NSW Bus Observations 2022.

[Campbelltown busboy]

Get over yourself. There are bad passengers everywhere. I find a lot of people from the Western Suburbs would help you out a lot more than in other areas.

I like to leave my opinions to areas that I know about ether than just wildly generalising about other areas, putting them down and increasing a bad public perception. We all need more positivity here rather than putting everyone down.

I live in the Campbelltown LGA where the old commission estates are slowly getting replaced with those mixed 50/50 estates Minto got done in the late 2000s and early 2010s where the old commission housing in Airds (route 884) and Claymore (routes 877,878 and 880) are slowly getting bulldozed whitch started in 2015 and continued to the current day and into the future. Those suburbs I mentioned yesterday still have those old commmission estates that are slowly getting replaced in Airds and Claymore

[busrider]

A reminder that this thread is for BUS observations, and not societal observations.

[Swift]

A reminder that this thread is for BUS observations, and not societal observations.

When someone assaults a driver or throws a rock through a window causing the service to cease, I presume that's ok to post in this thread?

[busbum]

Anyone know about a bad accident involving a Bustech rolling on its side in Newcastle last night?

[2112Y]

Anyone know about a bad accident involving a Bustech rolling on its side in Newcastle last night?

This is the link you are after this.
https://newcastleweekly.com.au/five-pe ... AXW08o8C4Q

[ScaniaGrenda]

Anyone know about a bad accident involving a Bustech rolling on its side in Newcastle last night?

This is the link you are after this.
https://newcastleweekly.com.au/five-pe ... AXW08o8C4Q

There's an article on Newcastle Herald showing the rear of the bus from some distance away, I can't make out the full registration due to the compression of the image however as it is on yellow plates and I think there is a "0" at the end it's one of two volvo B8's, 2820 or 2830. There is a single Volvo B7 on yellow plates but that ends in a 32 as it's fleet number so definitely not it.



I just rode 2830 yesterday so I'll be really shocked if it turns out that was the bus involved in the rollover.

Such a scary experience no one wants to go through either, hoping for a speedy recovery for all involved

Edit: A local resident posted an image on Facebook, the bus involved was Fleet Number 2820

I won't post directly here but if you look on the Newcastle Herald page for this story, you'll see it.

[tonyp]

A good demonstration of why a rear window is an important emergency exit.

[HunterLine5]

There’s a video of it being pulled out of the ditch by the crane on the herald website too, the front of the bus is well and truly……

[Swift]

They should feature a Bustech in a remake of Speed.
I understand they destroyed several of the same bus in the 1994 version!

[ScaniaGrenda]

There’s a video of it being pulled out of the ditch by the crane on the herald website too, the front of the bus is well and truly……

Any chance you can get a mirror of the video as I'm not a subscriber of the paper (and have my reasons for not subscribing to them)

I'm guessing the way you describe it makes it sound this is a write-off?

[HunterLine5]

Sorry mate, they’ve got it behind a paywall on their website.

[HunterLine5]

Sorry mate, they’ve got it behind a paywall on their website.

I’ve seen worse in all my years, but they were built better and stronger back then, lol…might be able to save it with a total rebuild of the front end….probably have to go back to the Doctors at Bustech for a full medical evaluation and surgery, bahahahahaha.

[matthewg]

The Newcastle Herald doesn't host the video - it's an external site, so outside their paywall.

https://dai.ly/x8fg8t5

It's hit more than that low concrete barrier, the damage to the front goes all the way to the roof.

[ScaniaGrenda]

Hunter Valley Buses had their sole remaining Csepel 844.31 CB60 (4697 MO) out on Revenue runs earlier today, I've only ever noted one of them to previously do a revenue run years ago when the original trio were transferred up here as Hunter Valley Buses for whatever reason decided to keep them on full time school duties and they hardly saw operations outside of that, not even rail replacement.

It wasn't using updated destinations displays either because It's rarely if ever in public revenue service and I guess not that big of a priority to have updated displays programmed into it.

None the less, finally great to see it doing something besides School Runs, about time Hunter Valley Buses put it on something else.

[Kiyrri]

[Swift]

I remember seeing a bus worse than this and older at the time with STA a mark IV Benz and it got repaired. This doesn't look too bad.

[Merc1107]

I remember seeing a bus worse than this and older at the time with STA a mark IV Benz and it got repaired. This doesn't look too bad.

The other bit is, how much does a Bustech in that specification cost new vs the existing value of the bus, and how soon could that be delivered?

You'd need a pretty horrific incident to condemn a near-new bus. I know of a bus that suffered a fairly catastrophic fire at just 2.5yrs of age - on top of the fire damage to the body, it must've needed a new drivetrain/powertrain, ancillaries (down to the electrics); none of that comes cheap!

[tonyp]

Apparently two male passengers went out through that broken side window as it rolled and were trapped under the bus. They were lucky, to say the least.

[ScaniaGrenda]

Apparently two male passengers went out through that broken side window as it rolled and were trapped under the bus. They were lucky, to say the least.

Looks like the two went out via the front emergency exit and the rear emergency exit window. Given the final position that the bus was resting on I think the emergency exit roof escape hatches would've made more sense however of course in situations like this you obviously would be in a state of shock, confusion, panic etc and wouldn't be thinking what is really the best course of action to take.

I think I did see a photo where the rear most roof hatch was missing so someone else did try escaping through that.

I remember seeing a bus worse than this and older at the time with STA a mark IV Benz and it got repaired. This doesn't look too bad.

In remembering too we've seen cases like Brookvales then 2724 ST have some nasty front end damage and that survived and got another new lease on life under a different registration after being cleared to return to service. 2820's a little worse compared to 2724 because 2820 sustained some hefty front end roof damage.

2820 will likely come back however of course will be off the road for some lengthy period of time.

[tonyp]

Looks like the two went out via the front emergency exit and the rear emergency exit window. Given the final position that the bus was resting on I think the emergency exit roof escape hatches would've made more sense however of course in situations like this you obviously would be in a state of shock, confusion, panic etc and wouldn't be thinking what is really the best course of action to take.

I think I did see a photo where the rear most roof hatch was missing so someone else did try escaping through that.

The report I read indicated that they fell through the windows and the bus fell on top of them, not exited voluntarily and, yes, the rear roof hatch was gone, indicating that some had exited or been assisted out that way. How much more useful, easier and faster would a rear window exit be in a situation like this. The advent of the rear-engined diesel bus killed the rear window in Australia, but electric buses have in principle made it possible again. However, in another great design fail, only about one third of the electric buses on display at the Bus Expo had a rear window - Custom Denning, ARCC, Ebusco and Toyota. (To fully filter the sheep from the goats, only two of those have a low floor as well, so the winners are Custom Denning and Toyota, a pretty abysmal result from a baker's dozen collection that's supposed to be heralding an innovative new era.)

[Swift]

Anyone know what caused the tip over? Is the driver getting the sack?

[tonyp]

Anyone know what caused the tip over? Is the driver getting the sack?

It was the concrete barrier that upended it, but something caused it do deviate and impact the barrier. One account mentioned a pothole, but that's speculation at this stage.

[Kiyrri]

A passenger had mentioned a pothole, yes and the Police were also investigating whether driver fatigue had some part to play when the bus ran into the concrete border. In the news article it also mentions a local "ripping open a part of the roof to rescue the passengers," could this be why the emergency exit was pulled off?

[Merc1107]

Police were also investigating whether driver fatigue had some part to play when the bus ran into the concrete border.

In the present climate of driver shortages, company fatigue management protocols, and the relevant state/territory regulations are more important than ever. As is listening to the workforce - if they can't handle any more work1., then it's time to start cutting runs, regardless of the ramifications.
Unfortunately in certain workplaces, the practice of throwing the fatigue management protocols out the window "due to unforeseen circumstances" are a right enshrined to the depot manager under an enterprise agreement.

If there is a fatigue element at play, then we probably haven't heard the last of this.

1. Fatigue is not just tiredness, it can affect mood, and thus relationships at home, too. Someone I once met moonlighted as a bus driver years ago and secretly surveyed the workforce as part of their studies, finding shocking statistics and something of a correlation between hours worked {due to low pay} and divorces.

[Fleet Lists]

Operators can be in a no win situation. As mentioned only recently in this thread, an operator tried to officially cut some trips from their timetables due to the driver shortage but the Unions have refused to accept this.