Australasian Bus & Coach — October 2017

busnews.com.au October 2017 ABC^31

Above: It’s been

a busy year for

Lance Deacon,

Col Dyson and

Neil Dyson

Opposite: The

fl eet seems to be

growing by the

minute

W

ith so much
going on
within the
business in
2017, the
senior management team at Dysons
is celebrating 65 years of service this
month and they have big plans for the
next 12 months ahead.
A family-owned and operated bus
company founded in 1952, the Dyson
Group operates more than 480 buses
and coaches while employing over
900 staff in metropolitan Melbourne,
regional Victoria and NSW.
It’s certainly come a long way since
Laurence Dyson bought four buses
in the early 1950s. The organisation
now operates tours and charter,
airport transfers, school runs and
metropolitan commuter services. And
business continues to grow with the
purchase of several smaller regional
Victorian bus operators this year.
All told, there are more than 20
extended Dyson family members
working in the business which
now spans spans an impressive
four generations. Joint managing
directors Neil Dyson, Lance Deacon
and Shane Dyson all play a key part
in developing the business. Lance
worked in accounting for a decade

before joining the family business in

earnest, Neil started as a mechanic,

and Shane started in operations.

REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT

The trio has been working hard

this year along with other senior

managers to make the acquisition

of Shepparton Transit as smooth

as possible. “We purchased

Shepparton Transit off Larry

Fallon, which is a pretty substantial

44-vehicle operation about an hour

north of Melbourne on June 1 this

year,” Lance explains.

The Fallon family had previously

operated the Shepparton Transit

services since 2003. “Strategically

it’s good for us to have a base there

in Shepparton because that helps

connect up all our other regional

depots all of which are no more than

an hour’s drive from each other now

essentially,” Neil says.

“Larry was looking to downsize.

He’s kept his little operation out

at Cobram and he’s got three sons

all with their own operations; one

at Wangaratta and one at Mount

Beauty. There was a bit of an

agreement that if Larry wanted to

sell, he would come and see us ¾ rst

and that’s just how it happened.”

Strategically it’s good

for us to have a base

there in Shepparton

While the purchase of

Shepparton Transit included just

the one large depot at Shepparton,

a number of vehicles are kept off

site in other regional towns and

utilised there as required. So

Dyson Group now runs the busy

Shepparton town service as well

as bus services that connect

residents with V/Line rail services.

ALL IN THE FAMILY

Readers could be forgiven for

thinking that there couldn’t possibly

be any more Dysons, but you

thought wrong!

“We moved Roy Dyson from our

Wangaratta depot down to our new

one at Shepparton and he’s doing

great things there already,” Neil

reveals. “Roy’s 2IC is now looking

after Wangaratta and doing an

excellent job so far.

“There is scope for development of

the bus network around Shepparton.