I know it's not what independents want to hear, but personally I always have more faith if a big company (GNE, ANE, SNE) are operating a contracted route than a smaller company. 

More flexibility due to a larger fleet, the bus is generally presented better (though there are some cracking independents in the region, the likes of GCT, Scarlet Band, Rural Link/PCL leave a lot to be desired), there's a better chance of NSAs/WiFi etc, they all have apps to track the bus, the driver will be somewhat professional. Again, there will be exceptions, but I've had/heard of far too many poor experiences with independents to want them to get work ahead of a more reliable, larger, company.