State Transit handed over operation of the Region 8 contract, covering Sydney’s Northern Beaches and Lower North Shore, to Keolis Downer at 12:01am this morning, 31 October 2021. This is the first of three handovers to occur over the next 6 months, as the NSW Government follows through on plans to privatise the entire State Transit network.
State Transit had a 88 year history of operations on the Northern Beaches and Lower North Shore. The first government operated service in was on Route 144 between Manly and Cremorne on December 25 1932. As part of this handover, Route 144 will revert to private operation after 88 years. At the time of handover, there were 450 buses based in Region 8 across 3 depots.
The final service operated by State Transit in Region 8 was the 23:55 172X from Wynyard to Warringah Mall via North Balgowlah. 1966 had the honours of operating this last trip. See below for some photos of this final service
Transport NSW Blog 