Australian Transit Enterprises was an Australian operator of bus services in

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest o ...

and

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to t ...

History

Australian Transit Enterprises (ATE) was founded in 1995 when

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 The Queensland Government is the de ...

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 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 ...

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

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

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

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

Transitplus Transitplus was a privately owned public transport company which operated bus services from the South Australian capital Adelaide, to the Adelaide Hills, mainly Mount Barker area. It is part of the Adelaide Metro network. It was a joint venture ...

, 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 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 Victo ...

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