The section of the short Poath Rd route between what was to become Chadstone to North Rd route dates from September 1935 with the gazetting of route 88A  – East Malvern Station to North Road. The first operators were Lawrence Hone and Oliver Shave with one bus.

It was extended via Mackie and Centre Roads to East Bentleigh in December 1936 but the route closed on 31/3/1937. The service was reopened as East Malvern Station to Clayton in August 1939 by Harry Cornwall (Ventura Motors) who was given permission to use 7-seater motor cabs whilst buses were constructed. However, it closed again in May 1941.

Wallace JJ 031 (Austin K4, Ansair) one of two used after the war to resuscitate Route 88A (Official Ansair collection)

After the War, on 8/5/1946, it was re-prescribed as Route 88A East Malvern Station to North Rd and expressions of interest sought. It was awarded to James Wallace with two licences  He then took on two partners on 17/7/1946, Joseph & Raymond Connell, father and son who were both bookmakers, and the business who traded as Poathdale Motors at 504 Neerim Road. They purchased two Austin K4 buses with metro style Ansair bodies, JJ 031 and KA 324.

Poathdale Motors unfortunately abandoned the run on 13 July 1951. They sold their two Ansair bodied Austins – one to Hicks of Elmore and the other to E E Davies BS and then E D Davies.

The Hughesdale Chamber of Commerce (HCC) began looking for an operator for the Poath Road route after Poathdale Motors walked off the route in 1951. There were negotiations with E E (Ernest Edgar) Davies who soon took over the run along Poath Rd.

Edgar Davies was a solicitor and it appears that his son Edgar ran the business for him under the name of E E Davies Bus Lines.

By September 1952 Davies was also operating 39A between Oakleigh, Wheelers Hill and Scoresby, which he had purchased from H. Trotter. Route 39A would subsequently go back to Trotter, now trading as Clarinda Transport, in March 1955 following a series route rationalisations in the Oakleigh area.

Two 7-seater International motor cabs recently retired for the Canterbury – Richmond route were purchased by the Hughesdale Chamber of Commerce in 1954 (The Age archives)

Meanwhile, Route 88A was altered to start at Holmesglen (rather than East Malvern) in November 1953, but it had ceased again on 8 March 1954.

Ralph Norman Heywood was born 1910 in Trafalgar and in 1949 was a farmer in Korumburra. By 1954, Ralph had moved to Melbourne.

Along with Max White, a service station owner, and another unknown person, Ralph invested in three just sold 7-seater motor cabs from the Canterbury – Richmond route and with some support from the HCC, restarted the route in June 1954. By 1955, Ralph was the sole operator and by 1957 had bought a “big” bus being the 19 passenger ex Fiske Brothers, ex Jenner, ex Petfield Grummet bodied Bedford OB, KE 558.

Of course, everything changed in October 1960 with the opening of Chadstone and the route got three more buses, HAX 823 via Jack Cartin (as a dealer), an ex Campbell’s (Adelaide) 1955 CAC bodied SBG, HFC 092 and EU 537 from Sinclair’s ex Neeson.

Heywood KE 558 (Bedford OB, Grummet) was new in 1947 to Fiske Bros for their Ormond – Caulfield route. It then passed to Jenner for the Murrumbeena route & then to Petfield who took over the route and finally to Heywood in 1957. (Bruce Tilley)

At this stage, Route 88A had reverted to East Malvern Station to North Road via Chadstone and Hughesdale but in 1961 the section between East Malvern and Chadstone Shopping Centre was abandoned (and was then covered by Driver’s extended 81A Camberwell – Glen Iris – Chadstone service).

In 1963, Ralph replaced the SB with an older (but nicer) CAC OB from LVBL SZ 035 (a 33 seat version unlike HAX which was a 27 seater).

Heywood sold to Smith and Suhr in October 1970, just before the 1/1971 TRB directive for perimeter seating buses to cease service, along with a requirement for all buses to have doors fitted, which KE didn’t have. None of the buses continued service beyond 1/1/1971.

Ralph Norman Heywood died 16/9/1986.

The name of the Smith & Suhr charter route service business was changed to Bentleigh Charter Service in 1969. After the death of Neil Smith in 1974, the route services were renamed Bentleigh Bus Lines, including the Centre Road services and managed by Brian Suhr, son of Leo Suhr and nephew of Roy Suhr (who did not have any descendants). Leo Suhr died in 19080 and Roy died in 1984.

At Chadstone, Heywood HAX 823 (Bedford OB, CAC). New to Souters of Bendigo in 1949 (rego unknown). It then went to Massey Ferguson before Ferris of Walhalla and finally to Heywood in 10/1959 (Keith Kings)

The route was revised on 15 November 1982 as part of the pilot Neighbourhood scheme when it was extended to Southland Shopping Centre over the Southland to Bentleigh 652 service of Southland Bus Service who also shared in the operation of the new through service.

Bentleigh Bus Lines sold their half of the service to Ventura Motors on 27 April 1987. The Bentleigh Charter Service arm was initially retained, before being sold to Craig Coop on 14 August 1988, who was running Nuline Bus Lines at the time.

Ventura and Moorabbin Transit (Grenda) were joint operators of the service from 30/6/1988 after Moorabbin Transit (Grenda) took over Southland B.S.

From 30 September 1991 Route 636 was absorbed by Route 767, running from Box Hill to Southland via Wattle Park, Chadstone, Hughesdale and Bentleigh East, now solely operated by Ventura. This route still covers Poath Rd today.