Moggill resident Colin Hobson has been named Queensland School Bus Driver of the Year for 2025, winning the title at the Queensland Bus Industry Council’s Annual Gala Dinner and Awards Night after a statewide public vote backed him ahead of two other finalists.
Colin drives the semi-rural S60 route for Southern Cross Transit, clocking around 160 kilometres a day between Chuwar and Indooroopilly, and the community he has built on that bus run was clearly paying attention during voting. The win comes after he was selected as a finalist from a pool of more than 1,300 nominations received across Queensland, making the final result all the more significant.
For Kenmore and Moggill locals who know Colin well, the recognition comes as no surprise. His approach has been described as an unwavering focus on providing good customer service, a quality that set him apart from the moment the nomination was announced.
From the Snowy Mountains to Brisbane’s Western School Run
What many local residents may not know is that Colin’s path to west Brisbane’s school bus network took a long detour through the Snowy Mountains, where he spent 25 years before returning to his Queensland roots. Back in Brisbane, he and his wife Tamara built a presence in the local café scene that made them familiar faces long before the school run did.
The couple ran Moccabella Café at Bellbowrie Plaza and One Table Cafe at Kenmore Hills for many years, earning a loyal following among the bayside community before stepping back from small business life.
The transition from hospitality to school bus driving might seem unexpected from the outside, but the thread running through both chapters is the same: a genuine orientation toward the people in front of him. For Colin, the S60 route is more than a timetable, it is a daily commitment to around 160 kilometres of safe, calm and enjoyable travel for students, some of whom face nearly two hours each way on that run.
A Bus That Became a Community
Translink‘s own description of Colin ahead of the finalist announcement captured what students and parents had been saying in their nominations: he has built a whole community on his west Brisbane school bus. Fridays have become a fixture, with music trivia and sing-alongs a regular part of the routine, and no student’s birthday passes without the whole bus joining in. Those details speak to something deliberate rather than incidental, a driver who has thought carefully about what the journey means to the people making it every day.
The Queensland Bus Driver of the Year Awards, now in their seventh year, are run by Translink in partnership with the Queensland bus industry to recognise drivers across three categories: South East Queensland Bus Driver of the Year, Regional Bus Driver of the Year and School Bus Driver of the Year. The 2025 School Bus category was contested against finalists from Mackay and Townsville, with the winner determined by public vote from the nine finalists selected across all categories.
Colin’s win is a reminder that the quieter parts of Brisbane’s transport network, the long semi-rural runs that stitch outer suburbs to the city, are held together by people who show up with care every single day.
Published 20-April-2026
