Choat’s Passenger Service #6
The oldest bus in BPASA’s member-owned fleet is 1960-built Bedord SB3, bought originally by Choat’s Passenger Service as fleet number 6.
Choat bus number 6, in the Stirling depot (photo from Choat family)
Choat operated out of a depot in Stirling, at number 120 Mount Barker Road. Operating the Adelaide-Aldgate, Adelaide-Carey Gully, and various feeder buses from Stirling to Heathfield and Piccadilly. They operated a fleet of Bedfords, mainly SB3s (like this one) and VAM70s. This was very “of-the-times”, as there was still a strong British influence on Australian heavy vehicles.
Their operation was bought out by the Municipal Tramways Trust in 1974. This then became the State Transport Authority in 1975, and was transferred to the brand new Aldgate depot when it opened in 1978.
The STA renumbered Choat’s number 6 as bus 7506, in line with their re-numbering regime of former private buses. the first 2 digits (in this case 75) was the private depot code (making Stirling depot #75), then their private fleet number (06).
ex-6 in its current form (2021)
At Aldgate, it operated with a number of other ex-private buses from Choat, Ex-Servicemen’s, Thomas Tours, and Johnson’s. By 1980 it was replaced with Volvo B58s.
Purchased in 2011, not much is known about what happened to number 6 before then. Currently undergoing a major restoration