General News
17 December, 2025
Goodbye Gerard
A LONG-TIME Cobden bus driver is hanging up the hat after 40 years of dedicated service.
At 67 years old, Gerard Gleeson from Gleeson’s Bus Lines said he was ready to step back and focus more on family and international travel in retirement.
“I want to go overseas and travel before I’m 70,” he said.
“My kids are all grown up and gone off to bigger and better things.
“We’ve got a grandson we’re going to spend a bit of time with – he’s one and a half, his name is Ted.
“All the kids are pretty set so it’s time we went and had a look around.
“We’ve been around a fair bit but I would like to go to Europe.”
Mr Gleeson has been driving buses in Cobden since 1981 with a few breaks in between, doing various bus runs around the district as well as tours and coaches.
He drove buses in Camperdown for a few years when he was 21, doing the Simpson run – which was a 41-seater “with about 60 kids on it”.
“After that, I came out here and worked for my uncle who was a mechanic, because I’m a diesel mechanic by trade, then I broke my leg playing football,” Mr Gleeson said.
“I hobbled around for around six or eight months on that and then this job came up needing someone with mechanic ability and a willingness to get a bus license.
“Well, I was a qualified mechanic and I already had a bus license.
“I worked for him for two years then he decided to sell out and I bought a bus off him – I just happened to be buying the one I drove which is the oldest one in the system.
“When I bought the bus off him I was 27 years old.”
In recent years, Mr Gleeson has been doing school bus runs for St Patrick’s Primary School and Camperdown College.
He said the best part about the job was the connection he was able to make with the kids.
“They get on and they’ll open their soul to you for no reason at all,” Mr Gleeson said.
“I’ve carted kids that are probably in some cases second or third generation.
“Some kids you just talk to them – you have a naughty one just sit him close and talk to him and they’ll be good kids soon.
“A lot of them just need a lot of care and attention.
“I’ll miss the kids, that’s what I’ll miss.”
After so many years of driving school buses, Mr Gleeson said he learnt what was most important.
“I try and know all the kids by their first name,” he said.
“I’ll see them and say hey, how’s it going, and what you give to them they’ll give back
“And when you know the kids well, when something goes wrong or they’re having a bad day you can stop and call them by name.
“The kids going to the swimming – I take three or four of them to school, and I like to make them feel special when they get on because I know them.
“They feel good about that too. Show them you care and they’ll give it back.”
Read More: Cobden