Transdev John Holland Buses (TJHB) is celebrating its first year running Sydney’s Region 9 bus network – home to some of the country’s busiest bus routes.
A team of almost 1200 dedicated people keep about a fleet of 500 buses on the road that run throughout the eastern and south-eastern suburbs of Sydney including the CBD and Bondi.
Transdev John Holland became the new operator of Region 9 in April 2022 and by the end of April is forecast to have moved approximately 40 million passengers.
TJHB Managing Director, Rachel Spencer said the team of bus drivers, mechanics, office and customer service staff showed up for customers for each service.
“I’m proud of the professional and dedicated team we have who deliver each day to keep Sydney moving,” Mrs Spencer said.
“We’re always looking to welcome new faces and attract new drivers and also strive to improve our customer service and experience.”
Region 9’s bus route the 333, is one of the busiest bus routes in Australia, which has clocked up about 140,000 passenger trips since last April.
“From VIVID, Sydney WorldPride, City2Surf or Festival of the Winds and New Year’s Eve celebrations, our buses enable people to get to their favourite events across this great city,” Mrs Spencer said.
She said the Transdev John Holland team also had strong community ties forged by a formal community partnership and a range of local community support by an active workforce.
“We welcomed Surf Life Saving Sydney as our Community Partner, by investing $25,000 for the branch’s education programs – the Silver Medallion’s Aquatic Rescue and Patrol Captain Awards,” she said.
“We’ve also hosted the launch of Transdev’s two-year partnership with Souths Cares at Port Botany Depot to support the training, employment and wellbeing of First Nations peoples.”
“Our people also support a number of charities, community groups, event fundraisers and are passionate about fostering an inclusive workplace.
“Whether its R UOK? Day, Wear it Purple, Movember, the MS Gong ride, the JP Morgan Corporate Charity run, our people show up to support causes and programs close to their heart and that of the communities we serve.”
Mrs Spencer said the team was looking to achieve more in the next 12 months including better customer service, more drivers and bus radio and CCTV improvements.
“We’re actively meeting the challenge for more bus drivers from different backgrounds, we’ll be improving our customer service by adding to our customer service pool and capability and planning for our electric fleet expansion.”
“We’ll soon be upgrading our bus radio system and more than 300 CCTV units and improving our on board telematics to help improve GPS functions and network planning, driver training and performance.
Mrs Spencer said the assets and maintenance team would also receive more electric vehicle training in readiness for more zero emissions vehicles and less compressed natural gas buses.
In December 2022 the NSW Government announced the first bus depots in Sydney that will operate a full fleet of battery electric buses. This brings the total investment in the program to $3 billion and will deliver 1,200 new zero emission buses and upgrades to 11 bus depots including Transdev’s Port Botany and Randwick depots becoming fully electric by 2028.