changes in the 1980s, Ken further standardized Ventura’s fleet with the addition of Leyland buses to manage expansion into the eastern and southeastern suburbs.
By 1988, Ventura had consolidated its presence with the acquisition of Bentleigh Bus Lines, Rennies Bus Services, Willis Bus Services, and Hawthorn Bus Services. This allowed Ventura to manage its deposits at Oakleigh and Knoxfield.
For nearly 30 years, Ken Cornwall has taken Ventura’s calling to the heights. Sadly, his passing in 1997 meant adjustments would occur, and Ken’s youngest son, Andrew, took over as general manager that year. Fortunately, he continued to follow in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, prioritizing company expansion, passenger comfort, and fleet standardization.
Since then, the fourth-generation Australian family business has prospered as Victoria’s largest coach and charter bus operator, employing more than 1,800 people and owning a fleet of more than 900 buses, adding a new fleet of zero-emission vehicles.
The company, which transports more than 42 million customers a year in 12 depots in Victoria, was replaced in the months leading up to its centenary celebrations in March.
In February of this year, Ventura Bus Lines entered into an acquisition agreement through the Keppel Infrastructure Trust (KIT), subject to government approval, and Keppel obtained a 98. 6% stake in the logo for a $600 million business. Despite the change of hands, Andrew Cornwall remains CEO and retains a minority stake in the company.
“This is an exciting new direction – we are pleased to subscribe to KIT, which shares our customer-centric and service-oriented values,” says Cornwall.
“Our new adventure with KIT will give our leaders, staff and stakeholders the confidence to aspire to a new point of sustainability in our developing community. I am very happy to continue my leadership role with our new investors. “
Ventura will begin the next level of his evolutionary life as a result of this acquisition and this important milestone of the century. In typical Ventura fashion, the operator celebrated one hundred years as a company with a family day, bringing together a wide diversity of stakeholders and fans.
One such enthusiast is OEM partner Scania, which first sold an LB113 bus to Ventura in 1994 before delivering several hundred buses and coaches to the operator.
“We are proud to build a strong and mutual relationship with the Cornwall family and the Ventura team over the past three decades,” Julian Gurney, director of electric and bus services sales at Scania Australia, told ABC.
“The appointments have been collaborative and pushed the boundaries. We worked together to provide state-of-the-art answers to Ventura and supported each other on several occasions to ensure progress and goals were achieved.
“We see Ventura as a constant and unwavering visitor not only for our complex chassis and transmissions, but also for our aftermarket products, such as authentic Scania spare parts and service, and our unique engine exchange systems, but also for our driving software and education. systems that attempt to make continuous innovations in power and reliability.
Gurney says Ventura is also committed to expanding passenger protection and comfort, sharing the same mindset that Scania has had for the past few decades. Whether it’s switching to cars with Euro 6 emissions or passengers enjoying hybrid-electric models, Scania intends to continue. her adventure with Ventura for years to come.
“We look forward to continuing our mutual relationship with Ventura Bus Lines as we usher in an era of quiet, empty public transportation,” Gurney said.
“On the road to the next hundred years of good fortune together. “
As part of his speech today, Cornwall had to thank many people, including the Victorian Government and its partners in the Transport and Planning Breakdown, V/Line, Parks Victoria and other private and public schools, as suppliers.
But, as is typical of Ventura, Cornwall had his circle of relatives to thank for a hundred years of good fortune.
“I would like to thank the many participants who have made Ventura a hundred years in business, starting with my grandfather, who started with a bachelor bus in 1924 and who supported it through his wife Myra, the only visitor who never asked to pay for his bus. “Rate,” he says.
“Then to my father Ken Cornwall, who grew the business in an era of increased industry relationships and regulations, which was very difficult, but paved the way for Ventura to become an industry leader with the help of his wife, Mary Cornwall.
“Finally, to our shareholders from the Cornwall and Galloway families and our board of directors, who have supported me in my journey over the past 27 years to make Ventura great. “
Australasia Bus