Adelaide Metro brand for all bus services with handover to private firms started in 1995 and completed in 2000

Adelaide Metro buses took on a uniform look, although run by different area private operators, starting in 1995 and completed by 2000.

All South Australia government-run Adelaide bus services were privatised, starting in 1995 and completed in 2000, the same year as the Adelaide Metro brand was created for the whole urban public transport system.

Buses, the largest element of Adelaide public transport, had been run from 1975 to 1994 by the government’s State Transport Authority (STA) that also oversaw the metropolitan rail operations of the former South Australian Railways and buses and trams of the Muncipal Tramways Trust (MTT).

In 1995-96, the government’s TransAdelaide took over from the STA and it ran only three bus services. The other area services were tendered out to private operators including two contracts to Serco in its first Australian bus operation. Hills Transit, a joint ventute between Australian Transit Enterprises and TransAdelaide, also won a contract.

Services were run and marketed under each operator’s name, presenting a disjointed network to the public.

The 2000 round of tenders for private operators saw the end of TransAdelaide's (and the state government’s) direct operation of bus services in Adelaide, although the government retained tram and rail services. The Adelaide Metro brand was created across all transport (bus, train, tram) operators, appearing to the public as a unified network, with common livery, timetable designs and a city information centre.

Contracts for private operators of the bus regions changed and were shuffled but in 2019 they were operated by Torrens Transit (North-South, East-West and Outer North East, including Free City Connector and O-Bahn) and SouthLink (Outer South, Outer North and Hills). A large fleet of diesel and natural gas-powered buses operated services that mostly terminated in the Adelaide city centre or at a suburban railway stations or shopping centre interchange.

As contracts were revised for privatised bus operations and more cross suburban routes were added to the network. Buses got priority on many roads and intersections, with dedicated bus lanes and “B”-light bus-only phases at many traffic lights.