AGY-541 | Urban Transit Authority of New South Wales (1980-1989) / State Transit Authority of New South Wales (1989-2023)

Full description

The Transport Authorities Act, 1980 (Act No.103, 1980) provided for the abolition of the Public Transport Commission and the establishment of a State Rail Authority, with a Railway Workshop Board subsidiary, and an Urban Transit Authority. The Act was proclaimed on 1 July 1980.

The role of the Urban Transit Authority was to assume control of bus and ferry services. The Authority consisted of ten members.

The Urban Transport Authority was reconstituted and renamed the State Transit Authority by the Transport Administration Act, 1988 (Act No.109,1988), on 16 January 1989. (2) A State Transit Coordination Advisory Council was also established by the Act. The State Transit Authority continued to operate the bus and ferry services previously operated by the Urban Transit Authority in Sydney and Newcastle.

In 1996 the Authority comprised three business units, Sydney Buses, Sydney Ferries and Newcastle Bus and Ferry Services, as well as a Corporate Policy and Resources Unit, which provided financial, human resources and information technology services to the other three units. (3)

During the year the State Transit Authority was in the process of change from a Government subsidised organisation to a commercial enterprise. (4) The Transport Administration Amendment (Rail Corporatisation and Restructuring) Act, 1996 (Act No.56, 1996) effective from 1 July 1996 (5), introduced amendments to the Charter of the State Transit Authority.

The objectives of the Authority stated in the Act were:
(a) to operate efficient, safe and reliable bus and ferry services
(b) to be a successful business and, to this end:
(i) to operate at least as efficiently as any comparable businesses
(ii) to maximise the net worth of the State investment in the Authority
(c) to exhibit a sense of social responsibility by having regard to the interests of the community in which it operates, and
(d) where its activities affect the environment, to conduct the operations in compliance with the principles of ecologically sustainable development
(e) to exhibit a sense of responsibility towards regional development and decentralisation in the way in which it operated. (6)

On 1 July 2004 the State Transit Authority ceased to have responsibility for ferry transport in Sydney with the establishment of Sydney Ferries as a State-owned corporation. (7)

From 1 July 2009 when the Ministry of Transport was abolished the State Transit Authority became a branch of the new Principal Department, the Department of Transport and Infrastructure. (8) The name of this department was changed to Transport NSW from 1 July 2010. (9)

From 4 April 2011 when the name of Transport NSW was changed the State Transit Authority became a branch of the Department of Transport. (10)

In late June 2013, Transport for NSW signed new five year contracts with STA, which commenced from 1 July 2013. State Transit Authority was contracted to provide services in four of the Sydney regions and one of the outer-metropolitan regions; the remainder are provided by privately-owned bus operators. (11)

Transport for NSW awarded a private company an integrated service contract to provide Newcastle bus and ferry operations from 1 July 2017. These were previously delivered by the State Transit Authority (STA), under contract with Transport for NSW. The Secretary approved the equity transfer of Newcastle bus and ferry assets from STA to Transport for NSW ($50.3 million), effective 1 July 2017. These assets are then leased by Transport for NSW to service provider. (12)

In the same year the combined transport unions lodged a dispute with the Industrial Relations Commission relating to the NSW Government decision to franchise Region 6 Inner West Bus services currently operated by the State Transit Authority. (13)

In 2020 State Transit Authority was a contracted bus operator to Transport for NSW, and ran services in the following areas: Region 7: North West, which includes depots in Ryde and Willoughby; Region 8: Northern Beaches and Lower; North Shore, which includes depots in Brookvale, Mona Vale and North Sydney and Region 9: Eastern Suburbs, which includes depots in Waverley, Randwick and Port Botany. (14)

In October 2019, the Minister for Transport and Roads announced State Transit operation would be franchised. The transition dates were staggered for handover of the three Sydney Metropolitan Bus Service Contracts, with the transition set to be completed by April 2022. State Transit, the NSW Government bus service, ceased operations on 2 April 2022. State Transit Authority commercial entity continued to operate until 30 September 2022, when all the financial requirements of the cessation of the business were completed. (15)

Endnotes
1. Transport Authorities Act, 1980 (Act No.103, 1980), Part 1, s.2.
2. New South Wales Government Gazette No.3, 16 January, 1989, Vol.1, Part1, p.275.
3. Annual Report of the State Transit Authority, year ended 30 June 1996, p.8.
4. Annual Report of the State Transit Authority, year ended 30 June 1996, p.12.
5. New South Wales Government Gazette No.80, 1 July 1996, p.3795.
6. Transport Administration Amendment (Rail Corporatisation and Restructuring) Act No.56, 1996, Part33, Division 1A, s.20.
7. Established under Transport Administration Amendment Act, 2003 (Act No. 99, 2003).
8. Public Sector Employment and Management (Departmental Amalgamations) Order 2009 (2009 No 352) cls. 34; notified on NSW Legislation website, 27 July 2009.
9. Transport Administration Amendment Act 2010 (Act No.31, 2010) Sch. 1.2 [1] amending the Public Sector Employment and Management Act 2002 (Act No.43, 2002) Sch. 1; Commencement Proclamation (2010 No 294); notified on NSW Legislation website, 25 June 2010.
10. Public Sector Employment and Management (Departments) Order 2011 (2011 No 184) cls. 44; notified on NSW Legislation website, 3 April 2011.
11. Transport for New South Wales, Annual Report 2012-2013, p.46.
12. Transport for New South Wales, Annual Report 2016-2017, p.97.
13. Ibid., p.99.
14. State Transit Authority, Annual Report 2020-2021 Volume 1, p.9.
15. Ibid. p.23.