Crannibus (careful not to mispronounce it as cannabis!) was a marketing term used in the 1970s by local operator Phillips Bus Service to market an early experiment with running a Cranbourne town service, later reintroduced in 1987 as Route 797.
A Freighter bodied SB3 added to the Phillips fleet in 1968 was repainted yellow and blue to promote the service, in contrast to the usual black & white colour scheme synonymous with Phillips.
This bus was an odd-bod in the fleet, delivered during the period of five petrol Bedfords with Comair bodies, ordered when an additional bus required at short notice which did not allow enough time for the building of another Comair.
Maybe a suitable slogan for the service would have been “We serve every nook and granny!”
- Cranniebus was an early try at a town service for Cranbourne. JXN 439 a 1967 Bedford SB3/ Freighter displays the unique yellow and blue livery for this service. (Bill Barrett)
- Phillips #6 (Bedford SB5, Freighter) repainted into the blue & yellow “Crannibus” livery, a 1970s experiment for a town bus (Geoff Foster)