Even when diverted, Glynn Ross’s life has never strayed far from the bus industry. It made it incredibly difficult for him to decide to sell Coolum Coaches to another family-based operator.
 |
|
Glynn and Jane Ross may not own Coolum Coaches anymore, but Glynn’s impact on the bus industry won’t be forgotten
|
Some people are born into family empires that dominate certain industries. Glynn Ross was born into a family legacy that ran buses. He may have deviated from the bus game over the years, but this passion for buses over generations of Ross men meant he was always destined to forge a successful career in the industry.
“It’s always been in our blood that we took over different bus companies,” Ross told ABC. “We were always taught to be hard-working and how to run buses effectively.”
Ross’s origins were fit for a shrewd and effective bus operator. He describes his father and idol Glynn Mervyn Ross as a hard-working and astute man who taught him how to live on a tight budget. For the Ross family, there were no rich buses like a Bedford – it was all about the Leylands and enjoying the battle of running small family-owned bus companies.
Glynn Mervyn Ross successfully owned and operated several buses in the Toowoomba region, the birthplace of famous former operator McCafferty’s Coaches, between 1960 and 1980. When his son grew up in the region around buses, the family love for buses and coaches was soon passed down.
Ross’s voice spikes with fondness as he reminisces his first memories of a bus. As a child, Ross used to ride with his father while he completed the Saturday night runs to and from the local cinema. Buses wouldn’t exceed 50 kilometres per hour and didn’t have air-conditioning supplied. Even without these luxuries, buses remained at the heart of the Ross family.
As he got older, Ross was always just as infatuated with buses as his father was. Yet when he finished school, before he could even consider a life in the transport industry, his father sprung a shock on him that would change his life and career drastically.
“When I finished school, my father wanted me to get a different career and I listened to him,” Ross says. “He told me that the bus industry is a case of ‘here today but gone tomorrow’, so he made me get that background experience in case tomorrow came
and the business was gone.”
So the bus-nut had to shelve his passions and look elsewhere. Instead of helping his father run a business that grew to around nine buses, Ross attended university for four long years to become a teacher.
For the next 20 years, Ross was a teacher and headmaster while raising a family. Throughout this time, his passion for buses was kept intact by doing extra driving on the weekend. Sometimes he would even take the kids to school on a bus, teach them all day and then drop them back home. His father may have deviated him away from buses, but they always remained linked to his life.
His wife Jane describes him as “a natural workaholic” who would return home from teaching only to go and take over bus driving shifts at 4PM to complete afternoon runs.
“It wasn’t unusual for Glynn to do a big drive through the night, barely sleep and then go teach at school,” Jane Ross told ABC. “He’s such a go-go-go man and he’s always been into buses, plus he had a genuine passion and respect for buses, so he was there day in, day out to help out.”
After 20 years in the state education system, Ross decided in the late 1990s that he was done with teaching. This thirst for change, alongside perennially sick kids, fuelled his decision to move his family up to the Sunshine Coast and buy Coolum Coaches in 1999.
On February 1 that year he officially took over the operator. Immediately a serious weather event marred the exciting move.
“The year we bought Coolum Coaches there was incredible flooding,” Ross says. “There was seven foot of water running out of Coolum.”
When the water receded and the sun returned to the Sunshine Coast, Ross became part of a competitive bus landscape. With a dwindling number of operators fighting to stay afloat, Ross’s intense working habits went into overdrive as he amassed a number of school bus contracts for Coolum Coaches.
 |
Each day, Coolum Coaches buses would transport more than 1250 kids to and from school safely, servicing more than 15 schools around the Sunshine Coast. At its busiest period, Coolum Coaches would transport more than 1750 kids.
“But Coolum Coaches didn’t just look after the kids,” Ross says. “It looked after my family, fed them, put them through school and put clothes on their backs.”
Ten years after first buying Coolum Coaches, Ross took another step forward in a bourgeoning bus career. On November 2, 2009, Ross completed the acquisition of the North Stradbroke Island Buses.
The idea was for the Stradbroke side of his business to help boost his super and allow him to retire with less stress. When it came to buying the business, previous owner Bryson Swan kept delaying the sale until Ross forced him to come with him to Queensland’s transport department to change the ownership into his name.
“As we were about to enter, Bryson Swan stopped and sat in the gutter and wouldn’t move any further,” Ross says. “I had to push him into it, it was like selling his family.”
Under the new conditions, Ross would go to the depot and drive buses for Coolum Coaches from Monday to Friday before heading to Stradbroke Island on the weekends to help run the business.
The process wasn’t easy to head to and from Stradbroke. Ross would pack and organise himself before driving his car onto the barge and heading to the island to stay for the weekend before doing the reverse on the way back.
“Stradbroke was such an interesting community,” Ross says. “It had different needs and wants compared to the mainland, but it was full of such nice people.”
It took a decline in Ross’s health for the juggling act to end. When his health began to worsen, Ross had to follow in the footsteps of Bryson Swan and make the tough decision to sell North Stradbroke Island Buses.
Yet it paled into comparison to what would come next. A couple of years ago, Ross decided to begin the process of selling Coolum Coaches.
“Due to changes in my health, I had to sell the business, but some would say I should’ve sold the business a long time ago,” Ross says. “However, I’m a natural workaholic and was just too proud of the chance to call Coolum Coaches my very own.
“I still sometimes say I shouldn’t have sold it because I’m so devoted. I didn’t want to let go of it, but it became too hard and life moves on.”
After a lengthy process, Ross decided to sell Coolum Coaches to another family bus operator in Thompson Bus Services earlier this year. Ross had multiple options when it came to selling the company, but he chose peace and ensured Coolum Coaches went to another family business.
“We’ve known the people at Thompsons for a long time and it was relatively easy, as we knew it would be in great hands,” Ross says. “When they put on a farewell event for me, they noticed that I already looked better without the stress of running the business.”
It wasn’t an easy farewell, but Ross now gets to enjoy retirement with a raft of terrific memories. He says he has been fortunate to be associated with such a great industry filled with wonderful characters. It’s the small things that will stick with him the most.
“Coolum Coaches and running buses was my identity,” Ross says. “My favourite times were washing the buses and buying new ones, as well as shouting my workers Friday afternoon drinks.
“I’ve been a bus nut for the best part of 30 years. It’ll take me a hot minute to realise what retirement means, but after conquering cancer and improving Parkinson’s, I’m sure that with the help of Jane I’ll figure it out in no time.”
Subscribe to our newsletter
Sign up to receive the ABC e-newsletter, digital magazine and other offers we choose to share with you straight to your inbox
You can also follow our updates by liking us on Facebook.