My old favourite... if I had somewhere to put her...

Incorrect. It is against Transdev policy to allow passengers to enter the bus through the rear door as it is a safety hazard and encourages fare evasion and disciplinary action may occur if drivers are found deliberately allowing rear-door boarding to happen. There is no driver discretion. This poli...

What protection is this?

Best way would be to find a driver on his lunch break who is willing to sit and watch you go through the whole damn thing. Unless you know someone within the company.

It's more a question of how well the fleet has been looked after its whole life. The private operators purchase their vehicles with an expectation that they will last 20 years (the State Government has a grant to replace route service buses that are 20 years old) and look after then as such. If your...

The third head of TDM to fall since the contract started I might point out.

How does the destination system work? If it is possible for drivers to program seperately the route number and destination, it is the most likely explanation. However, from what I've observed many systems seem to have a single number typed in that is coded to route and destination? It is not possib...

Re: Cranbourne Transit. Understand they have a shortage but cancelling the last 3 services out of Frankston on a Friday night when shops are open until 9 is a pretty crap decision. Can you really blame the drivers for pulling a sickie? Couldn't think of anything worse than a Frankston run on a Frid...

SmartBus services do not require SmartBus livery but must still meet the qualification to be a "SmartBus", in that it must be low-floor, air-conditioned, and be fitted with PIDs.

Doesn't change anything. Cyclists use bus lanes anyway.

Mitch wrote:Not sure of the old fleet number but there's now a MkII for sale at a property in Balliang, at the intersection of Bacchus Marsh-Geelong Rd and Ballan Rd.

Looks to be in quite good condition.

Cheers,
Mitch

As in an ex-Met Ansair MkII (MAN SL200)? If so it's good for nothing but Pepsi cans.

The busway could be designed to run the "wrong way". You'd need to set up barriers to prevent a head on though.

How would the buses leave at the various turn-offs?

Both of which affect major existing bus services and are primarily affected by cars being seemly unable to obey road laws rather than actual infrastructure design.

Maybe we're going to get another "Grow or Go" so smaller operators are selling up before they lose their businesses by force. On the other hand charter operation might be more profitable.

Buses operated by the Melbourne Metropolitan Bus Franchise (i.e. Transdev) are owned by the state.

Buses operated by private operators are owned by those operators.

I'm dead against it. Most Vietnamese that live in that area came during the 70s and 80s and so would have lived in Melbourne for at least thirty or more years. Plenty of time to learn English. They are citizens or at least permanent residents. Now if it were targeted for a tourist audience then I'd ...

A 5 over 6 roster means drivers work 5 days out of 6 (Monday to Saturday) with Sundays to be worked as optional overtime, or potentially by casuals who are paid a slightly higher fixed rate (no weekend penalties). Under the National Employment Standards, a shift worker is defined as a worker who is ...

Transdev are buying a new Gemilang as a replacement for #384, which burnt out on the West Gate Freeway last year. Also 5 new Optares are also on their way, probably to get rid of the Plasmas.

The O-Bahn does not go to Adelaide airport, it goes to the north eastern suburbs. O-Bahn buses can be used on any service but regular buses cannot; they need guide wheels fitted to operate safely. Would be ideal to use on the Eastern Freeway / DART services in conjunction with articulated buses, as ...

What about a bus tunnel like Brisbane has from the freeway into the city?

Is that the Secret Police knocking at my door?

Given #800 has no Myki equipment I was hazard a guess it's a group of trainee drivers.

Both are more difficult to drive (in different ways) and require a higher class of license than a normal bus (MR vs HR) which can cause rostering issues. An operator with a high number of high capacity buses (such as Skybus) would possibly require all employees hold a HR license for employment. Tran...

It becomes single track at Caroline Springs. I think there's a loop at Melton but I'm not really sure.

My favourite is the drivers seat because I get paid to sit in it.

It's exactly the same desto unit as the one used in the B2 originally.