| State Transit | |
| Overview | |
| Brands | Sydney Buses Newcastle Buses & Ferries Western Sydney Buses |
| Mode | Commuter bus Bus rapid transit Ferry |
| Owner | NSW Government |
| Area | Sydney, Newcastle |
| Business | |
| Key People | Gladys Berejiklian (Minister) Peter Rowley (CEO) Barrie Unsworth (Chairman) |
| Founded | 1989 |
| Operations | |
| Fleet | 2050 buses 2 ferries |
| Network | 300 commuter bus routes 1 bus rapid transit route 1 ferry route |
| Depots | 14 |
| Wharves | 2 |
| Ticketing | Automated Fare Collection System |
| Patronage | 200 million (annually) |
| Public transport | | |
The State Transit Authority of New South Wales (STA) is an agency of the Government of New South Wales based in Sydney, Australia operating bus and ferry services. The STA is part of transport minister Gladys Berejiklian's portfolio. The chairman is former New South Wales premier Barrie Unsworth.
The STA was established in 1989 to replace the Urban Transit Authority of New South Wales. In 2004, the STA's Sydney Ferries business was spun off as a state-owned company, Sydney Ferries Corporation. As of 2006, the State Transit Authority carries more than 200 million passengers every year on a network of over 300 routes aboard a fleet of some 1900 buses and two ferries.
The Authority comprises three business units:
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Sydney Buses is a commuter bus service operating in Sydney. The network—comprising buses in the series 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500—is loosely based on the reach of the city's now-defunct tram network (see Trams in Sydney).
In recent years, Sydney Buses has grown significantly through acquisitions of smaller bus companies as reforms to contracting arrangements encourage consolidation in the industry. This growth has meant that the fleet size has increased without a corresponding drop in the fleet's average age.
Until recently, Sydney Buses operated under the "State Transit" brand.
Sydney Buses operates a number of high-profile services:
Sydney Buses also operates late night services mostly operating on Friday and Saturday nights.
Newcastle Buses & Ferries is a commuter bus and ferry service operating in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie. Newcastle Buses & Ferries operates 28 bus routes plus a ferry service across Port Hunter between Newcastle and Stockton. The network radiates from a bus terminal near CityRail's Newcastle station, on the waterfront of Newcastle's CBD. Major interchanges are located at the University of Newcastle, Wallsend, Glendale, Warners Bay, Belmont, Charlestown, Westfield Kotara and Broadmeadow station.
Trips within a designated area of the Newcastle CBD on State Transit-operated bus services are zero-fare under the Newcastle Alliance's Free City Buses programme. The zero-fare zone operates between 7.30 am and 6.00 pm, seven days a week. The programme receives funding from the Honeysuckle Development Corporation and the Government of New South Wales.
Formed in 2002, Western Sydney Buses operates route T80, a bus rapid transit service in Western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Passengers made 1.7 million journeys with Western Sydney Buses in the 2006-07 financial year. The service is not expected to break even until 2008.
Western Sydney Buses operates along a "transitway" (T-way), which consists of bus-only roadways and bus-only lanes connecting Liverpool railway station and Parramatta railway station via Smithfield.
Sydney Buses operates services in the following areas:
In 2002, State Transit won a Ministry of Transport contract to operate T-way services. A newly-formed subsidiary, Western Sydney Buses, operates services on:
Newcastle Buses & Ferries operates services in Newcastle. Newcastle Buses & Ferries also operates a ferry service between Queens Wharf on the Newcastle waterfront and Stockton, across Port Hunter.
For more info see Bus routes in Sydney.
Sydney Buses and Western Sydney Buses services charge fares on the basis of distance. Newcastle Buses & Ferries bus services charge fares on the basis of travel time. Journeys on Newcastle buses within a certain area of the CBD are zero-fare during the day. Fares are set by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal of New South Wales.
Fares are calculated on the number of sections travelled, where one section is approximately 1.6 km.
State Transit services uses a variety of tickets under the MyZone structure. These include single ride tickets bought on board buses or from selected resellers, MyBus TravelTen, MyMulti, Pensioner Excursion Ticket and MyMulti DayPass. Multiple use tickets offer benefits to people who travel frequently on buses.
On single ride tickets, the registration number (bus ID) is printed on the top left side, the time of travel, route number and direction of travel is printed on the bottom. For TravelTen tickets, the route number is printed on the left, followed by the section number, then the direction of travel, the time of travel, the registration number (bus ID) and the trip number.
State Transit services use the Automated Fare Collection System and its magnetic stripe multi-ride tickets. In 2006, the 333 Route (Bondi Beach) service was the subject of a prepay only test. The test was successful and further prepay routes have been introduced. In 2009, the STA progressively rolled out prepay only to all CBD bus stops between 7 AM & 7 PM.
In view of its political sensitivity, the agencies responsible for public transport in New South Wales are frequently restructured. Buses and ferries were the responsibility of the Department of Government Transport until 1972, when the Askin Liberal government combined the agency with the New South Wales Government Railways to form the Public Transport Commission of New South Wales.
The PTC adopted the logo later to be used by State Rail and, in a modified form, CityRail today. The commission also introduced the blue and white livery that buses have, in one form or another, retained to this day—replacing a green and gold livery inherited from the city's tram rolling stock.
In 1980, buses, ferries and trains were again separated, by the Wran Labor government. Trains became part of the State Rail Authority of New South Wales while buses and ferries became the preserve of the Urban Transit Authority of New South Wales. Urban Transit operated buses in Sydney and Newcastle, and the Sydney ferry and hydrofoil network.
In 1989, the Greiner Liberal government renamed Urban Transit the State Transit Authority of New South Wales. The hydrofoils were replaced with high-speed catamarans and the MetroTen ticketing system introduced a few years before was replaced with the Automated Fare Collection System in use today.
In 2004, the Carr Labor government spun the Sydney Ferries business into a separate Sydney Ferries Corporation.
The State Transit Fleet consists of over 2100 buses operating in both Sydney and Newcastle from 13 depots. The State Transit Authority is currently in the process of updating its bus fleet with the purchase of 505 new vehicles in late 2006 and the refurbishment of more than 100 vehicles acquired in the early 1990s. An order for 200 Custom Coaches CB80-bodied buses (100 Volvo B7RLE and 100 Scania K-series has been confirmed with the first to be delivered in 2011. All new STA acquisitions from 1990 onwards have the following features:
All State Transit vehicles are now fitted with digital CCTV surveillance with five cameras aboard each bus to improve security and deter vandalism and anti-social behaviour. The STA continues to improve its environmental impact with a large percentage of the fleet being powered by compressed natural gas (CNG) as well as meeting strict emissions regulations with 250 Euro 5 compliant vehicles entering service from 2007.
The following bus models entered service pre-1990 and are still in service:
The following bus models entered service in the 1990s:
The following bus models entered service in the 2000s:
The following bus models entered service in the 2010s:
Newcastle Buses & Ferries operates two vessels, Shortland and Hunter, both of which entered service in 1988, Australia's bicentenary. The vessels are named for Newcastle pioneers Lt. John Shortland and Vice Admiral John Hunter.
Sydney Buses operates all over Sydney. At present there are 12 depots serving the Sydney metropolitan area. The depots (depot code indicated) are located at (By Region):
Northern Region
Western Region
Eastern Region
Southern Region
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