History
Mercedes Benz O305 - #539
Ex- SouthLink R539, Ex- Torrens Transit 539, Ex- SERCo 539, Ex- TransAdelaide/State Transport Authority 1539
www.bpasa.org.au/1539
Demand for Mass Transit to the North Eastern suburbs of Adelaide was growing, and after several years of planning and political debate on the matter, it was decided that Mercedes Benz’s O-Bahn technology would be deployed on a corridor between Gilberton and Modbury, following the River Torrens. It was to be branded the STA Busway.
In October 1982, the first prototype of the modified Mercedes Benz O305 buses for the Busway had been built, with the first articulated prototype being completed 4 months later. The production O305 rigids and artics were delivered between December 1984 and May 1986.
Mercedes Benz O305 #1539 was built in April 1985, and entered service 09/03/1986.
In 1994, the State Transport Authority was dissolved and a new body, TransAdelaide, took over the function of the STA. In 1996, the bus network became privatised, with TA becoming a bidder for their own network. TA kept the O-Bahn until 2000, when it was handed over to SERCo, a british public limited company that has private operations worldwide.
SERCo renumbered all the mercs by removing the first digit, so 1539 became 539. They operated the O-Bahn until 2005, when Torrens Transit (a company of Transit Systems Australia) took over the O-Bahn. 539 continued to be a workhorse for the O-Bahn until all Mercedes O305/G’s were removed from O-Bahn service in 2010, 539 being one of the last in December.
In 2011 the majority of O305/G’s were moved over to SouthLink (Owned by ATE Enterprises at the time) and ran Rail Replacement services on the Gawler and Noarlunga lines. At this time it was renumbered to R539 and retired in April 2012.
In April 2015, R539 was bought to be used as a spare parts shed for the owner’s preserved buses. However, in 2019 their opinion was swayed to sell it to its current owner, and return it to its former glory. R539 was bought for preservation on 11/12/2020.
