DD's in service in AU - Updated Liisting

[Tim Williams]

Please advise of any errors and omissions - I am aware that the 4 ex Lothian Olympians are no longer with Blue Mountains - 3 x sold to Byron Bay Tours (?) and the forth to DD Tours (where??). Interestingly there are now 97 deckers operating in Sydney on urban serices, that must upset the pro-standee cattle truck brigade!!!

DDs AU Dec22.jpg (57.56 KiB) Viewed 2412 times

[Lt. Commander Data]

Every bus has its company listed except the Adelaide ones. Should be Keolis Downer - Southlink (Torrens haven’t had the CDi since c. 2020). Referring to Aldgate is slightly misleading too, as they do not operate Aldgate shifts, only appearing there for workshops.

[Merc1107]

Every bus has its company listed except the Adelaide ones. Should be Keolis Downer - Southlink (Torrens haven’t had the CDi since c. 2020). Referring to Aldgate is slightly misleading too, as they do not operate Aldgate shifts, only appearing there for workshops.

Correct me if I am wrong, but aren't there two DD's in service out of Barker?

[tonyp]

Please advise of any errors and omissions - I am aware that the 4 ex Lothian Olympians are no longer with Blue Mountains - 3 x sold to Byron Bay Tours (?) and the forth to DD Tours (where??). Interestingly there are now 97 deckers operating in Sydney on urban serices, that must upset the pro-standee cattle truck brigade!!!DDs AU Dec22.jpg

So seemingly around 100 commuter/sightseeing DDs in Australia compared to about 600 commuter artics - I don't think anybody is upset! It's good to have so many high capacity buses overall in the urban fleets at last. The Sydney commuter DDs are used for what DDs do best - long distance expresses with limited stops. Artics are for regular stopping services. They're two different types of operation, not an either/or choice.

Thanks for the update, a very useful reference.

[Merc1107]

In terms of high-capacity buses (although not deckers), Adelaide must surely have the highest proportion of any city in the country? For some reason 20-30% is embedded in my mind but that's probably not correct.

[tonyp]

In terms of high-capacity buses (although not deckers), Adelaide must surely have the highest proportion of any city in the country? For some reason 20-30% is embedded in my mind but that's probably not correct.

Probably more like 15-20% but definitely still the highest proportion. I suppose the O Bahn influences that.

[Tim Williams]

Thanks for the replies - the comment re. standees/cattle trucks was only tongue in cheek to provike a reaction!! It would be difficult to live in Adelaide (as I do) and not understand the value of artics, though as I get older, I would more appreciate totally flat floor artics and rigids - only the two deckers have fully flat floors.
Looking at the fleet lists in Bus Australia, there seems to be 187 artics out of a total Adelaide Metro fleet of 1,034, which is 18%. Adelaide has a fairly scant urban rail system with only 2 lines that carry sufficient passengers to justify their existence, being the recently electrified north line to Elizabeth & Gawler and the southern line to Christies & Seaford. The other two (non-electrified lines) to Port Adelaide & Belair in the Adelaide Hills both have relatively low passenger numbers, but it would be a very brave State Government that would suggest closing them down!
The O-Bahn, which functions as a defacto tramway (but with additional flexibilty at the outer end), naturally has a high proportion of artics and the general artic fleet does a great job of catering for peak hour traffic and moving school children - ie. they keep the overall fleet numbers down and thus costs down (2 artics = 3 rigids??). Adelaide has low population density and the lowest (percentage) use of public transport for the 5 largest cities in the country. People do complain that they see artics travelling with light loads interpeak and in the evenings, but they do provide the needed capacity at peak periods etc.

Sydney has 97 double deckers and the rest of the country 11 operating route services, plus there are 21 DD's operating airport services in Mebourne. There are an additional 59 (or thereabouts) DD's used for sightseeing and charter work around the country.

I should have updated and been more precise about the entries for the 2 Adelaide deckers, they are both operated by Southlink - Keolis Downer and are based at Mount Barker.

[1whoknows]

Melbourne's City Sighseeing deckers have been out of service since the onset of covid. Unclear when/ if they will return. Drivers MCA was indeed written off and the Denning is now in a wrap for the Chadstone Shoppers Shuttle.

[Merc1107]

Adelaide has a fairly scant urban rail system with only 2 lines that carry sufficient passengers to justify their existence, being the recently electrified north line to Elizabeth & Gawler and the southern line to Christies & Seaford. The other two (non-electrified lines) to Port Adelaide & Belair in the Adelaide Hills both have relatively low passenger numbers, but it would be a very brave State Government that would suggest closing them down!

In discussions with others in Adelaide, I've posed the question whether the low rail utilisation is a chicken-or-the-egg scenario; as much of the rail network seems to run at a low(er) frequency than is commonplace elsewhere (longer waiting time), station spacings are close (slower journeys) and few services feed the stations vs running parallel into the Adelaide CBD (less additional patrons captured by interchange). I'm told a further hindrance to rail vs buses in Adelaide is the placement of the "central" railway station is far from central at all, and that the time penalty of interchanging to a CBD service (or walking) makes direct buses that much more attractive.

Adelaide has low population density and the lowest (percentage) use of public transport for the 5 largest cities in the country.

It would be very interesting to compare pockets of suburbia in Adelaide with equivalents in other state and see just how much disparity in usage there is vs the overall picture painted by the statistics we have.

[Tim Williams]

Would it be correct to assume that no further Bustech CDI's will be produced, particularly as conventional 3 axle DD's conform to the current axle weight allowances.

I was in Singapore recently and rode both types of 3 door, twin staircase DD's - the Alexander Dennis Enviro 500 is clearly the better of the two types in layout - the components for the MAN's are aligned for left hand drive and make for a really clumsy \layout towards the rear of these buses.

[eddy]

If you are going electric interstate then the Trailerbus would be far safer having the weight at the front like new VW cars while having twice the capacity of ANY existing bus.

[Tim Williams]

I really do not think trailer buses will happen again - but keep dreaming!!

[eddy]

I really do not think trailer buses will happen again - but keep dreaming!!

It all depends on if the SAFETY aspect is used on interstate as there have been many very bad accidents with the engine at the rear.