Transport for Brisbane Observations 2021

Brisbane / QLD Transport Discussion

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qut391
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Re: Transport for Brisbane Observations 2021

Post by qut391 »

T2916 (reg no XQ50QE) on Route 430.
Last edited by qut391 on Tue Feb 23, 2021 9:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Skyblue1
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Re: Transport for Brisbane Observations 2021

Post by Skyblue1 »

Aren’t BCC looking at Electric / Hydrogen buses now? I’m sure Volgren could utilise a body on any chassis. Is it a definite thing with Volgren?
qut391
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Re: Transport for Brisbane Observations 2021

Post by qut391 »

T1032 on Route 60.
Megumi
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Re: Transport for Brisbane Observations 2021

Post by Megumi »

Just heard that Volgren's JV with BCC has gone to an end. I'm pretty shocked. Can someone guess what bodybuilder would be the next option?
Skyblue1
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Re: Transport for Brisbane Observations 2021

Post by Skyblue1 »

If BCC is ending the Volgren contract, how long is the current build project on for, also how many builds left? I guess we won’t see a 2999. Be great if the last one could be in a heritage livery to mark the end of new builds.
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BT Enthusiast
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Re: Transport for Brisbane Observations 2021

Post by BT Enthusiast »

Buses newer than 2914 have a new rear design
The TransLink logo is now below the desto
daveeyh
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Re: Transport for Brisbane Observations 2021

Post by daveeyh »

Megumi wrote: Tue Feb 23, 2021 9:36 pm Just heard that Volgren's JV with BCC has gone to an end. I'm pretty shocked. Can someone guess what bodybuilder would be the next option?
I guess we will have to wait for the 2021-2022 BCC budget in June 2021 to see if there is any money for new bus builds. I suspect that any new money will be put towards the Brisbane Metro so I doubt there will be any new conventional bus builds for some time.

The oldest bus is currently only 15.5 years old so there is some room for the suspension of new builds of conventional buses until the Brisbane Metro comes on line.
Merc1107
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Re: Transport for Brisbane Observations 2021

Post by Merc1107 »

Aside from the fact this is much ado over nothing (bus supply contracts all eventually expire - why make it out as Volgren being the only supplier in the market?), could the Metro result in enough City services being curtailed or cancelled that TfB/BT are able to cull a significant number of buses in one hit after its introduction? Or is it more likely these resources will be put towards a very extensive feeder bus network?

With the oldest buses just 15.5yrs old, too, and typical maximum fleet ages being kept to 18 or so years here in Australia, there's really no rush to keep replacing buses. Were I a resident of Brisbane, I would actually have been concerned with the more recent fleet replacement strategy - a lot of taxpayer's money has been put towards "Australia's Youngest Bus Fleet", where even relatively young vehicles were replaced.
TangyBanana
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Re: Transport for Brisbane Observations 2021

Post by TangyBanana »

The main reason BCC is decommissioning buses at the moment is because of the CNG cylinders reaching their end of life, and they won't stop doing that because its less economical to keep those buses going than it is to get new diesel ones. Also, the majority of the aging CNG fleet isn't on the Metro route, so I doubt the two things will really influence each other.
Merc1107
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Re: Transport for Brisbane Observations 2021

Post by Merc1107 »

CNG cylinders are typically stamped for 15, 20, or even 30 years. I've only heard hearsay on the matter of tank expiry in most cases, and in the past, we've seen many L94s withdrawn at very young ages. Spending hundreds of thousands on new buses just to save on relatively small (in comparison!) maintenance costs seems absurd.
qut391
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Re: Transport for Brisbane Observations 2021

Post by qut391 »

S1646 on an outbound 170.
TangyBanana
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Re: Transport for Brisbane Observations 2021

Post by TangyBanana »

C1894 withdrawn from service and ready for scrap after the rail bridge accident late 2020
qut391
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Re: Transport for Brisbane Observations 2021

Post by qut391 »

T2917 (reg no XQ53QE) out in service today.
daveeyh
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Re: Transport for Brisbane Observations 2021

Post by daveeyh »

T2920 (XQ 68QE) parked at Volgren today.

Also S1642, S1646, S1647 and S1648 parked at Eagle Farm - guess that they have been swapped with the new artics..
Cazza
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Re: Transport for Brisbane Observations 2021

Post by Cazza »

Aerial imagery shows that there have been bendies sitting in CityGlider livery at Eagle Farm depot since the 2nd of June last year at the very least. Fast forward 9 months later and they are yet to clock a single km in passenger service. The most recent aerial imagery I have (albiet, from the 29th of November 2020) shows 18 bendies at Eagle Farm depot (8 in a CityGlider skin), with the highest fleet number I can make out being 1670.

Does anyone have a definitive date on when they will be starting up? Surely I would have thought having them up and running by February at the very latest would have been a goal, due to everyone starting back at work, school, uni and just the fact that Feb/March are the highest patronage months of the year. It's disappointing that it's taken so long for these to get out on the road, compared with how quick they have been pumping out the new B8's (both pre and post COVID lockdown).
daveeyh
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Re: Transport for Brisbane Observations 2021

Post by daveeyh »

S1653, S1664 (XQ93LS), S1665 (XQ90LS), S1666 (XQ95NP), S1667 (XQ84NP), S1668 (XQ93NP), S1669 and S1670 all in service this morning.
qut391
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Re: Transport for Brisbane Observations 2021

Post by qut391 »

S1662 (reg no XQ99LS) on Route 66 as well.
qut391
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Re: Transport for Brisbane Observations 2021

Post by qut391 »

W1413 on a Route 66.
qut391
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Re: Transport for Brisbane Observations 2021

Post by qut391 »

daveeyh wrote: Mon Mar 01, 2021 10:17 am S1653, S1664 (XQ93LS), S1665 (XQ90LS), S1666 (XQ95NP), S1667 (XQ84NP), S1668 (XQ93NP), S1669 and S1670 all in service this morning.
S1669 (XQ89NP) and S1670 (XQ04NQ).
qut391
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Re: Transport for Brisbane Observations 2021

Post by qut391 »

T2905 on Route 60 last night and T1036 on Route 60 this morning. Seems that Toowong is doing cover trips on this route quite often recently.
Cazza
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Re: Transport for Brisbane Observations 2021

Post by Cazza »

If only Eagle Farm had some spare CityGlider buses and drivers lying around :D
Cazza
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Re: Transport for Brisbane Observations 2021

Post by Cazza »

For buses that have only been in service for 3 days (if I’m not mistaken), 2 of them are already having issues with doors.

From my understanding, the new B8 artic doors are operated by 2 buttons- 1 for the front and 1 for the middle/rear. Yesterday, both S1665 and S1668 (if I remember correctly) had the same issue of only the middle door opening, then when the button is pressed again to close the door(s), the middle door would close with the back one opening! On both occasions it took the drivers about 30 seconds to get the doors aligned again.

If it happened once, I wouldn’t really be stressing. But because it was 2 different buses, on both my morning and afternoon commute, some sort of feedback may need to be sent to Translink (or direct to TfB) if a few of us are experiencing the same issue.

On that note, the rear doors seem a lot more loose than the previous batch. They rattle around at times and really just feel like there isn’t really much holding them on.

Just a casual observation from yesterday.
daveeyh
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Re: Transport for Brisbane Observations 2021

Post by daveeyh »

T1277 and T1279 were back in the western suburbs this morning.
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ABS
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Re: Transport for Brisbane Observations 2021

Post by ABS »

In a move that will surprise nobody high capacity buses are running over the weekend on the 66 instead of rigids during the semester.
qut391
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Re: Transport for Brisbane Observations 2021

Post by qut391 »

ABS wrote: Sun Mar 07, 2021 4:25 pm In a move that will surprise nobody high capacity buses are running over the weekend on the 66 instead of rigids during the semester.
New artics on Route 66 on both days.

S1664 operated on Route 111 this morning. Quite rare to see artics in service on low patronage weekends.
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