Keolis Downer Northern Beaches Managing Director Mark Dunlop thanked the people who visited the Brookvale Bus Depot for Open Day, and acknowledging the shortage of bus drivers, did not miss the opportunity to make a pitch for those interested in buses to consider becoming drivers.
“A big thank you to the community that have come to visit us and have a look at what we do. I’d also like to thank our workforce and acknowledge the great work of our drivers, maintenance and depot staff that run a very complex operation to keep the buses on the road.
“We employ around 900 staff across three depots, operating 420+ buses as part of our fleet, with an average of 1.9m trips per month. We are experiencing a driver shortage, and I’d urge anyone that’s here today who would make a good customer focused driver, talk to any of our recruitment team. It is an exciting industry to be in.
“You can see the zero emission bus, the Custom Denning Element bus. Keolis Downer will be introducing these into our fleet as we go forward and shifting towards a fully zero emission fleet over time.
“We will be implementing pantograph technology here for fast charging, because of the compactness of the depot, it’s a very restricted area. It’s exciting times ahead for our industry, and a change from diesel buses that have operated for 100 plus years,” said Mr Dunlop.