STA B10BLEs

[Noel]

Some of the oldest vehicles in the fleet, but most are still pretty nice to drive despite most drivers absolute disdain for them.

Shots from the last few years.

Brookvale (3883) at Clontarf on Good Friday 2020.
by Leon, on Flickr

Mona Vale (3856) at Bayview in 2016.
by Leon, on Flickr

Waverley (3912) at Lee Street layup, Railway Square.
by Leon, on Flickr

Waverley (3913) and (3923) both laying up at Lee Street layup, Railway Square.
by Leon, on Flickr

Mona Vale (3916) at Warriewood in 2016.
by Leon, on Flickr

Waverley (3921) at Rosebery operating in place of a Randwick bus.
by Leon, on Flickr

Waverley (3926) laying up at Bankstown operating Sydenham to Bankstown rail.
by Leon, on Flickr

Brookvale (3932) and the MV Collaroy at Manly Wharf.
by Leon, on Flickr

Burwood (3935) and (3959) at Central in 2016.
by Leon, on Flickr

Brookvale (3946) at Lee Street layup, Railway Square. This one is a favourite amongst drivers and pretty much acts like a B12.
by Leon, on Flickr

[Merc1107]

Some of the oldest vehicles in the fleet, but most are still pretty nice to drive despite most drivers absolute disdain for them.

Didn't take me long to work out that sort of "disdain" is largely just toxic crybaby behaviour. Same sort you find in lunchrooms.
Where the buses are relative orphans, drivers get upset because they're unwilling to understand the differences in the bus versus whatever the standard bus is in a depot. It can also be a sort of jealousy and/or a victimisation mindset. The former because other drivers are in a newer bus ("it's clearly favouritism"), and the latter for a greater variety of reasons. Sometimes certain buses are used on certain types of shifts... So a newer bus always being on one shift, and the older ones on another is not "favouritism" or "they're picking on me!", but just trying to run things efficiently.

Enjoyed the selection of shots, though. Thanks for sharing them here. Admittedly I find the "Orana" bodywork (is that correct?) not to be my cup of tea. It's just very different to what I'm used to.

[ScaniaGrenda]

These Ansairs / Phoenixes are what marked the start of major change where STA was moving from High-floor buses to low entry. I find it fascinating that the very buses that helped to do just that remain in service to this very day, altho unfortunately not far off from retirement.

I enjoy seeing both Ansair & the Phoenix buses when ever I've made my way down to Sydney tho outside of the 10 (now eight) APG bodied versions of these that are up at Newcastle, I've never had the fortunate of taking a trip on the Sydney counterparts. I don't personally like these in TransportNSW Livery, the dark blue bumper is an eyesore for my eyes, these have always looked much more cleaner to the eye in their STA Corporate livery.

While these do highly show their age and don't look quite as nice in the present day amongst the newer buses of today, I still think personally to me they represent another Transport icon of not only Sydney but also Ansett itself. If Ansett was still around, I'd like to sometimes wonder just what their successor to the Orana series would've been, what it would've looked like etc and perhaps just perhaps whether more operators outside of Brisbane City Council (Or BT) & STA would've jumped on board with the Ansair buses but this is something that also goes down the we will never know path given Asairs & Ansetts fate.

When these go, it'll definitely mark the end of another Era in the Sydney Transport books tho maybe they'll live on with other operators in their Charter and rail replacement fleets or as preserved buses.

[Noel]

Didn't take me long to work out that sort of "disdain" is largely just toxic crybaby behaviour.

I find it amazing this happens, but also amazing that they would prefer to take a B7 CB80 which has poorly performing aircon, slow doors and acceleration along with a poorly laid out drivers cab.

[Swift]

A former V driver who was a regular on this board up until a decade ago said while he didn't care for the B10BLE in particular, at least it had power on demand over the torque reduction lag BS the B12BLEs had at the time.
While I've never driven these, only the Scania L113, I always found the Volvo Orana B12BLE a very refined and comfortable bus to ride in and I found the feel of the driver's cab quite splendid compared to the Scania's when I sat in one.