MORE than 200 bus routes, the entire inner west fleet, will be sold off in the biggest bus privatisation in inner Sydney.

Transport Minister Andrew Constance declared: “Customers have had a gutful and we’re taking action.”

Mr Constance said 233 routes would be franchised out to the private sector, claiming the privatisation was not about saving money but getting a better service after 12,000 customer complaints in one year.

“We’re taking action in customers’ interests first and foremost,” he said. “The union has been asleep.”

The inner west privatisation will mean the State Transit Authority will run only three of 15 bus contract regions in the state. It is understood Mr Constance also consulted ministers and Wakehurst and Pittwater MPs Brad Hazzard and Rob Stokes about privatising buses on the northern beaches but both MPs rejected such a move and he dumped the plan.

The government says 12,000 complaints were received in a year about inner west services, stretching from Kensington west to Lidcombe and as far south as Bexley.

media_camera NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance.

At the same time, the entire private bus operator network received 17,781 complaints over 11 contract regions.

Other state bus-operated city regions incurred 5600 complaints (northern beaches), 7700 (north shore) and 11,600 (eastern suburbs) complaints respectively in 2014-15.

The state government holds Bruce Notley-Smith’s eastern suburbs seat of Coogee by just 2.9 per cent.

Mr Constance said the high number of complaints in the inner west that spurred him to privatise that fleet. The privatisation will occur in the middle of next year.

“Let’s put it in perspective — this one contract region over the last four years has consistently had around 11-12,000 customer complaints [a year] about the service,” he said. “We want more and better services.”

The government would still control fares and timetables under the privatisation.

Opposition Leader Luke Foley said last night: “My fear is that this is a prelude to a wholesale privatisation of Sydney’s transport network. This is a government that knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.”

A spokesman for the Rail, Tram and Bus Union said the union was “not ruling anything out in regard to taking industrial action”.