About 500 people turned out to celebrate 70 years of achievements for BusVic last weekend
Decades of friendship, achievement and lobbying were celebrated at the BusVic 70th Anniversary dinner last weekend.
About 500 operators, suppliers and government representatives attended the event on December 5 at the Grand Hyatt, Melbourne.
The colourful history of the association was recalled by many significant members of the association including Geoff Mountjoy, Ken Grenda, Stephen Lucas and current president Geoff Vickers.
Grenda, who was President of the Bus Association of Victoria (BAV) from 1969 to 1971, thanked those in attendance for their family’s experience within the bus industry.
The family sold Grenda’s Bus Services and associated business body builder Volgren in 2012.
“I’ld like to take this opportunity to say thank you,” he says.
“We had a great ride and I think we contributed.
“We’ve made wonderful friends and we love the industry.”
Current President Vickers has been held the role with the association since 1994.
He says over the the last few years there has been a lot of research done by Executive Director Chris Lowe and the team at the BAV which shows the industry contributes at least $1 billion to the local economy.
“We do it because we love it,” he says.
BusVic commissioned Dr David Bird to write a volume on the 70 years of the association and all delegates received a copy of the publication.
There was also a display of heritage buses at the entry of the event.