Ventura Group Discussion Thread 2021

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JRBUS123
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Ventura Group Discussion Thread 2021

Post by JRBUS123 »

New year, new thread. Thought I jump in to commence the 2021 Ventura thread.

Can’t wait to see the new Ventura hybrid scanias out in action
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JRBUS123
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Re: Ventura Group Discussion Thread 2021

Post by JRBUS123 »

According to the fleet lists page, Ventura have quite a few on order

As per mentioned on the general discussion forum, there’s a few Volgren Queensland buses that will be entering the fleet very soon. All of the, are Arctic buses so I reckon some of them may end up at Rosebud on the route 788, since it’s getting an upgrade anyway

What i find interesting, however, is that Ventura have acquired three ex-Panorama buses, two of them being Gemilangs

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scott
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Re: Ventura Group Discussion Thread 2021

Post by scott »

There is quite a few second hand acquisitions for the charter fleet listed, the ex Panorama units mentioned plus some from Donric and Grant's Coach Lines, in SA, plus a King Long from Rowville Secondary College. Must of picked up some more school contracts this year.
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B10BLE
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Re: Ventura Group Discussion Thread 2021

Post by B10BLE »

If Pacific National ran a bus company, they'd sell the bus to a scrap metal recycler instead of selling it to another operator :wink:
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Heihachi_73
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Re: Ventura Group Discussion Thread 2021

Post by Heihachi_73 »

744 (a tiny 33-seater usually seen on Telebus routes) was running on route 679 just after 8PM on the 19th, spotted it outside Ringwood station in Station St. The bus after it was a par-for-the-course Scania/CR228L, while sister route 670 was running artics, so I can only assume Ventura (or at least Lilydale Depot) must have been short of buses. I can't remember if the Lilydale line was having bustitution that day or not.
BusPlaneTrainTram
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Re: Ventura Group Discussion Thread 2021

Post by BusPlaneTrainTram »

scott wrote: Sun Jan 24, 2021 11:15 am There is quite a few second hand acquisitions for the charter fleet listed, the ex Panorama units mentioned plus some from Donric and Grant's Coach Lines, in SA, plus a King Long from Rowville Secondary College. Must of picked up some more school contracts this year.
Are these in a Ventura livery?
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Re: Ventura Group Discussion Thread 2021

Post by scott »

Have not sighted them on the road as yet, so not sure, I would imagine they would be in two pack white with decals, as par the course with similar vehicles.

According to the fleetlists, there are a couple more Scania K360/Higer Tourings going into service, which are in the more premium Ventura blue coach livery. Also there are a couple of new Volvo B8R's with Marcopolo Audace bodies, whose liveries are not listed as yet.
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Re: Ventura Group Discussion Thread 2021

Post by scott »

Updating my previous post, saw Volvo B8R/Marcopolo fleet nos 1500 and 1501 today, two pack white without any Ventura livery or decals, only stickers are the fleet number numerals.
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Heihachi_73
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Re: Ventura Group Discussion Thread 2021

Post by Heihachi_73 »

Route 742 is currently having new outbound bus stops built in New St and Bond St Ringwood opposite the current stops.

I feel for the bus driver who is now going to get stuck in single-file bumper-to-bumper traffic for twenty minutes in Ringwood rather than the almost guaranteed clear run on Maroondah Hwy. What complete idiot at PTV thought it was an awesome idea to have a bus run eastbound along New St and Bond St, the two most congested side streets in the entire suburb? On top of that, the bus is also going to do a completely pointless circle around Eastland Shopping Centre, wasting another ten or so minutes. Why not just run it straight along the highway with the 901 and circle around Ringwood station like every other bus? Given that the 742 runs at rural frequencies it could hardly be considered as duplicating the 901, and it's only two intermediate stops anyway (Market St and New St/Sherbrook Ave).
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Heihachi_73
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Re: Ventura Group Discussion Thread 2021

Post by Heihachi_73 »

The 742 outbound stops in New/Bond Sts have now been completed after sitting for about a week with just the concrete base and the pole in the ground (the bus zone X marking on the road was also added during the Easter weekend). Unlike the old inbound stops, the new ones have a deeper kerb similar to a tram platform stop. The inbound stop in Bond St has also finally been updated to show Market St instead of the long-gone Ringwood Market.
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Re: Ventura Group Discussion Thread 2021

Post by mocara13 »

Around 2012 Ventura recruited a number of Irish drivers. What way did this turn out? Anyone know?
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Heihachi_73
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Re: Ventura Group Discussion Thread 2021

Post by Heihachi_73 »

Recently I've noticed that some of the newer Ventura Optimus buses are missing the small VOLGREN letters on the front, having just the outlines in the plastic where the letters were intended to go. Is this a new thing or has Volgren been cutting costs, or have losers been vandalising the buses? It does look like they weren't even fitted with them from the factory though, as earlier Optimus buses still have them.
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Re: Ventura Group Discussion Thread 2021

Post by Heihachi_73 »

1112 made an unusual appearance on a very late-running 670 just now. While Volgren CR228L Scanias aren't unusual in the slightest on the 670, an ex U.S. Bus Lines L94UB from 2005 is.
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Heihachi_73
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Re: Ventura Group Discussion Thread 2021

Post by Heihachi_73 »

Another unusual bus on the 670 tonight, CR221L 724 (a former TeleBus, now FlexiRide) ran the 8:50 from Ringwood tonight. A Scania/Optimus numbered in the 1400s was parked in the unused former Night Bus bay for well over an hour with Lilydale 670 on the desto, when I went past it ten minutes ago the engine was running.
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Re: Ventura Group Discussion Thread 2021

Post by scott »

Another fairly unusual working for me this morning was Croydon based (871), a single door CB60 L94UB on the 732 Box Hill bound, driver was requested to changeover at Upper Ferntree Gully after his return trip as the bus had to be returned to Croydon(must of been at Knox overnight for some reason).

Sometimes I got one of the single door CB60's on the 732 during school holidays under the different roster, but never outside of the school holidays.
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Lt. Commander Data
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Re: Ventura Group Discussion Thread 2021

Post by Lt. Commander Data »

Question from an interstater - do Ventura operate certain routes from certain depots only, or is there more of a “global running” scheduling/allocation system?

Specifically, what depot could I expect to operate tours 688? Do any types of buses make regular appearances on this route or can it be any from a depot that operates it?
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Re: Ventura Group Discussion Thread 2021

Post by Fleet Lists »

This is 2022 by now!!!!!!!
Living in the Shire.
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Heihachi_73
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Re: Ventura Group Discussion Thread 2021

Post by Heihachi_73 »

Probably could do with un-stickying the old threads so they aren't on top of the others. :)

Barely anyone seems to post in the Melbourne/Vic thread these days so even the others like the Kinetic thread aren't exactly disappearing from the first page.

As for Data's question, I've noticed foreign buses on quite a few routes over the last couple of years e.g. MAN Designlines (bubbles) and CB60 C-Maxes/Evos on Lilydale-based routes and ex Invicta/Grenda buses on 700-series Ventura routes.

670/679/742 tend to through-route on the odd occasion (even before the 742 was extended to Ringwood instead of "Eastland" one stop around the corner from Ringwood station), something that was unthinkable ten years ago. Prior to the Grenda/Ventura merger, the only Designline at Lilydale was 858, unique down here in having a Scania chassis rather than MAN (858 has since moved to Knoxfield where most of the MAN Designline fleet are). 670 and 679 were Invicta/Grenda routes whereas the 742 has been a Ventura route since forever.

The Ventura tracker combined with the Bus Australia fleet lists will show when a foreign bus is on a certain route.

For example, there are currently eight buses on the 670, which is a Lilydale-based route.
772 (Lilydale depot)
927 (Croydon)
988 (Lilydale)
992 (Croydon)
1001 (Knoxfield)
1010 (Knoxfield)
1260 (Lilydale)
1478 (Lilydale)

927 is the one which would stick out like a sore thumb if you were out bunzelling, as it's a CB60 Evo 2, which Lilydale doesn't have (Lilydale doesn't have any Custom buses, mostly all Volgrens e.g. CR228L/Optimus).
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Re: Ventura Group Discussion Thread 2021

Post by Volvo_B9R »

Heihachi_73 wrote: Fri Sep 09, 2022 2:10 pm Probably could do with un-stickying the old threads so they aren't on top of the others. :)
This site is dead now. Ruined by harsh moderation and censorship of peoples opinions. One certain admin only has themselves to blame!!!!!!!!!!
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Re: Ventura Group Discussion Thread 2021

Post by PaxInfo »

News of Ventura's sale to Keppel for $600m.

https://www.theedgesingapore.com/news/m ... a-a600-mil

Confirmation from Keppel here:

https://www.keppel.com/fundmgt/news-ite ... -australia
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