Last I heard in the news, we're not likely to see mass rollout of alternative payment options until mid next year. The new 50¢ fare initiative will hardly be lighting a fire underneath Translink / QLD Government to wrap this up, either.

Would make for a nice addition to the Darwinbus fleet!

Other than ingrained systemic racism, why does it matter if the majority of our cars come from the EU, US, or China? The “market forces” or whatever will force who has the majority at any one time - Chinese manufacturers have lifted their game in the last several years and are now well ahead of oth...

It could be said the situation is fluidic (or is that 'gaseous'?); plans are subject to change without any prior notification, as an old colleague of mine used to say.

No more than using physical maps and written turn by turn directions.

I believe Brisbane Council's Optimus buses (i.e. their own, not those State owned "rail buses" which seem to be used for almost everything but that purpose) have a "Bus Stopping" sign on the bulkhead by the driver, as well as in that cubby over the front seats - although the fram...

I wondered how that might work too - including with buses leased from the State. Are buses "owned" by the contract area they operate in, or are they assets of the incumbent operator? Are there special provisions in place for the transmission of business that waive matters like stamp duty?

The State controls registration for my car, but it's still up to me to keep up with the payment and any relevant inspections. Presume the same would be true of buses, TfNSW (or an equivalent) is in charge, but up to the operator to maintain compliance. With "chain of responsibility", TfNSW...

Make of this what you will.
https://www.nbnnews.com.au/2024/10/02/e ... le-depots/

Seriously!? We've a semi-regular poster on the board who writes about this sort of thing on their blog , for a start. There are countless examples from all over Australia of what happens when existing services are rationalised to form a frequent route, or are supplemented by one. It doesn't even hav...

2. Operational Efficiency: From an operator’s perspective, newer buses like the B8 models are more fuel-efficient, have lower maintenance costs, and are equipped with better safety features. Not sure on that one. Technology that is supposed to reduce emissions, namely DPF, vastly increases fuel con...

... when the lights are bright and flicker ( which surprisingly is a very common issue in an Optimus with how the strip lighting consistently fails ) That would be because those strips interconnect by way of two very fine 'pins' (about as fine as the point of a needle), which naturally have to mate...

However, there are conspiracies against drivers within the depot - not with bus movements across depots. I've gotten into various conversations with a few drivers who say that the buses they drive each day are not randomised. The claim is that depot managers assign buses that are better to drive to...

I am curious to know why Burwood gave away their CB60's and not their Orana's to U-Go. They just had to get rid of the middle aged buses instead of the older ones, which are coming to the end of their life, some of which already are. If you were planning to run an fairly intensive rail replacement ...

There also is a lot of extra running time added, almost across the board - over 10 minutes in the case of some inbound 114s. Took them long enough :roll: . Those three routes were cited in the "Top 10 Worst Routes for Punctuality", which was reported in the The West many, many years ago. ...

Busways has had its Element 1s operating very frequently ever since they were introduced, except for a short stint off the roads in 2022 which was because of issues with the batteries (or so I've been told), so unless TJHB's Elements are specified differently then there doesn't seem to have been an...

These B12BLEAs are significant in being the first low entry artics mass produced anywhere in the world, so while it's sad to hear of these issues it's also not that surprising. Mercedes and MAN were producing full low floors, what, at least a decade earlier? I think the L94 began production in the ...

Today's buses will never run as relatively trouble-free as their predecessors did. I imagine a low-floor chassis might have more stress points in it than the old high floors too, and that's before any mechanical trouble with the drivetrain comes into the picture. The little tidbits that have come my...

Excusing the lack of journalistic rigour in this piece ("articulated coaches known as bendy buses"), some bad news for a handful of Sydney's articulated buses. Sounds like it is the older CB60-bodied examples of the B12BLEA that are affected. Warning of delays as part of Sydney's 'bendy bu...

The Armidale line was the example I was referring to where services did skip stops. Perth's network has many of the same advantages that the Sydney Metro has with stand alone lines that have minimal if any interface with other services, so if it wasn't able to outperform the Sydney Trains network, ...

If true, that'll upset the Freshwater brigade!

While we're on the subject, the Norwegians are also big proponents of buses that run on "biogas", methane produced as a by-product of the fishing, logging or livestock industries, as well as raw sewerage. Some landfills here in Australia collect biogas, but it is often just flared rather t...

“If you apply the same finesse and the same investment in technology and R&D that you do in race cars into buses, you will go broke". One hopes a bit more R&D went into those racecars! Confirms a lot of the speculation, though; 80 buses behind schedule is no small matter, and certainly ...

Going by that picture, why aren't drivers better protected against dangerous passengers? The cab should be more like a fortress for the driver. A thin pane of perspex hinged on one side is easily ripped out by a passenger with nefarious intentions. Only fully framed tempered glass all the way to th...

Presume Saturday night bus requirements mean there are a few spare buses around, so use of the Decker is possible for potential crowds?