New Sydney and Outer Metro bus contracts (as from 2020)

[Swift]

What codswallop, and sanctioned discrimination. Right attitude means putting up with garbage from the passengers.

[Campbelltown busboy]

What codswallop, and sanctioned discrimination. Right attitude means putting up with garbage from the passengers.

The whole issue on the way that passengers treat drivers might be a good topic for a thread in the general discussion section of the borad as it would be a nation wide issue

[LB608]

Have to agree with Swift,even in the 60's and 70's passengers were like that

[Swift]

Have to agree with Swift,even in the 60's and 70's passengers were like that

Difference was who's side the managers took. I heard a story about the manager of a small Sydney operator who told a complaining passenger to F off before slamming down the phone. Quickly sorted.

[Fleet Lists]

It might be a subject for a separate thread as suggested a few posts ago, but it has no place in this thread so back to the contracts please.

[Campbelltown busboy]

Here is how things are in region 2 for Transit Systems
All routes run out of Bradbury and Smeaton Grange depots with Macquarie Fields having no changes to operations outside the depots operator changing
A large number of buses that Interline had based at Leppington are now based at Bradbury with the ex region 15 MAN 18.310s that somehow have gained Smeaton Grange accreditation instead of Bradbury accreditation
Most of the former region 15 buses at based at Smeaton Grange
All ex Interline buses built before 2010 still have Interline fleet number decals applied I've seen m/o 9068 with it's 8 number decals still applied and the same thing with the 10 number decals on m/o 9164 there could be others but they are the only 2 I've really payed attention to

[alleve]

Opposition Leader Mark Speakman took a point of order, asking "Why did [Ms Haylen] do nothing for three months after the government was elected?"

I like that logic. "Why did Haylen do nothing for three months to fix the problem we created?"

Unrelated complaint I have about U Go - they seem to be unable to figure out how a desto works. I regularly see buses running the 446, 455, 947 and 958 and apart from older flipdot buses, all U Go buses running these routes have dodgy destos. The route numbers are always either too small to read from a distance, or more commonly too big to properly read because the tops and bottoms of the numbers get cut off. Just the other day I saw a 450 service run by an ex Punchbowl K320UB CB80 where the only visible route number was 4. Really shows a lack of care when U Go can't figure out something as basic as that

[Stu]

I overheard the 2 way on Transit Systems O500LE Bustech VST m/o 5200 this afternoon it sounds like Transit Systems has set up a radio control room in region 2 drivers that I heard calling in addressed it as the OCC what does OCC stand for and is it a universal radio control room for Transit Systems to deal with 2 way traffic across all 3 of their Sydney contracts

Many operators have a centralised Operations Control Centre. The OCC is the point of contact for all drivers on the road. In former STA regions, all contact via radio is via the OCC and drivers cannot contact other drivers. I'm not sure if this is the case in R2 or R3, but it wouldn't surprise me if TSA attempt to move to that model

R2 & R3 are open channel.

[Merc1107]

Unrelated complaint I have about U Go - they seem to be unable to figure out how a desto works. I regularly see buses running the 446, 455, 947 and 958 and apart from older flipdot buses, all U Go buses running these routes have dodgy destos. The route numbers are always either too small to read from a distance, or more commonly too big to properly read because the tops and bottoms of the numbers get cut off. Just the other day I saw a 450 service run by an ex Punchbowl K320UB CB80 where the only visible route number was 4. Really shows a lack of care when U Go can't figure out something as basic as that

As I understand it, on buses fitted with the Thoreb computer (input panel, whatever you want to call that infernal solution-for-a-nonexistent-problem...) it can be very easy to carelessly select the wrong program when trying to load a destination file from a flash drive. This would be particularly bad on fleets where there are a large variety of different destination boards in use and the people responsible for destinations either don't know, or don't care. By no means an excusable problem, and if someone is going and checking the display afterwards, there'd be more of a chance of the issue being corrected.

It's also another area where the low to zero care factor of many drivers is evident; destination boards are an integral part of the bus and their function should be checked prior to leaving the yard.

[alleve]

Unrelated complaint I have about U Go - they seem to be unable to figure out how a desto works. I regularly see buses running the 446, 455, 947 and 958 and apart from older flipdot buses, all U Go buses running these routes have dodgy destos. The route numbers are always either too small to read from a distance, or more commonly too big to properly read because the tops and bottoms of the numbers get cut off. Just the other day I saw a 450 service run by an ex Punchbowl K320UB CB80 where the only visible route number was 4. Really shows a lack of care when U Go can't figure out something as basic as that

As I understand it, on buses fitted with the Thoreb computer (input panel, whatever you want to call that infernal solution-for-a-nonexistent-problem...) it can be very easy to carelessly select the wrong program when trying to load a destination file from a flash drive. This would be particularly bad on fleets where there are a large variety of different destination boards in use and the people responsible for destinations either don't know, or don't care. By no means an excusable problem, and if someone is going and checking the display afterwards, there'd be more of a chance of the issue being corrected.

It's also another area where the low to zero care factor of many drivers is evident; destination boards are an integral part of the bus and their function should be checked prior to leaving the yard.

It's just one example of U GO not caring - I often see buses also showing incorrect destos on the 947 too (ie showing Ramsgate instead of Hurstville and vice versa), and of course U Go's logos on the buses not matching the paint scheme either so there's just white boxes on every bus with the old logo clearly visible under or out the side

[Fleet Lists]

Opposition Leader Mark Speakman took a point of order, asking "Why did [Ms Haylen] do nothing for three months after the government was elected?"

I like that logic. "Why did Haylen do nothing for three months to fix the problem we created?"

Very true.

[Swift]

Maybe we need to think about reintroducing desto rolls.
Another case where electronics are less reliable than mechanical stuff.

[Merc1107]

Oh but they "cause" shoulder injuries Swift!

[Campbelltown busboy]

Maybe we need to think about reintroducing desto rolls.
Another case where electronics are less reliable than mechanical stuff.

The reintroducing of desto rolls would be near impossible with now much Transport For NSW are moving buses between regions which didn't happen 25 or 30 years ago as a operator actually owned all their buses and also could make orders for new buses whenever they wanted to without any input from the government but this issue is starting to get off topic for the thread which is bus contracts

[alleve]

Maybe we need to think about reintroducing desto rolls.
Another case where electronics are less reliable than mechanical stuff.

Electronics seem to be perfectly reliable, none of the other operators have this issue. The people at U GO seem to be the less reliable ones

[Fleet Lists]

Yes that is where U-GO still has some work to do.

[Swift]

Why are they so determined to help this obviously hopeless contractor?

[Fleet Lists]

Unfortunately it comes down to them or nothing in the short term. For what will happen in the longer term we will have to wait and see.

[Campbelltown busboy]

I found out about a issue for region 2 the issue is depot capacity of the Smeaton Grange depot apparently Transit Systems are having issues accessing a small section of the depot as Camden council has somehow got a issue when it comes to how much of the yard that Transit Systems can use at Smeaton Grange depot

[Stu]

https://www.theleader.com.au/story/8384 ... utherland/

Complaints about U-Go Mobility bus services have dropped by 92 per cent and cancellations to one per cent

U-Go Mobility took over services previously operated in St George and Sutherland Shire by the very experienced Punchbowl Bus Company and Transdev.
U-Go Mobility took over services previously operated in St George and Sutherland Shire by the very experienced Punchbowl Bus Company and
Transport Minister Jo Haylen says the new Region 10 bus operator U-Go Mobility had "more experience on the streets of Singapore than on the streets of Sutherland".

Ms Haylen gave an update in State Parliament this week on services in St George and Sutherland Shire in response to a question from Heathcote MP Maryanne Stuart.

Ms Haylen said since a Transport for NSW team was deployed to assist the operator, complaints had dropped by 92 per cent and cancellations had dropped to one per cent.

Ms Haylen said the former government decided to privatise our local bus services to the lowest bidder.

"Our Bus Industry Taskforce found that those opposite ripped more than $375 million out in operational savings in that process," she said.

"But, they did not return any of that to the community, particularly for the growth needed for bus services in the growing communities of western and southwestern Sydney."

Ms Haylen said, on December 22 last year, a contract was awarded to a newly formed joint venture called U-Go Mobility, which transitioned into operating that service on July 1, 2023.

"It was an entity with absolutely no local experience, but those opposite awarded it a contract over a locally operated, long-term family business," she said.

"The new operator had more experience, to be frank, on the streets of Singapore than on the streets of Sutherland.

"And it showed, because within three weeks of the operation - the start of third [school] term, actually - it became clear that the operator had not secured the drivers that it needed to deliver the service that it was contracted to provide.

"Not only did the company fail to engage with its workforce but we also know that it failed to pay some of its drivers for shifts that they worked. No wonder we lost those essential bus drivers delivering that essential service. "

Opposition Leader Mark Speakman took a point of order, asking "Why did [Ms Haylen] do nothing for three months after the government was elected?"

People will become excited from this information and forget that Transit Systems are still operating a handful of Region 10 routes and school services.

[Aurora]

The government have practically bent over backwards to make U-Go work.

[Swift]

The government have practically bent over backwards to make U-Go work.

Which begs questions. They certainly aren't worthy of it.
What sort of message does it give to the other contract holders? You can be as slack as you like, the government will bail you out regardless.

[Campbelltown busboy]

Didn't U-GO also leave everything to the last minute when it came to filling non driver positions such as office staff and mechanics

[Fleet Lists]

People will become excited from this information and forget that Transit Systems are still operating a handful of Region 10 routes and school services.

As well as still operating to a reduced timetable since 28th July.

[boronia]

Didn't U-GO also leave everything to the last minute when it came to filling non driver positions such as office staff and mechanics

Did they?
It is not unheard of staff to leave it to the last minute to decide they don’t want transfer over.