In view of its political sensitivity, the agencies responsible for public transport in New South Wales are frequently restructured. Buses and ferries were the responsibility of the Department of Government Transport until 1972, when it was merged with the Department of Railways New South Wales to form the Public Transport Commission.
In January 1989, the Transport Administration Act 1988 (NSW) restructured the Urban Transit Authority as the State Transit Authority, taking over the private bus service functions of the Department of Motor Transport.[2] In October 1989, the Chullora Bus Workshops closed with a smaller facility established at Randwick for mechanical repairs with body repairs contracted to the private sector. The remaining four hydrofoils were replaced by three JetCats and the MetroTen ticketing system introduced a few years before was replaced with the Automated Fare Collection System. The Opal card ticketing system was rolled out from 2013.
In 2004, the STA's Sydney Ferries business was separated into a separate agency, Sydney Ferries Corporation. In January 2005 most of former Harris Park Transport routes were taken over from Hillsbus, which were then returned to Hillsbus in September 2005 with the exception of routes 623, 624, 628 and 629. On 13 October 2013, the Western Sydney Buses route T80 was taken over by private operator Transit Systems.[5]
Bus services in Sydney were operated under the Sydney Buses brand until 2016, when rebranded as State Transit.
Sydney Ferries is the public transport authority for ferry services on Port Jackson in Sydney. It was established in 2004 as a government agency, separate of the State Transit Authority.[13]
In November 2012, Transit Systems won the tender for Sydney Bus Region 3 which included route T80 with the service and 22 buses transferring on 13 October 2013.[15][16]
For school bus services, State Transit used 5/6/7xx series route numbers suffixed with E for East, N for North and W for West, while 89x routes were used for University of New South Wales services.[17] Such university routes ceased as from Monday 21 December 2020, having been replaced by the CBD and South East Light Rail.[18]
In the early 1990s, State Transit adopted a white and blue livery with a red stripe. This livery with minor variations was retained until 2010, when the Transport for NSW white and blue livery was adopted. Buses dedicated to Metrobus services were painted in a red livery.
In 2017, State Transit purchased its first double-decker buses for use on B-Line services. These were painted in a yellow and blue livery.[21]
Depots
Prior to privatisation, State Transit operated 14 depots.
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