slogan new zealand all over parent intercity holdings ltd 1 locale new zealand service area new zealand service type intercity bus service chief executive john thorburn website www.intercity.co.nz intercity double decker coach intercity group nz ltd is a passenger transport and tourism company in new zealand . it operates the country s largest bus network and ferries and cruises in the bay of islands . its brands are intercity new zealand s largest bus network servicing around 600 towns and communities daily gray line new zealand license holder of premium sightseeing tours within the new zealand greatsights new zealand premium sightseeing coach services fullers greatsights coach and boat sightseeing services in the bay of islands and northland awesomenz.com formerly kings dolphin cruises and eco tours sightseeing tours and boat cruises for the more intrepid traveller newmans coach lines sightseeing services between a few south island locations hauraki blue cruises cruise ship based in auckland contents 1 ownership 2 history 3 trademark protection 4 expansion 5 gray line 6 greatsights new zealand 7 fullers greatsights 8 newmans coach lines 9 hauraki blue cruises 10 environmental projects 11 references 12 external links ownership edit intercity group nz ltd is wholly owned by intercity holdings ltd 1 46.34 % of which is owned by each of tranzit group of masterton and ritchies transport of timaru and 7.33 % by nelson sbl travel . 2 tranzit group is owned by the snelgrove family . 3 history edit intercity is the direct successor to new zealand railways road services long distance routes . new zealand railways rail and road services were combined in 1985 as the passenger business group of the new zealand railways corporation . intercity began in 1987 as the brand for long distance rail and road services . in 1991 the rail based assets were transferred to new zealand rail and the long distance buses and intercity name were bought by intercity management limited a group of seven of the country s largest private coach companies whangarei bus services bayline group ritchies transport holdings tranzit group guthreys coachlines nelson sbl and ptl route services as a franchise based operation . each of the franchisees is responsible for operating set routes usually close to their home base . of the original seven franchisees four remain with one new franchisee sdk ltd operating services in northland where whangarei bus services previously held the franchise . over the years the company name has changed from intercity coachlines ltd to coachnet nz ltd followed by intercity group ltd and most recently intercity holdings ltd. trademark protection edit in 2014 intercity group won a landmark google adwords case against competitor nakedbus in the auckland high court for breach of trade mark . 4 justice raynor asher ruled that nakedbus deliberately infringed intercity group limited s trade mark intercity engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct that confused consumers and illegitimately attempted to pass its business off as intercity s. nakedbus ran advertisements on google which would respond to searches for intercity group s trade mark intercity and which promoted nakedbus buses as inter city in both the advertisements and on the corresponding website . the court has confirmed that this was part of a misleading strategy to hook intercity customers into travelling to the nakedbus website using intercity s trade mark to confuse them into thinking that nakedbus was some sort of affiliate . nakedbus argued that the words inter and city were just descriptors for domestic bus services . this argument was emphatically rejected by the court . it recognised that intercity is a distinctive and well known new zealand brand which is entitled to the usual statutory protections . expansion edit in 2006 intercity group purchased kings dolphin cruises a paihia based operator of sightseeing cruises and day tours . this purchase was intercity s first foray beyond road passenger transport services . it also increased intercity s exposure to the tourism market . intercity s footprint in the tourism market increased again in december 2007 when it added the tourism holdings limited ltd businesses of great sights and fullers bay of islands by way of a joint venture . 5 in december 2008 tourism holdings sold its 49 % stake in intercity holdings limited to intercity group for 9.5 m. 3 in august 2016 the company was awarded the license to operate sightseeing services in new zealand as gray line the world s largest sightseeing brand . 6 gray line edit gray line worldwide logo in 2016 intercity group were awarded the license to operate gray line sightseeing tours in new zealand . greatsights new zealand edit greatsights new zealand logo greatsights new zealand is intercity group s daily sightseeing subsidiary operating day tours and sightseeing from auckland rotorua christchurch and queenstown to the bay of islands the waitomo caves hobbiton rotorua aoraki te anau and milford sound . greatsights was formed in october 1987 following acquisition of the coach assets of fourways coachlines by various newmans group companies and was subsequently taken over by corporate investments limited cil then in 1993 by the helicopter line later renamed tourism holdings ltd thl . glass roofed double decker volvo b12 coaches were introduced onto the milford sound route in 1996 . in 1998 thl purchased a number of assets from mount cook group including the gray line new zealand franchise which greatsights operated until 2006 . in 2000 greatsights opened a visitor information centre at 180 quay street auckland . this became the departure point for all greatsights day tours from auckland . the centre was closed following intercity s acquisition of greatsights as intercity already operated a similar visitor information centre on hobson street . also as a result of the acquisition in april 2008 the newmans coach lines brand gradually began to be removed from routes that were operated by greatsights . in recent years greatsights has enjoyed strong growth in line with rising visitor arrivals into new zealand . a number of new routes and tour options have been added to the network including a new waitomo & rotorua tour in 2009 . coinciding the complete fleet upgrade in 2016 the brand was refreshed and saw the introduction of diamond device to symbolize the relationship between the company s operations on land and sea . fullers greatsights edit main article fullers bay of islands fullers greatsights a sub brand of greatsights it operates cruise ferry and land sightseeing tours from bay of islands . the head office is based in the visitor centre in the maritime building on paihia s waterfront with a visitor centre in russell and a workshop in opua . 7 the fullers business was founded in 1886 when albert ernest fuller started a business delivering coal and other essential supplies to islands in the bay of islands in his vessel the undine . fuller branched out into tourism in 1927 when he started the cream trip service transporting cream from the islands to the mainland . tourists would pay to ride on the cream trip and over time the focus of the service changed from deliveries and transport to one of sightseeing and tourism . 8 the business expanded substantially over the years and today its primary focus is tourism although it does also operate passenger and vehicle ferries . the fullers greatsights product range includes 9 the cream trip hole in the rock dolphin watching cruises dolphin swimming cruises ninety mile beach and cape reinga day tours excursions in and around kerikeri and russell discover hokianga vehicle ferries between opua and okiato passenger ferries between russell and paihia in 2009 fullers bay of islands was rebranded fullers greatsights bay of islands providing connection to intercity s sightseeing tours in the rest of new zealand and a new awesomenz brand was introduced . the kings dolphin cruises northern exposure and awesome adventures brands were removed . awesomenz branded excursions include ninety mile beach day tours and milford sound day tours . in 2016 the rebrand of the main greatsights brand saw the name shortened to fullers greatsights . newmans coach lines edit newmans coach lines began in 1879 with brothers tom and harry newman offering a horse drawn coach service delivering mail around the nelson region . the business grew rapidly and expanded to include passenger services at first throughout the south island and later into the north island . in 1911 the first motor vehicle a four cylinder cadillac was introduced and in 1918 the last horse drawn carriage was retired from service . newmans remained a family owned business until 1972 when it merged with transport nelson ltd a trucking and mining company . there followed a period of expansion where the newmans brand encompassed tours rental cars and campervans and a short lived airline brand newmans air which evolved into ansett new zealand . in 1988 corporate investments limited took over the business and several routes were withdrawn . in 1991 an agreement was reached where competitor mount cook group ceased operating in the north island and newmans ceased operating in the south island . this step was not enough and in 1992 ttrb ltd a consortium of four coach operators tranzit group taranaki coachlines ritchies transport holdings and bayline group took over newmans coach lines . by 1994 two of the consortium members had withdrawn and the remaining two shareholders tranzit and ritchies operated it as a separate business until the auckland power crisis in 1998 when newmans was integrated into the intercity group business . from 1995 to 2007 the newmans brand was used on both sightseeing day tours and passenger route services . from 2008 the newmans brand was withdrawn from sightseeing day tours in favour of greatsights but newmans coach services still run between christchurch queenstown wanaka and the west coast glaciers . from 1987 until 1993 operations were operated in the australian cities of cairns and sydney as newmans coach lines . hauraki blue cruises edit in 2009 fullers greatsights launched the cruise catamaran ipipiri a 44.5 m 146 foot vessel with four levels including sundeck restaurant and bar and 30 ocean view cabins offering accommodation for up to 60 . ipipiri operated in the bay of islands for five seasons as an overnight cruise ship and was available for conferences events and weddings . in 2014 ipipiri was relocated to auckland 10 and now trades as hauraki blue cruises under the greatsights brand . as well as overnight cruises it is available for weddings conferences and events and multi day charters in the hauraki gulf . environmental projects edit intercity group has embarked on a number of sustainability projects since 1998 . 11 in may 2007 intercity joined landcare research s carbonzero programme 12 but withdrew when the new zealand government introduced an emissions trading scheme . in 2010 intercity s bay of islands operations were awarded an enviro gold 13 rating by qualmark . its coaching division currently holds a qualmark enviro silver rating . 14 references edit a b intercity group nz ltd 506732 registered . companies office . retrieved 1 april 2016 . intercity holdings ltd 2060513 registered . companies office . retrieved 1 april 2016 . a b tourism holdings sells intercity stake . stuff.co.nz . 17 december 2008 . retrieved 4 october 2011 . high court judgement civ 2012 404 007532 from www.nzherald.co.nz retrieved 18 february 2014 financial & investor information from www.thlnz.co.nz retrieved 21 december 2007 http www.stuff.co.nz business 83572996 intercity buys kiwi franchise of gray line fullers contact details history of fullers fullers greatsights website home page new cruise ship coming to auckland . nz herald . retrieved 22 july 2014 . intercity s destination carbon neutral website scoop.co.nz fullers greatsights bay of islands qualmark endorsement intercity qualmark endorsement external links edit intercity group intercity bus services gray line sightseeing greatsights new zealand fullers greatsights awesomenz.com hauraki blue cruises intercity flexipass intercity travelpass newmans coachlines v t e bus transport in new zealand