 In November 2015, the Government announced its intention to incorporate Newcastle Buses & Ferries into a new Transport for Newcastle along with the Newcastle Light Rail with the operation of services to be contracted to a private operator.Keolis Downer and a Transit Systems/UGL Rail consortium announced their intentions to bid.In December 2016 the contract was awarded to Keolis Downer who trading as Newcastle Transport took over the services from 1 July 2017.