Former Tranzit Group mechanic and bus driver Wally Trickett is painting 100 oil paintings for Tranzit Group, as it prepares to mark its centenary in Wairarapa this November.
Former Tranzit Group mechanic and bus driver Wally Trickett is painting 100 oil paintings for Tranzit Group, as it prepares to mark its centenary in Wairarapa this November.
A school bus company started by some “country kids from the Wairarapa” that went on to win the tender for one of New Zealand’s biggest sporting events is about to celebrate 100 years of operation.
“That’s a pretty good thing to skite about, isn’t it?” said Keven Snelgrove, director oftransport and operations for bus company Tranzit Group.
Keven has been part of the family-owned company since he was just 7, when he started cleaning the buses. Now, he holds a senior position in the business, but that doesn’t stop him from getting behind the wheel every now and then.
He and managing director Paul Snelgrove still hit the road during the national bus driver shortage, and during Covid.
“They’re out there leading from the front,” said Jenna Snelgrove, the general manager for Tranzit’s coachlines, InterCity and tourism division.
She said the upcoming centenary celebration was a “pretty proud moment and I guess a humbling moment”.
Paul Snelgrove (left), Tranzit Group’s managing director and Keven Snelgrove, director of transport and operations, still drive the buses when needed.
“It’s not often we slow down and celebrate the wins.”
To mark the occasion, former mechanic and bus driver Wally Trickett is painting 100 oil paintings of buses for a special Tranzit exhibition, which will be held at Aratoi: Wairarapa Museum of Art and History in Masterton.
Though Trickett never intended the paintings to end up on public display, many will feature in the exhibition.
“It’s an absolute privilege to paint them and I do it because I love art, I’m passionate about buses and it’s a unique tribute to my many friends in the industry,” he said.
“I’ve been fortunate with the people I’ve met and have heard some amazing stories ... some of which are reflected in these paintings. I hope they will continue to give pleasure down the track.”
He’s just one of many people who have had a long career with Tranzit, and who the Snelgroves call part of their “family”.
Jenna Snelgrove, general manager for Tranzit Group’s coachlines, InterCity and tourism division, said their staff were "everything".
“There’s a lot of people in our business who have been here for a long, long time and been on the journey with us,” Keven said.
“Our team is our everything,” Jenna said.
Tranzit, which has been run by four generations of Snelgroves so far, started in 1925 as the Grey Bus Service in Wairarapa, with just one vehicle.
Today, it is New Zealand’s largest family-owned transport and tourism company, boasting a fleet of more than 3000 vehicles. Their home base is in Masterton, and Jenna said they hoped that would remain their home base for the next hundred years to come.
Some of the interesting moments through the company’s history included when the tender system was introduced, which Keven said was “something new for the bus and coach industry”.
He said he and Paul sat down and said “we can’t just be school bus operators here, we have to be diversified over the whole industry”.
A highlight was when Tranzit became the official transport partner for the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
“We were very much still regional New Zealand in 2011,” Jenna said.
Former Tranzit Group mechanic and bus driver Wally Trickett is painting 100 oil paintings for Tranzit Group, as it prepares to mark its centenary in Wairarapa this November.
“There were some concerns ... what is this bus company from Masterton doing tendering on what was the largest sporting event New Zealand had seen?
“That then sort of set us up to be a big player with all major sporting events. It took us from being sort of a regional bus company to a national transport provider.”
Keven said they had started out as a company that flew under the radar.
Melissa Nightingale is a Wellington-based reporter who covers crime, justice and news in the capital. She joined the Herald in 2016 and has worked as a journalist for 10 years.
