On the eve of the state election this year,the former government awarded the contract for the routes to Transit Systems until June 2031,leaving the family running Interline Bus Services with no routes to service.
The biggest bus operator in Sydney,Transit Systems controls about 30 per cent of the city’s buses,primarily in the inner west and west. It is managed by Adelaide-based multinational Kelsian,which began in Australia and operates in London,Singapore and the Channel Islands.
The contract leaves Sydney with just one public bus company not run by a multinational corporation:Busways,in Blacktown and Penrith.
“Tenders in general ... come down to cost of service,” said Interline co-director Domenica Oliveri,whose grandfather Giuseppe Oliveri first purchased a bus with his two brothers after migrating from Italy.
“It’s sad to see these multinationals come in and take over these types of businesses. But I guess progress looks different from different perspectives.”
The Oliveris operated small routes in the region since 1954 and won government tenders to operate most of Region 2 in 2005,then won a further nine-year contract to run it completely in 2014.