Keolis Downer is a public transport operator that operates bus, train, tram and ferry services in Australia. It is a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

between

Keolis Keolis is a French transportation company that operates public transport systems all over the world. It manages bus, rapid transit, tram, coach networks, rental bikes, car parks, water taxi, cable car, trolleybus, and funicular services. B ...

, the largest private sector French transport group, and Downer Rail, an Australian railway engineering company.

History

In June 2009, the

Victorian government The Victoria State Government, also referred to as the Victorian Government, is the executive government of the Australian state of Victoria. As a parliamentary constitutional monarchy, the State Government was first formed in 1851 when Vic ...

awarded to Keolis Downer the franchise to operate the Melbourne tram network in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Australia for eight years, starting in November 2009. Keolis Downer continued to use the

Yarra Trams Yarra Trams is the trading name of the operator of the Trams in Melbourne, tram network in Melbourne, Australia, which is owned by VicTrack and leased to Yarra Trams by the Victoria State Government, Victorian Department of Transport and Planni ...

name, which had been used by the previous operator

TransdevTSL TransdevTSL, formerly MetroLink, was a 50/50 joint venture between the old Transdev and Transfield Services that operated trams in Melbourne, ferries in Brisbane and buses in Sydney. The joint venture was dissolved in December 2010 when Tran ...

.Keolis Australia
Keolis In September 2017, having substantially met performance criteria, the franchise was extended until 30 November 2024. Keolis Downer was not awarded a new tram franchise, and on 1 December 2024, the Yarra Trams operation was handed over to Yarra Journey Makers, a joint venture of John Holland and

Transdev Transdev, formerly Veolia Transdev, is a France-based international private-sector company which operates public transport. It has operations in 17 countries and territories as of November 2020. Transdev was formed on 3 April 2011 via the merg ...

. In July 2014, Keolis Downer began operating the G:link tram operation on the Gold Coast. In March 2015, Keolis Downer purchased bus operator Australian Transit Enterprises, which operated the Hornibrook Bus Lines, LinkSA, Path Transit and

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 ...

operations with 930 buses. Keolis Downer, trading as Newcastle Transport took over the Newcastle Buses & Ferries operation in July 2017. It began operating the Newcastle Light Rail in February 2019. In January 2021, Keolis Downer began an eight-year contract to operate the

Adelaide Metro Adelaide Metro is the public transport system of the Adelaide area, around the capital city of South Australia. It is an intermodal passenger transport, intermodal system offering an integrated network of Buses in Adelaide, bus, Glenelg tram, ...

rail network. In April 2023, it was announced by the

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

state government that an agreement with Keolis Downer had been reached to terminate the contract early, with operations handed back to state government on 2 February 2025. However, Keolis Downer would continue to provide maintenance, customer and security services until 2027. In October 2021, Keolis Downer Northern Beaches began an eight-year contract to operate Region 8, the Northern Beaches and Lower North Shore, of the

Sydney Metropolitan Bus Service Contracts The Sydney Metropolitan Bus Service Contracts are contracts issued by the Government of New South Wales to metropolitan bus operators in Sydney, Australia, to operate its public bus route network. Since 2005, the government has moved from individu ...

. Keolis Downer has operated on-demand services in the area since November 2017.

Operations

New South Wales

* Newcastle Transport – Bus services in Newcastle, Stockton ferry service and Newcastle Light Rail services * Keolis Downer Northern Beaches – Region 8 contract
Keoride
– Northern Beaches on-demand bus service

Queensland

* G:link – light rail in Gold Coast * Hornibrook Bus Lines – bus services in the Redcliffe Peninsula

South Australia

* LinkSA – in the

Adelaide Hills The Adelaide Hills region is located in the southern Mount Lofty Ranges east of the city of Adelaide in the state of South Australia. The largest town in the area, Mount Barker, South Australia, Mount Barker, is one of Australia's fastest-growi ...

Barossa Valley The Barossa Valley (Barossa German: ''Barossa Tal'') is a valley in South Australia located northeast of Adelaide city centre. The valley is formed by the North Para River. It is notable as a major list of wine-producing regions, wine-producin ...

, Mid-Murray, Murraylands and Victor Harbor regions *

– bus services in Adelaide under its

Hills contract

Western Australia

* Path Transit – bus 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 ...

and

Geraldton Geraldton (Wajarri language, Wajarri: ''Jambinu'', Wilunyu language, Wilunyu: ''Jambinbirri'') is a coastal city in the Mid West (Western Australia), Mid West region of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth. As of the , Geraldt ...

Former operations

Victoria

– trams in

, operated by Keolis Downer between 2009 and 2024

Adelaide

* Adelaide Metro rail services, operated by Keolis Downer between 2021 and 2025

References

External links

{{Keolis, state=collapsed Companies based in Sydney Keolis Transport companies established in 2009 Australian companies established in 2009 Multinational joint-venture companies Bus companies of Australia