STA Observations - July 2017

[Swift]

I remember catching 4994 on the M54 not long after Ryde got it several years ago and thinking how boring it was with the Voith box. Others I have caught sound pretty good.
I guess it is a combination of the individual bus, and wearing in and gaining more "character" from age.

[Richard290]

Spotted Ryde's 2837 yesterday turning left from Dunrossil Avenue to Pennant Hills Road on a Parramatta-bound 546 service at Carlingford.
It was one of those newer buses with white LED displays, but the issue with this particular bus's display was that the desto was centre-aligned with a huge chunk of blank space on the right where the route number should have been. The back desto had '546' only taking up the lower half of the rectangular display which looked a bit undersized - the goal of a correctly sized desto font helps passengers read the desto when the bus is travelling at speed.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[sunnyyan]

I think it is because the flipdot desto file has accidentally been uploaded to a bus with LED destos. It used to happen with the new VST's at P, with only the top left of each display being used.

[Swift]

Heads should roll. STA's royalty, their customers, will tire from squinting trying to decipher the tiny information they always read (we know that ).

[Ray]

2630 seems to be back at M (with M runplate) after a period at Tempe. Guess they would have lost it forever if it had stayed till next year.

[Swift]

^ In the early 2000s, not long after M received the awesome mark V, 3140 from L, N kept it for themselves for four months before M finally got it back. N always seemed to eagerly grab good mark V castoffs instead of M but somehow M got that ripper, 3140!
N got it in the end anyway, when M relinquished all it's mark Vs to N, including ones they had from new like 3210, and M got N's MANs (not such a bad thing!!).

[Ray]

weird to remember that the M and N fleets used to swap fairly freely until the mid 2000s even though N had a dedicated fleet.....

[Swift]

Forgot, M also got N's mark IIIs 2721-2727(last mark III) not long after getting their MANs 3276- 3282. Must have been part of the swap deal for M's quite sizeable mark V fleet at the time. I believe V got some of M's mark Vs as well during their mid 2000s mark V purge.
Wierdly, I did observe a mark V being used on the 273 a couple of times quite a while after losing the type.

[Ray]

...plus evens 2274-2310 were allocated to N initially. Although I don't have any memory of 2286-2298 there....they might have been transferred or withdrawn early.

[Swift]

I read somewhere once that R was originally allocated the odd 22-- buses and M/N got the evens. R lost most, if not all of theirs by the 1990s and I presume a similar thing happened to N's 2286-2298 bloc. It would be very interesting to do a study on what happened to all the 22-- buses over their history with the PTC/UTA/STA.

[Ray]

This is what I can remember - but yes, I'm guessing most of N's got transferred to the beaches before going East.

Early moves (1989 onwards)

2222 R
2224 Y, then L
2258 R
2272 R (on loan to W before this)

Late moves (towards end of STA career)

2216 – P
2220 - P
2238 - P
2252 – Y
2256 - K
2258 - K
2274 – Y
2276 – Y
2278 – Y
2280 – Y
2286 – F, then Y
2288 – R
2290 - R
2292 – R
2296 – K
2298 - K

Withdrawn from M

2228
2260
2266
2270

[Swift]

It was so weird and wonderful seeing all the ex Willoughby 24-- 0305s @ P doing Anzac Pde trunk runs on new years eve around 2005 of 2006. It's like they had been mustered up and sent out specifically to take the load.
M must have done something right with them. I suspect it was their conservative governor settings.

[Ray]

P had 2452, 2472 (briefly), 2492, 2494 and 2496, the latter presumably brought in to keep 2497/2498 company there.

W had 2456, 2458, 2464 and 2470, so you can take your pick as to which ones you saw in action.

[Swift]

P had 2452, 2472 (briefly), 2492, 2494 and 2496, the latter presumably brought in to keep 2497/2498 company there.

W had 2456, 2458, 2464 and 2470, so you can take your pick as to which ones you saw in action.

P must have borrowed some from W that night as I definitely saw more familiar ones than just 2472. 2496/97 were later castoffs to M from memory, so not "core" 24-- mark IIs from M. I do recall for sure that W had 2456 (one of my favourites), but you are evidently more up to speed on this than I.

EDIT: Yes, I know what it was...I know, did P get 2511 and 2512? They migt have been the other "famous" ex Willo mark IIs I saw.

[Dave Wilson]

2512 was withdrawn from P with 2496 I think-were perhaps the last two in service there.

[Swift]

I'm pretty sure I saw either 2456 or 2470. I remember marvelling at the sight of all these different former dyed in the wool M units running through Maroubra as though they had always been there. I theorise they had been loaned by W.

[Ray]

Yes those two would have been at M for over 20 years before moving to W. They replaced the last of the 20xx and 21xx at W.

2456 went straight onto the road at W but 2470 spent several weeks parked against the fence with 2489. I wondered if it would ever run in service again, but it eventually made it out.

[Swift]

How would a 1980 model Merc make much difference to fleet age over a 1979 model??

[Fleet Lists]

Virtually nothing at all on a single bus basis.

[Ray]

that was the way they used to do it - sequential withdrawals of the 19xx, 20xx, 21xx, 22xx but then for some reason they lost interest at the 2300s!

Made no sense, but was a lot of fun to see the 2400s in the East.

[AEC Decker]

Noticed 4854 according to fleet lists is a V bus operating a 372 inbound at Coogee. I'm assuming it has been transferred to R or is on loan to R.

Probably on loan... I know it has been at Brookvale for a while, but, to be honest, I have been wondering where 4854 went as I haven't seen it for a while.

4854 has been on loan from R to V for years.
V loaned it to H. It returned from H to V, then V sent it back to R this week.

4994 is ex Metrobus, hence oddball seating arrangement.

[Swift]

^Hey Regent III, how do you like your 0500s in comparison to buses like 4854?

[AEC Decker]

^Hey Regent III, how do you like your 0500s in comparison to buses like 4854?

The contractor who services the door safety systems STUFFED the O500's doors and they are now too slow to open.
AEC Decker thinks they have adjusted the door lock out speed of 5kph, using the speedo needle reading as the benchmark.

The O500's speedo needles are slow to return to 0kph when stopping, but the Volvo's speedo needles stop moving just below 20kph.
All the Euro 5 Volvos (like 4854) at R have rough gear changes, lurching up through the gears.

AEC Decker's favourite buses at R (at the moment) are wheelchair Scania 3839, recently returned from K.
Plus any of the 481x and 482x Euro 3 Volvos recently transferred from Y.

[Swift]

.

AEC Decker's favourite buses at R (at the moment) are wheelchair Scania 3839, recently returned from K.
Plus any of the 481x and 482x Euro 3 Volvos recently transferred from Y.

Those later build Scania wheelchair buses were smooth units. I'm surprised you nominate the 48-- Euro III Iced Vovos as the best ones as I read here that they were notorious for unpredictable computerised braking.
They must have sorted them. I love their extra pronounced exhaust brakes.

The contractor who services the door safety systems STUFFED the O500's doors and they are now too slow to open.

Yet another example of that horrible C word spelling trouble.

All the Euro 5 Volvos (like 4854) at R have rough gear changes, lurching up through the gears.

A combination of too many gears in the ZF Ecomat series and a low speed diff. You just have to drive an early five speed Euro III to experience the opposite.

[boronia]

The Bustechs have horribly slow doors. I often wonder whether the driver has actually pressed the button, while I stand there and wait.