New Sydney and Outer Metro bus contracts (as from 2020)

[Enviro 500]

It would seem that DBS Nominees is a key shareholder of CDG. DBS Nominees is a division of the Development Bank of Singapore, whose largest stakeholder happens to be Temasek Holdings who also owns SingTel the parent company of Optus. Hence I stand by what I've said.

[Linto63]

Temasek Holdings is the fifth largest shareholder in the Development Bank of Singapore with 11%, which in turn is a 10% shareholder in CDC. So effectively the Government of Singapore has a 1% shareholding, a long way from a controlling interest.

[Campbelltown busboy]

It's ridiculous our bus operations are now overseas run.
Bring back the simple times pre 2000.

let's go back about 40 years to the variety of operators that we had when the government of the day started phasing out the 1925 route numbers and split the list of destinations that ran under a single route number into a number of three digit route numbers

[Linto63]

One route with 17 variations, not particularly useful for the passengers

[Enviro 500]

Temasek Holdings is the fifth largest shareholder in the Development Bank of Singapore

But the most influential nonetheless.

[Linto63]

Based on what?

[Campbelltown busboy]

One route with 17 variations, not particularly useful for the passengers

Under the MOT's 1925 system a private operator with depots in multiple areas couldn't transfer buses between areas as numbers were licenced to a certain area so if Rowes wanted to transfer a bus between Campbelltown and Plumpton they couldn't as the bus in question would of been licensed for route 93 which was the 1925 system route number for the Campbelltown area

[Fleet Lists]

Getting off topic - going back nearly 100 years.

[iamthouth]

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/syd ... 5cuc6.html

OPINION
Sydney’s Hills and Forests are gone. But where are the protests?
March 26, 2023 — 5.00am

In a couple of weeks, the last yellow Hillsbus will roll along New Line Road to its bed at Dural depot and reawaken for the 5am trip to town the next day, rebranded, as a CDC NSW Region 4 bus.

Then, in May, the final white and green Forest Bus will unsuspectingly tuck itself in at Terrey Hills only to return to the road anew, and painted blue, as something called a CDC NSW Region 14 service.


The Hillsbus brand will be retired next month.CREDIT:PETER RAE

These changes were announced late last year, when Singapore-based transport giant ComfortDelGro secured a $1.7 billion state government contract to run these bus services in Sydney’s north and north-west for a further eight years.

But despite this same company having operated each of these services for several years without feeling the need to log the Forests or raze the Hills, here we are. The Hillsbus and Forest Bus brands will be “retired” when the new contracts come into effect.

A CDC NSW (ComfortDelGro’s local outfit) spokesperson confirmed it was “working on a full rebranding process” after winning the contract to add the buses of the upper north shore (Chatswood, Hornsby and Berowra) to its stable.

“This rebranding includes our bus decals, uniforms, depot signage, email signature, notice boards, comms, stationery and more,” the spokesperson said, adding it was hoping to “move towards one CDC NSW brand that will be the best partner for” Transport for NSW, passengers and its employees.

For many commuters, it will be the end of an era. Perhaps I missed the revolt? Did thousands link arms across the M2 and Warringah Road in protest? Did Band Aid release a Christmas single: Do They Know It’s [a] Hillsbus? I kid. But only just.

Stuff in this town is allowed to be re-named, re-branded. Sometimes it’s a great idea. Like when we feel celebrating a person is no longer in line with community values (local 19th century blackbirder Ben Boyd, for example, is being scrubbed from towns and school sports houses across the state).

Or maybe we decide there’s a better name for a landmark because, on second look, there were a lot more women around than our streets, pools and parks would have you believe and perhaps tipping the scales of representation with a plaque or three wouldn’t go astray. The re-introduction of Indigenous place names into the state apparatus, like having Tallawong as the terminus of the north-west metro, too, adds value and recognises culture and history.

But there is a different type of urban re-naming. One that seeks to homogenise, and place confusing bureaucratic branding on something which should be quite straightforward.


There’s a rebrand in them there Hills. CREDIT:PETER RAE

The entire stretch of suburbia from Blacktown down to Camden? One otherwise idle day, they became the citizens of the Western Parkland City, a broad catch-all for “somewhere over there” whose beating heart is a construction site where an international airport will eventually be.

People of the Hills and the Forests are not the first to lose their regionally-branded buses. Westbus was carved off bit by bit until the brand disappeared in the mid-2010s. The old Glenorie Bus Company, too, absorbed into the CDC (which, as an aside, I suspect received some incorrectly addressed mail circa 2020). But this time it’s different. These services aren’t changing hands. CDC NSW seems to just want the opportunity to run its buses anywhere in Sydney.

At the risk of going full NIMBY (Not In My Bus Yard), I just don’t think we should stand for the erasure. Because living life on the often sparse timetables of these services is something of an identity. As a regular Hillsbus user, there are some experiences one only garners from spending that many hours on a banana-coloured chariot.

Consider the real threat that, as a school student, if you were to fall asleep on the bus on a Friday afternoon you might wake up at Pitt Town, with no future public transport south – or anywhere, really – for three whole days.

Then there’s the Kent Street run club. Some of the fastest sprint times down that road have been set by Cherrybrook residents attempting to catch the last bus before their route home has to involve the suburb’s Metro station, which is virtually located in the next suburb over.

And among long-time Hillsbus patrons are a generation of commuters bound by memories of a pre-Opal era, when travel on a non-state bus could cost you double what someone in another part of the town would be charged. (Although, these higher fares were likely more than offset when Hillsbus joined the rest of Sydney in using MyBus 10 tickets. With no machines to dip and stamp the backs of these tickets, as you’d see on a state bus, the Hillsbus drivers would do it by hand – on the front. A MyBus 20, one might say.)

I suppose there is an efficiency argument for it all. Maybe ComfortDelGro will be able to run a better service if a bus cancelled in Baulkham Hills can more easily be replaced by one at Belrose? I doubt it. Indeed, a bus by any other name will likely run as late.

[boronia]

Another well researched transport article by a "health reporter"

[Swift]

More renaming. It's boring.

[Fleet Lists]

This has long been expected so not a surprise.

[Enviro 500]

This has long been expected so not a surprise.

The rebranding of Hillsbus and Forest Coach Lines (whose rural operations remain under the original name) reminds me of the rebranding of WA's Southern Coast Transit and Veolia Transport (Joondalup) to Transdev in 2013 after Veolia exited the public transport industry.

Anyway, Temasek Holdings is currently helmed by the wife of the current Prime Minister of Singapore. Hence Temasek should be seen as an influential shareholder of DBS who in turn, own shares in CDG.

[Linto63]

Being chair of a 10% shareholder will carry some weight, but not substantial enough to be a major influence. Even less so in terms of CDC, where the governments' effective shareholding is 1%.

[MotorOmnibus8562]

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/syd ... 5cuc6.html

I think the old liveries will be around for a while yet, there is approximately at least 150 buses post-2005 that need to be repainted

Admin - No need to quote the full article which was quoted in the referenced post.
And it should be pre 2007 and not post 2005.

[Aurora]

It is amazing after over a decade there are still buses running around not in the blue livery.

[boronia]

People just want a bus to turn up on schedule. They are not concerned what colour it is painted.

[Glen]

Most of them are covered in advertising anyway (don't get me started on that).

[pgt]

What will the Transit Systems region 2 operation run under two ideas could be Transit Systems Macarthur Pty Ltd or Transit Systems South West Pty Ltd

I'll offer this possibility (https://abr.business.gov.au/ABN/View?abn=43665033465):
"Transit Systems NSW SW Pty Ltd" - a company name registered 17th January 2023 and in the same vein naming wise.

It's currently registered in postcode 5000 - the same one as "Transit Systems NSW Pty Ltd", but could easily change registered address down the track, noting the entry for "Transit Systems West Pty Ltd" did have its registered location change to postcode 2040 [Leichhardt?], though it was previously registered in postcode 4169.

[Enviro 500]

Postcode 5000 is for Adelaide where Torrens Transit controls 4/6 route packages.

[Lt. Commander Data]

Postcode 5000 is for Adelaide where Torrens Transit controls 4/6 route packages.

5000 is Adelaide CBD, where Sealink/Kelsian HQ is.

I think you’ll find Torrens Transit (who operate 3 contracts) and Torrens Connect (who operate 1) are “controlled” from depots in their contract areas, probably mainly Morphettville (5043), and Mile End (5031). Possibly some tram related tasks are done at Glengowrie (5044).

[Campbelltown busboy]

When are the new contracts for the regions that were in tranch 1 for contract negotiations suppose to start. I understand that that the tranch 3 contracts start in October for region 2 and December for region 1

[Fleet Lists]

Supposed to be April for region 4 and May for the combined 14 and 12 but as April is with us now there is no guarantee it will happen.

[MotorOmnibus8562]

I know CDC is already putting new logos on their region 4 and 14 buses and they seem to be kicking up the pace now in getting ready for the new contract, I also saw a post saying they're hiring at the Mount Kuring-gai depot which I presume was previously Transdev's depot. I read somewhere that Transdev sold all its assets to the government but I could be wrong. I bet it won't be long before we see Buses from Transdev having CDC logos on them.

[Fleet Lists]

I read somewhere that Transdev sold all its assets to the government but I could be wrong.

That applied to southern regions 10 and 13 but not northern region 12.