2021 year in Review

[MotorOmnibus8562]

As the year 2021 comes to an end, I thought I'd create a thread about what happened in the past year:

COVID-19:

• Vaccines were approved, which over 80% of People in Australia got and at least 50% worldwide as of the time this thread was created.
• Certain Varients of COVID-19 became a concern and from May 2021 the VOCs were named after the Greek Alphabet (eg. Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Etc.) With Omicron becoming the latest of concern
• Australia has recorded over 100 thousand cases over the past six months alone.
• Many regional towns across the country that never had to deal with a COVID19 outbreak have dealt with one for the first time this year. Especially in the eastern states.
• Rapid Antigen Testing becomes available to help prevent covid.

POLITICS

• Riots at The White House in Early January wanting to overturn the election results so Trump can still be in power.
• Donald Trump becomes impeached for a second time.
• Sexual assault scandals having been reported in the offices of politicians and Parliament House after Liberal Staffer Brittany Higgins reports having been sexually assaulted by another staffer.
• Former Deputy Premier of NSW John Barilaro Sues YouTuber/journalist/political commentator Friendlyjordies for defamation, Pulls the fixated Persons unit on him. Barilaro resigns a few months later stating that one of the reasons for resignation is the lawsuit
• The Labor Party in Western Australia wins a second Term and took almost all the Opposition seats.
• The Tasmanian Government calls a snap election and wins but both the government and opposition lose 1 seat each to the greens.
• Domenic Perrottet becomes the premier of NSW. He is the youngest ever elected at the Age of 39

WEATHER

• A 5.9 magnitude Earthquake takes Place and the epicenter is Mansfield, which is the strongest ever Recorded in Victoria.

[MotorOmnibus8562]

TECHNOLOGY

• Volgren Builds four New Electric buses for Transdev,, all on BYD chassis. They Also Build the first permanent electric bus for Victoria which is bus 1924 for Ventura
• Custom Denning demonstrates the Element. As of Now Operaters can purchase one
• Bustech reveals designs for a new Body
• NSW currently has the biggest Electric bus fleet in Australia with over 50 buses in Service.

COVID-19
[*]Dyson's Converts four of their Buses into temporary Mobile Vaccination clinics

Purchases
Dyson's Purchases Little's Gippsland Coaches in Sale, Victoria.

Kind Regards, MO8562

[Shoudy Chen]

2021 in review (Sport)
- The 2021 Summer Olympics & Paralympics were held in Tokyo (without spectators)
- Melbourne FC break a 57-year premiership drought after smashing the Bulldogs by 74 points in front of a 61 118 people at Optus Stadium
- Penrith Panthers end an 18-year premiership drought after beating the South Sydney 14-12 at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane.
- Brisbane won the rights to host the 2032 Summer Olympics and Paralympics
- Australia win its first ever T20 World Cup title.
- New Zealand win the World Test Championship final after beating India.
- Italy denied England a major trophy in the Euro 2021 Soccer.
- Novak Djokovic fall short of a calendar Grand Slam
- Australia's Ash Barty win her first Wimbledon title after beating Karolina Pliskova.

TV
- WIN Television return to Nine affiliate for the first time since June 2016. Southern Cross returning to a TEN Affiliate for the first time since 2016.
- Prime West Media and Seven West Media merge.
- The death of Bert Newton, aged 83.
- Nine retain the rights to the Rugby League through to the end of 2027.
- US Talk show, Ellen was axed by the Nine Network, ending its 13-year run on Channel 9. TMK, Dr Phil is the only remaining US daytime talk show currently broadcasting on Australian FTA Television. Dr Phil continued to air on Ch 10 as of today.

Aviation
- Sriwijaya Air Flight 182 crashes killing all 62 onboard.
- Qantas launches flights to Delhi.
- The 251st and last Airbus A380 was delivered to Emirates in December 2021.

[ScaniaGrenda]

My 2021 year in review list mainly focusing on buses.

Buses

The last type of buses to be delivered for State Transit Authority Sydney New South Wales entered service 28th December 2021, That being the Custom Denning Elements 3122 ST and 3123 ST.

Port Stephens Coaches (& Possibly Keolis Downer Newcastle) try a demonstrator Mercedes-Benz O500LE fitted with Volgren Optimus Bodywork in early 2021, unfortunately no purchases were made.

KINETIC Group donates former Skybus 0237AO (80) Scania L94UA and another bus to FoodBank Victoria which is then converted into a mobile food-bank bus.

April 2021 marked the withdrawal of the first 3 Volvo B10BLE's from Newcastle Transport, one was only withdrawn due to mechanical problems & later retained for parts while the other two went to different owners.

December 21st 2021 marked the end of the Scania L113CRB's in revenue service in Sydney with m/o 3661 being the last L113CRB Scania series bus to be retired from service.

September 30th 2021 marked the end of the CNG Mercedes-Benz O405NH's Custom Coaches "Citaro" in service with m/o 1288 being the last bus of that type to still be in service. It was decided it wasn't cost effective to replace the CNG fuel tanks and so these buses once withdrawn would be sent straight for scrapping after being salvaged of any useable parts. A small handful of CNG O405NH's escaped Scrapping with a private enthusiast family having two, Petersham Transport for NSW Training Facility retaining m/o 1196 and 2000 ST being retained for preservation at the Sydney Bus Museum in a non-drivable state.

[Heihachi_73]

Elecrail's Tait train takes passengers on the main line under its own power for the first time in 17 years.

Metro Trains Melbourne's Comeng fleet leader 301M-1001T-302M withdrawn from service, along with several other low-numbered Comeng sets; 537M-1119T-538M being the outlier (a late-era set). 492M torched by vandals while in storage.

Several Night Network bus routes replaced by their daytime counterparts running 24 hours on the same two nights. SmartBus routes (except 902, 903 and 906) upgraded to Night Bus services.

[PaxInfo]

More Melbourne transport in review here:

https://melbourneontransit.blogspot.com ... ld-be.html

Key points include new train timetables for the Cross - City group, some bus upgrades, Tram 82 upgraded interpeak and the launch of the Bus Plan. More details on all these above.