Australian Transit Enterprises was an Australian operator of bus services in

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

and

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

History

Australian Transit Enterprises (ATE) was founded in 1995 when Hornibrook Bus Lines proprietor Geoff Mountjoy formed a joint venture with Melbourne bus proprietors; Joe Pulitano, Grenda Corporation and Kefford Corporation. In January 1996 it commenced operating services in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

under the Path Transit banner. This was followed in April 2000 by a contract (Outer South) in

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

under the

SouthLink SouthLink is an Australian bus service operator in Adelaide. It operates services as part of the Adelaide Metro network under contract to the Department for Infrastructure & Transport. It is a subsidiary of Keolis Downer. History In April 20 ...

banner.History
SouthLink At the same time, the Adelaide Hills operation contract was awarded to

Transitplus Transitplus, formerly Hills Transit, was an Australian bus service operator in Adelaide. It operated services as part of the Adelaide Metro network under contract to the Department of Planning, Transport & Infrastructure. It was a 50/50 joint v ...

, a joint venture between ATE with TransAdelaide. In April 2005 SouthLink was awarded an additional Adelaide contract (Outer North). In 2010, ATE took full control of the operation of the Hills contract, under the SouthLink brand. In July 2011, SouthLink's existing contracts were renewed for eight years. It also operates the LinkSA coach business. In 2012 Grenda Corporation sold its share in the business to the Mountjoy family. Kefford Corporation had previously sold its share. In March 2015,

Keolis Downer Keolis Downer is a public transport operator that operates bus, train, tram and ferry services in Australia. It is a joint venture between Keolis, the largest private sector French transport group, and Downer Rail, an Australian railway enginee ...

purchased the business.Operator ATE Sold
''Australasian Bus & Coach'' 11 March 2015 As a result, ATE's subsidiaries were reorganised to be directly under the control of Keolis Downer. Prior to the company's sale to Keolis Downer in March 2015, it had a total bus fleet of 930.

References

{{Reflist Bus companies of Australia Companies based in Brisbane Transport companies established in 1996 Transport companies disestablished in 2015 1996 establishments in Australia 2015 disestablishments in Australia