Kinetic Group (formerly known as AATS Group) is an Australian-based multinational bus company that wholly owns a number of bus operations in Australia and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island country ...

, including the SkyBus business, which operates bus services to a number of airports in both countries. Through its 51%-owned subsidiary

Go-Ahead Group The Go-Ahead Group plc is a passenger transport company based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, with operations in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Singapore, Norway and Germany. Formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange, in 2022 it was purchased ...

based in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Nor ...

, Kinetic also operates buses and railway services in the United Kingdom,

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borderin ...

, Germany,

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

and

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and th ...

. Kinetic is majority owned by Canadian pension fund

OPTrust OPTrust, officially the OPSEU Pension Trust, is a legal trust formed by the contractual agreement between the two plan sponsors, Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) and the Government of Ontario. It manages one of Canada's largest pensi ...

and Australian infrastructure manager Infrastructure Capital Group.

History

AATS started in 2014 as a consortium that included Catalyst Direct Capital Management and

Private Markets Group to purchase SkyBus. Michael Sewards and Adam Begg were the founders and became the co-CEOs of the company. AATS purchased Transit Australia Group (TAG) in April 2019, including bus companies Sunbus and

Surfside Buslines Surfside Buslines was an Australian bus operator on the Gold Coast in Queensland. It operated 56 services under contract to the Government of Queensland under the TransLink banner. It also operates nine services in the adjoining Tweed Valley ...

. It was rebranded the Kinetic Group in August 2019, and remains the parent company of SkyBus and TAG. In the same month, OPTrust began to seek a co-investor in Kinetic Group, who would hold a minority share in the group. Kinetic acquired

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountains ...

bus and coach charter company Telfords Bus & Coach in November 2019, followed by

Cairns Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...

bus operator Love's Bus Service Queensland in January 2020. In March 2020, it was announced that Kinetic would buy GoBus with 1,700 buses, subject to approval by the New Zealand Overseas Investment Office. Approval was given in June and the acquisition was completed in August 2020. In December 2020, Campbell's Coaches,

Townsville Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 3 ...

was acquired. In February 2021, Kinetic announced it had agreed terms to purchase

Greyhound Australia Greyhound Australia is an Australian coach operator that ran services in all mainland states and territories until reduction of services in the 2000s. It is owned by KordaMentha (85%) and the Chapman Group (15%). The company was established ...

's resources business Greyhound Resources that provides mine transport for workers in the

Bowen Basin The Bowen Basin contains the largest coal reserves in Australia. This major coal-producing region contains one of the world's largest deposits of bituminous coal. The Basin contains much of the known Permian coal resources in Queensland incl ...

Hunter Valley The Hunter Region, also commonly known as the Hunter Valley, is a region of New South Wales, Australia, extending from approximately to north of Sydney. It contains the Hunter River and its tributaries with highland areas to the north and s ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

and

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aus ...

with 170 vehicles. The deal was expected to close in April 2021. This has since been rebranded as Kinetic Resources. In April 2021, it was announced that

Redline Coaches Redline Coaches was Tasmania's largest coach operator. It operated both route and charter services. As of late 2022, Redline coaches has changed its name as part of a business re-brand by the parent company, Kinetic, and has now been dissolved ...

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

would be acquired. Following OPTrust's 2019 announcement of seeking a co-investor, Infrastructure Capital Group acquired a 49% shareholding in Kinetic in October 2021. On 31 January 2022,

Kinetic Melbourne Kinetic Melbourne is a bus operator in Melbourne, Australia, operating a fleet of 531 buses on 43 bus routes, as well as seven SmartBus routes. It commenced operations on 31 January 2022, taking over all routes previously operated by Transdev Mel ...

took over the routes operated by

Transdev Melbourne Transdev Melbourne was a bus operator in Melbourne, Australia, that operated the Melbourne Bus Franchise with a fleet of 534 buses on 49 bus routes from August 2013 until January 2022. It operated approximately 30% of Melbourne's bus network. I ...

, with 531 buses, under a contract which runs until June 2031. In February 2022, Kinetic acquired Sainty's North East Bus Service, with vehicles and drivers joining Kinetic's Redline Coaches business. In March 2022, Kinetic announced its acquisition of

NZ Bus NZ Bus is New Zealand's largest bus company, operating in Auckland, Tauranga and Wellington. Formerly a subsidiary of Stagecoach Group and later Infratil and Next Capital, it is now owned by Kinetic Group. History In October 1992 Stagecoach p ...

, which operates in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about It ...

Tauranga Tauranga () is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty region and the fifth most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of , or roughly 3% of the national population. It was settled by Māori late in the 13th century, colonised by ...

and

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

and is one of New Zealand's biggest urban bus operators, with 800 buses and 14 depots. In the same month, Kinetic also announced the acquisition of Mersey Bus & Coach Services (Merseylink), the largest private operator in Tasmania which operates 51 general and school bus services in Devonport and north-west Tasmania. In June 2022, in partnership with

Globalvia Globalvia is a Spanish multinational transport infrastructure company that operates in 11 countries across three continents. In June 2022, Globalvia in partnership with Kinetic Group launched a take over bid for the British bus and rail operator ...

, Kinetic's offer to purchase the

was recommended for acceptance by its board The sale was approved by Go-Ahead's shareholders in August 2022. Kinetic has a 51% shareholding. In November 2022, Kinetic began operating a new depot at

High Wycombe High Wycombe, often referred to as Wycombe ( ), is a market town in Buckinghamshire, England. Lying in the valley of the River Wye, Buckinghamshire, River Wye surrounded by the Chiltern Hills, it is west-northwest of Charing Cross in London, ...

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to t ...

, offering school route and charter services, general charter and event services. In late 2022, four of Kinetic's subsidiaries, Sunbus (including Love's Bus Service Queensland),

, Telfords Bus & Coach and

, were rebranded to Kinetic.

Operations

Below is Kinetic's current and former bus companies that it operates: Northern Territory *Greyhound Resources Queensland ''(Love's Bus Service Queensland, Sun Bus and Surfside Buslines are being dissolved and re-branded as Kinetic from late 2022)'' *Campbell's Coaches * Love's Bus Service Queensland * Sunbus ** Sunbus Cairns **Sunbus Magnetic Island ** Sunbus Rockhampton **

Sunbus Sunshine Coast Sunbus Sunshine Coast was an Australian operator of bus services on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland. It operates 25 services under contract to the Government of Queensland under the TransLink banner.It is one of Sunbus' operations. As of 2022 ...

** Sunbus Townsville *

*Kinetic Resources * SkyBus New South Wales ''(Telfords Bus & Coach as well as Surfside Buslines are being dissolved and re-branded as Kinetic from late 2022)'' *

* Telfords Bus & Coach South Australia *Kinetic Resources * SkyBus Tasmania ''(Redline Coaches is being dissolved and re-branded as Kinetic from late 2022)'' *

* SkyBus Victoria *

* SkyBus Western Australia *Kinetic Resources *Kinetic Western Australia (bus hire and charter) New Zealand * Go Bus * Johnston's

Go-Ahead

Through its 51% shareholding in

, Kinetic also operates buses in the United Kingdom, Singapore and Ireland, and railway services in the United Kingdom, Norway and Germany.

References

External links

Official website
{{Kinetic Group 2014 establishments in Australia Australian companies established in 2014 Transport companies established in 2014 Companies based in Melbourne Holding companies of Australia Kinetic Group companies