Keolis Downer 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 acces ...

between

Keolis Keolis is a multinational transportation company that operates public transport systems. The company manages bus, rapid transit, tram, coach networks, rental bikes, car parks, water taxi, cable car, trolleybus and funicular services. ...

, the largest private sector French transport group, and

Downer Rail Downer Rail is a business unit within the Downer Group. As well as manufacturing and maintaining railway rolling stock it holds maintenance contracts to maintain rail infrastructure. The head office is located in North Ryde. History The E ...

, an Australian railway engineering company, that operates bus and tram services in Australia.

History

In June 2009, the

Victorian government The Victoria State Government, also referred to as just the Victorian Government, is the state-level authority for Victoria, Australia. Like all state governments, it is formed by three independent branches: the executive, the judicial, and th ...

awarded to Keolis Downer the franchise to operate the

Melbourne tram network Trams are a major form of Transport in Melbourne, public transport in Melbourne, the capital city of the States of Australia, state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. As of May 2017, the Melbourne tramway network consists of of dou ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Australia. for eight years commencing on 30 November 2009. In September 2017, having substantially met performance criteria, the franchise was extended until 30 November 2024. Keolis Downer continues to operate the Melbourne tram network under the

Yarra Trams Yarra Trams is the trading name of the operator of the tram network in Melbourne, Australia, which is owned by VicTrack and leased to Yarra Trams by the Victorian Department of Transport. The current franchise is operated by Keolis Downer. ...

name, that 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 Transf ...

.Keolis Australia
Keolis On 21 July 2014, Keolis Downer commenced operating the G:link tram operation on the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

. In March 2015, Keolis Downer purchased bus operator

Australian Transit Enterprises Australian Transit Enterprises was an Australian operator of bus services in Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia. History Australian Transit Enterprises (ATE) was founded in 1995 when Hornibrook Bus Lines proprietor Geoff Mountjoy ...

which operated the

Hornibrook Bus Lines Hornibrook Bus Lines is an Australian operator of bus services in the Redcliffe Peninsula and surrounding Upper Bayside area of Brisbane. It operates 16 services under contract to the Queensland Government under the Translink banner. History ...

LinkSA Keolis Downer is a joint venture between Keolis, the largest private sector French transport group, and Downer Rail, an Australian railway engineering company, that operates bus and tram services in Australia. History In June 2009, the Victor ...

Path Transit Path Transit is an Australian bus company operating Transperth services under contract to the Public Transport Authority. It is a subsidiary of Keolis Downer. History On 29 September 1996, Path Transit commenced operating services in the Marm ...

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 Government of South Australia. It is a subsidiary of Keolis Downer. History In April 2000, SouthLink ...

operations with 930 buses. Keolis Downer trading as

Newcastle Transport Newcastle Transport is a public transport operator in Newcastle, New South Wales. A subsidiary of Keolis Downer, it operates bus, ferry and light rail services under contract to Transport for NSW. History and operations In November 2015, ...

took over the

Newcastle Buses & Ferries Newcastle Buses & Ferries was a commuter bus and ferry service operating in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie from 1935 until 2017. Part of the State Transit Authority, it operated 26 bus routes and the Stockton ferry across the Hunter River. H ...

operation on 1 July 2017, and commenced operating the

Newcastle Light Rail The Newcastle Light Rail is a light rail system in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, running from Newcastle Interchange through the central business district to Pacific Park. Major construction commenced in September 2017 and the line wa ...

in February 2019. On 31 January 2021, Keolis Downer commenced an eight-year contract to operate the

Adelaide Metro Adelaide Metro is the public transport system of Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia. It is an intermodal system offering an integrated network of bus, tram, and train service throughout the metropolitan area. The network has an ann ...

rail network. On 31 October 2021,

Keolis Downer Northern Beaches Keolis Downer Northern Beaches is a bus operator in Sydney, Australia. A subsidiary of Keolis Downer, it operates services in Sydney Bus Region 8 on the Lower North Shore and Northern Beaches under contract to Transport for NSW. Its headquar ...

commenced an eight-year contract to operate Region 8 (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. Since 2005, the government has moved from individual contracts with operators to larger cont ...

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

Operations

New South Wales

- Bus services in Newcastle,

Stockton ferry service The Stockton ferry service is a ferry service in Newcastle, New South Wales. Operated by Newcastle Transport under contract to Transport for NSW, it crosses the Hunter River from the Newcastle CBD at Queens Wharf to Stockton. History Prior to ...

and

services * Keolis Downer, Northern Beaches - Region 8 contract

Queensland

* G:link - light rail in

- bus services in the

Redcliffe Peninsula The Redcliffe Peninsula is a peninsula located in the Moreton Bay Region LGA in the northeast of the Brisbane metropolitan area in Queensland, Australia. The area covers the suburbs of Clontarf, Kippa-Ring, Margate, Newport, Redcliffe, ...

South Australia

- in the Adelaide Hills,

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 wine-producing region and tourist destinati ...

, Mid-Murray,

Murraylands The Murraylands is a geographical region of the Australian state of South Australia (SA); its name reflects that of the river running through it. Lying due east of South Australia's capital city, Adelaide, it extends from the eastern slopes of ...

and Victor Harbor regions *

- bus services in Adelaide under its

Hills contract * Adelaide Metro rail services

Western Australia

- bus services in

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 ...

and

Geraldton Geraldton ( Wajarri: ''Jambinu'', Wilunyu: ''Jambinbirri'') is a coastal city in the Mid West region of the Australian state of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth. At June 2018, Geraldton had an urban population of 37,648. ...

Victoria

- trams in

References

{{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