Private Bus Observations 2021

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ScaniaGrenda
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Re: Private Bus Observations 2021

Post by ScaniaGrenda »

Looks to be some other Optimus transfers from CDC Hillsbus heading somewhere up north to one of the local HVB depots according to the fleet-list. So far having only see m/o 6660 the other week and haven't seen it since. I believe I've noticed on Anytrip they've got a labeled "B7RLE OPTIMUS" floating around Singleton (The ex Stationlink Camellia Optimus units that got transferred up there all show as "B7BLE's" on real time trackers) so I'm curious if this is where one of them has ended up.

As usual I'll be keeping an definite eye out for them. Let's see how long these transfers last up here for.
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Linto63
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Re: Private Bus Operations 2021

Post by Linto63 »

Glen wrote: I think you'll also sometimes see TSA artics on Routes 305, 426, 503 & 504.
True, forgot about the Victoria Road services. But Transit Systems does appear to have a hap hazard rostering of buses, you can pretty much see anything on any route when it comes to the rigids. Saw a couple of the high floor Scanias out in the middle of the day last week, although this may have been while the artics were checked over after the Parramatta Road fire.
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CityRail
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Re: Private Bus Observations 2021

Post by CityRail »

It seems Transit Systems has printed and delivered some branded face masks yo its drivers.

I hope I can get one if they do decide to give away as a merchandise.

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tonyp
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Re: Private Bus Observations 2021

Post by tonyp »

Now I'm looking almost twice a day! Typically two electric buses out on the road, but this afternoon four BYDs again. The Yutong never makes an appearance. Is it even at Leichhardt any longer? Maybe the single leaf rear door is an issue?

There still seems to be a solid use for artics in region 6, particularly on 470, 440 and some Victoria Rd services. I had years of experience of 470 and we sure could have used some artics back then. That was one of those tram-replacement disasters where the bus capacity was grossly inadequate, the buses bunched, three would arrive at once and the third one would wrongly assume that nobody needed him and would pull out and overtake without stopping, then you would wait ages for the next bus. This commuter took to walking all the way into town or driving into Pyrmont and walking, still possible in those days. Bus capacity - ever a chronic Sydney problem. My mind boggles at what they intend to do after the artics reach the end of their lives.
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1whoknows
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Re: Private Bus Observations 2021

Post by 1whoknows »

You may find the Yutong is going to make an appearance in another location soon.
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Linto63
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Re: Private Bus Observations 2021

Post by Linto63 »

tonyp wrote: The Yutong never makes an appearance. Is it even at Leichhardt any longer?
With Transit Systems going down the BYD path for its next electric bus order, its time may be coming to an end.
tonyp wrote: My mind boggles at what they intend to do after the artics reach the end of their lives.
Use rigids, not as if any of these routes are operated exclusively or even in the majority by artics.
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Re: Private Bus Observations 2021

Post by tonyp »

1whoknows wrote: Wed Jan 20, 2021 6:08 am You may find the Yutong is going to make an appearance in another location soon.
That doesn't surprise me, it's a demonstration bus.
Linto63 wrote: Wed Jan 20, 2021 7:00 am Use rigids, not as if any of these routes are operated exclusively or even in the majority by artics.
That is, downgrade capacity. The West metro should be open by then and should work with route diversions as feeders, the SE metro won't be but patronage can be forced onto the light rail. Bondi, Botany Rd, the north shore and northern beaches will be stuffed and the regions to the west affected.
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Re: Private Bus Observations 2021

Post by Linto63 »

tonyp wrote: That is, downgrade capacity.
No, capacity can be maintained, you just operate more buses. We managed to survive for 25 years from 1980 with double deckers and then artics only operating on the long distance northern breaches services.
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Re: Private Bus Observations 2021

Post by tonyp »

Linto63 wrote: Wed Jan 20, 2021 7:29 am No, capacity can be maintained, you just operate more buses. We managed to survive for 25 years from 1980 with double deckers and then artics only operating on the long distance northern breaches services.
Outside UK and a number of third world countries, NSW would be the only bus jurisdiction in the world that practices that unique bit of wisdom. And it doesn't work. It's not that they haven't had plenty of lessons, all the way from the disastrous capacity downgrades resulting from the tram replacements to the conga lines in George St that led to the reinstatement of trams. You just can't get that many small buses smoothly through traffic lights and along roads.

We didn't actually survive those 25 years. The capacity constraint meant that it was impossible to grow patronage and bus patronage in Sydney remained basically stagnant from 1980 to 2005 in spite of the city's population growing by one million over that time. It was a disaster, hidden only by virtue of the fact that governments of the time didn't care and the default to make up the shortfall was to tacitly encourage commuters to drive to work instead. That worked until the roads descended into gridlock. To their credit, the one great transport initiative of the Labor governments in the early 2000s was to build up a major artic fleet, which is only going to last us until the 2030s. The current bus thinking inside transport HQ completely baffles me, it's so counter-intuitive and the opposite to what practically every other bus jurisdiction in Australia and the world thinks - and of course the uncritical Minister just gets led along by the nose. It's not going to end well and it'll simply take us back to the capacity ceiling of the 1980s at a time when we actually need to grow bus capacity.
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Re: Private Bus Observations 2021

Post by Linto63 »

Yutong 8083 is out on the 1337 470 ex Martin Place.
tonyp
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Re: Private Bus Observations 2021

Post by tonyp »

That may be a clue to its absence from Anytrip, including today. It's not being tracked.
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Re: Private Bus Observations 2021

Post by Linto63 »

tonyp wrote: ...all the way from the disastrous capacity downgrades resulting from the tram replacements to the conga lines in George St that led to the reinstatement of trams.
All that was needed to fix George Street was to get away from having all buses go through to Circular Quay with a handful of passengers, rather than turning some around at the city fringe, a problem that was then exasperated when some northern beaches and Hillsbus services were extended to Railway Square. Just needed a bit of thinking outside of the box, not a light rail to fix.
tonyp wrote: We didn't actually survive those 25 years.
Sure there were some bad decisions made by governments on both sides and at a departmental level, but the network hardly imploded. In July 1980 the UTA fleet comprised 1,700 buses, was down to 1,450 in June 1992 (as State Transit) and in June 2005 back up to 1,950, although 150ish would have been to do with taking over the Harris Park, North & Western and Parramatta-Ryde services in the early 2000s.
tonyp wrote: The capacity constraint meant that it was impossible to grow patronage and bus patronage in Sydney remained basically stagnant from 1980 to 2005...
Bit simplistic to suggest that the low growth was caused just by supply, it was also to to with demand as second cars in most households became more common. Artics have both pros and cons, but a tall order to suggest had they been introduced en masse, that they would have been the silver bullet that would have solved Sydney's gridlock problems.

The evidence suggests that Transit Systems doesn't think they suit region 6, having moved them on in numbers and cut back on the use of the remainder.
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Off The Rails
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Re: Private Bus Observations 2021

Post by Off The Rails »

Meanwhile... AnyTrip was reporting that the 0020 T80 to Smithfield was done by a B12BLEA, as was the 2320 T80 ex Parramatta.

Cheers! :wink:
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Re: Private Bus Observations 2021

Post by Campbelltown busboy »

Off The Rails wrote: Thu Jan 21, 2021 4:04 am Meanwhile... AnyTrip was reporting that the 0020 T80 to Smithfield was done by a B12BLEA, as was the 2320 T80 ex Parramatta.

Cheers! :wink:
There are around 10 B12BLEAs based at Smithfield witch are mostly Volgrens the odd one out is CB60 ex Metrobus 1668
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Re: Private Bus Observations 2021

Post by pylelo »

tonyp wrote: Wed Jan 20, 2021 2:51 pm That may be a clue to its absence from Anytrip, including today. It's not being tracked.
It's tracked on AnyTrip, just doesn't show up as an Electric Bus when the filter is applied. Recently seen it on the 431, 470 & 504.
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Re: Private Bus Observations 2021

Post by moa999 »


pylelo wrote:
It's tracked on AnyTrip, just doesn't show up as an Electric Bus when the filter is applied. Recently seen it on the 431, 470 & 504.
So not tagged correctly as an electric bus in Anytrips DB.
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jake_s_258
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Re: Private Bus Observations 2021

Post by jake_s_258 »

Noticed that a Transit Systems operated school special 750s has had some route changes, the biggest being that its morning run doesn't start from Ramsgate anymore but rather the Taren Point loop. Don't normally take notice of school routes, but this one actually started as a public route operated by State Transit as route 474 decades ago. It still lives on as a school special.
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Re: Private Bus Observations 2021

Post by Fleet Lists »

So now totally south of the Georges River which means that it is totally in region 10 so why is Transit Systems still operating it?
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Linto63
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Re: Private Bus Observations 2021

Post by Linto63 »

Probanly because it’s is intertwined with the other region 6 services in the region and is more efficient to leave it there.
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Re: Private Bus Observations 2021

Post by Glen »

That change occurred on 25 October last year.
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Re: Private Bus Observations 2021

Post by Stu »

The history of this service as a dedicated school service is interesting as is the history of this service prior to it being converted from a revenue service to a school service.

Route 474.

13/01/1992.
Taren Point – Caringbah.
Limited weekday service.
STA acquired private route 130 from Sutherland Bus Service (part of the Harris Park Transport group – Moore family). The other part of route 130 was renumbered to 475.

October 1994.
Taren Point – Caringbah – Miranda (morning). (outbound)
Caringbah – Taren Point – Miranda (afternoon). (inbound)


22/10/1995.
Morning trip extended to start from Ramsgate.


21/03/2010.
Renumbered from 474 to a dedicated school service 674c as part of the Region 6 network service review. The routing of the AM and PM trips respectively remained unchanged.

Term 1 2016.
STA renumbering of all school route numbers. 674c renumbered to 750s, the 's' means 'South' which was the STA business unit name for Region 6.

01/07/2018.
TfNSW bus Region franchising. STA no longer operate in Region 6. Transit Systems commence operation of Region 6, no change to route 750s.

25/10/2020.
Region 6 network changes and service review. Changes to school services from 26/10/2020.
Route change to 750s. AM trip no longer operates from Ramsgate shops.
PM trip route path from the departure point at Caringbah Station was simplified. Commece from Denman Ave, right Denman Ave, left Cawarra Rd, left Dianella St (Caringbah North Public School), right Willarong Rd & left Captain Cook Dr as normal timetabled route.

The former route path was very time consuming and very outdated as the commencement part of the route at Caringbah Station did not reflect that the service had been modified from a revenue service to a school service 10 years earlier.
Commece from Denman Ave, left Banksia Rd, right Kingsway (no right turn buses excepted across 6 lanes of traffic in the PM peak), right Taren Point Rd, right Captain Cook Dr, right Cawarra Rd, (Caringbah North Public School) left Dianella St (Caringbah North Public School), right Willarong Rd & left Captain Cook Dr as normal timetabled route.
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Re: Private Bus Observations 2021

Post by Stu »

Linto63 wrote: Mon Jan 25, 2021 3:46 pm Probanly because it’s is intertwined with the other region 6 services in the region and is more efficient to leave it there.
That's right, it is efficient in Region 6 and to be fair the service be would also be efficient being allocated to Region 10.

The only way that TfNSW would decide to transfer the service to Region 10 and renumber it to match the Region 10 school route numbers is if there was a major service change that would affect one of both of the relevant operators.
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Re: Private Bus Observations 2021

Post by Stonesourscotty »

Has the restrictions for drivers on buses been lifted as quite a few drivers of private operators are devoid of masks today?
Linto63
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Re: Private Bus Observations 2021

Post by Linto63 »

From 00:01 Friday masks will no longer be mandatory in retail businesses, but will remain so on public transport.
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Re: Private Bus Observations 2021

Post by BroadGauge »

Stonesourscotty wrote: Thu Jan 28, 2021 2:21 pm Has the restrictions for drivers on buses been lifted as quite a few drivers of private operators are devoid of masks today?
How do you know who has an exemption and who doesn't? Many people are legally exempt from wearing a face mask, including some people who work as bus drivers.
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