Metrobus a few years on: a success?

[bus909]

Today (Tuesday) I ride the first service m92 at Parramatta road at 6:14AM to go Sutherland dued by 7:41AM. just want to see hows it going. It's improved. It pickup people at Lidcombe station and carry them to TAFE lidcombe then some people still on and go to Bankstown then some people join M92 to Padstow station and then go to Menai, Bangors area and pickup some business people from there to go Sutherland arrived 7:31am. It's mucher better thans last time. It getting growth and improve. Also I notied Lidcombe station bus stop have a information of m92 high frequency and map of where M92. so it might good idea to help people . I can seen m92 been improved, But timetable is still so slow. them need changed time to tindy and so driver can contiune to ahead without stop at bus stop and wait for correct time.

[Ted]

At long last 'blades' are being installed along route M60 between Castle Hill and Hornsby.

Today the work was being carried out at Pennant Hills Interchange.

So far the blades are in place on one side of the road - (direction Castle Hill to Hornsby). There is one stop where no blade has been put in place - has it been overlooked?

No timetables are displayed as yet.

[swtt]

At long last 'blades' are being installed along route M60 between Castle Hill and Hornsby.

Today the work was being carried out at Pennant Hills Interchange.

So far the blades are in place on one side of the road - (direction Castle Hill to Hornsby). There is one stop where no blade has been put in place - has it been overlooked?

No timetables are displayed as yet.

In fact disappointingly Wellbank St Concord (which previously had no regular route buses running on it!) had J poles installed.

I wonder why they couldn't have done it with blades to start off with?

[pgt]

Must say the M30 gives those passengers between Railway Square and Wynyard their only option if going to Military Road between Neutral Bay and Spit Junction, since the L88/L90/E86-9 buses have a first set down restriction.
Pity about the lack of timetable, especially on weekends (have I just missed one and need to wait 20 minutes?) and the fact that after 8pm said passengers still have to make their own way to Wynyard to get a Military Road bus.

Something that can't be helped is where the M30 stops around Wynyard - I quite often see it carrying less-than-optimal loads (eg. spare seats) in PM peak, heading out of the city towards Military Road whereas a following 246 might not even have standing room. If there was a way to combine the routes that serve Stand A on Carrington St with the M30, I suspect it'd balance out the loadings more evenly.

--Phil.

[swtt]

Something that can't be helped is where the M30 stops around Wynyard - I quite often see it carrying less-than-optimal loads (eg. spare seats) in PM peak, heading out of the city towards Military Road whereas a following 246 might not even have standing room. If there was a way to combine the routes that serve Stand A on Carrington St with the M30, I suspect it'd balance out the loadings more evenly.

--Phil.

the 246 is unfortunately far more frequent (and to some extent reliable) than the M30 out of the city in the PM peak. The George St car park is a real impediment to this route being reliable, as well as the City Road car park.

Hence your observations.

Tonight's traffic around QVB was the usual disaster. Took at least 10 min to get from York St (Market St) to Druitt St. The run from Spit Jn to Wynyard however, was a dream. The northbound however was unusually clogged.

[bus909]

At long last 'blades' are being installed along route M60 between Castle Hill and Hornsby.

Today the work was being carried out at Pennant Hills Interchange.

So far the blades are in place on one side of the road - (direction Castle Hill to Hornsby). There is one stop where no blade has been put in place - has it been overlooked?

No timetables are displayed as yet.

In fact disappointingly Wellbank St Concord (which previously had no regular route buses running on it!) had J poles installed.

I wonder why they couldn't have done it with blades to start off with?

M41 is the first service in new place. I realies how long them will install these thing for M41,M91,M92, (M54 I think havnt installed yet). Somehow previously bus stop in Parramatta road display 904 Timetable & it have bus stop called 'BUS ZONE' I wonder how them will add Blades for M92?

[Linto63]

While there were no changes or even renumberings as Bxx routes as suggested a few years ago, the Metrobus brand appears to have quietly been dropped with no reference on at stop timetables. Guess we won't be able to ascertain until their is a mass debranding of buses, but as time has gone by, the practicality of having to shuffle vehicles to meet changing demands on different routes has seen the idea of red buses only operating Metrobus routes somewhat dissipated.

[moa999]

Much like the B-Line, the colour is more so the Govt of the day can advertise shiny new services and equipment.

Over time it just becomes another bus. Albeit with the number of V1 and V2 livery buses on our roads, I suspect the Metrobus livery will be with us for a while yet.

Certainly have seen some of the short Metrobus's used on regular services

[boronia]

It is interesting/confusing to stand in Eddy Ave of an afternoon and watch an m10 pull up with a blue bus, followed by a 393 with a metrobus.

[swtt]

It is interesting/confusing to stand in Eddy Ave of an afternoon and watch an m10 pull up with a blue bus, followed by a 393 with a metrobus.

And a shame those blue buses don't have the stop announcements.

We are rather behind the 8 ball on this. B line is a good start, let's hope it rolls out gradually with more rapid routes on the way.

Sent from my Huawei Mate 9 using Tapatalk

[moa999]

Having seen some of the B-Line YouTube videos, those announcements would drive me crazy in the mornings.

[burrumbus]

A real shame that ,like the Smartbus brand in Melbourne,Metrobus has been progressively trashed.Branding is so important to separate out different styles of services.Especially limited stops or quicker services.It does work.

[Frosty]

I've seen a red bendy be used as relief the driver it was relieving was a standard non-metrobus on the m20. Though some metrobus route's have become a bit pointless like the m50 it basically mirrors the 372 except not going via Cowper St. The m10 is duplicated by other Anzac Pde services & Parramatta Rd services its also not very direct and doesn't serve areas all too well.

[Linto63]

Of all the Metrobus operators, Transdev would appear to have the highest percentage of Metrobus services that are still operated by red buses. Probably no coincidence that they operate an all rigid fleet and have been the least affected by network changes in recent years.

Think it has been a number of years since any new buses were delivered in Metrobus livery, and as some of their longest routes, does stand to reason that operators use their newer buses on these runs. Give the frequency, mustn't be a financial penalty for turning out a non-red bus on a Metrobus route.

State Transit seem to be the worst 'offender' for want of a better term. Red bendis appear fairly regularly on the 470, have also seen them on 333s. While initially it tended only to be the newer TfNSW liveried buses used in lieu of a red bus, have seem gas O405s from Port Botany on the M20 recently.

[Fleet Lists]

Of all the Metrobus operators, Transdev would appear to have the highest percentage of Metrobus services that are still operated by red buses. Probably no coincidence that they operate an all rigid fleet and have been the least affected by network changes in recent years.

Not when I have been in Sutherland and Bankstown over the last few days where red buses were everywhere on non metrobus routes with other buses operating on the M routes.
They have changed their rosters so that nearly all rosters now have a mix of Metrobus and non Metrobus trips.

In fact they had to redo their rosters when the DD's were introduced so that these non red buses could be allocated dedicated M92 shifts.

[BAMBAM]

Is the metrobus a success considering more times have been putted in, none of the routes have been replaced or stop and new Deckers have been put into service?

[Newcastle Flyer]

I thought Metrobus was meant to be fast express routes stopping, not an all stops service.

[Fleet Lists]

No that was never the intention.

[boronia]

I thought Metrobus was meant to be fast express routes stopping, not an all stops service.

The only distinctions for a Metrobus service initially were:
1. no published timetables but theoretical consistent frequency at different times of the day
2, All pre-pay
3. Through CBD running
4. dedicated buses with "enhanced" passenger capacity.

Their intention was to boost capacity over the busier sections of the trunks they shared with other services.

[Stonesourscotty]

M30 has been more on time lately in sydenham since the extension to the zoo Must have a few extras on the route also haven't seen any rigid on the route all of last week where have they gone?

[tonyp]

I thought the Metrobuses were intended to mimic the former trunk tram routes but without the same success.

[Fleet Lists]

I dont think that was the case.

[Linto63]

Its purposes were likely many and varied. Those that pass through the CBD effectively combined multiple routes alleviating the need to stable buses in the cbd. Others such as the M41, M90 provided new cross country services effectively restarting the stillborn Red Arrow project. Others like the M52 and M61 were just existing routes rebranded. The theory was that they would operate frequently enough to not require a timetable, but in reality many only operate every 20 minutes or so, hence now appear on timetables.

[boronia]

The reality is that these services do have timetables, and I find it childish that they keep them hidden. It was just a smokescreen to reduce complaints about the services being late. There was no improvement to reliability compared with the services they supplemented or replaced.

[Fleet Lists]

Timetables were always available on Transport Info for al M routes while Hillsbus and Transdev have always published paper timetables for their M routes. And now that State Transport does not appear tp print any timetables there is no difference between M routes and State Transit's other routes in that respect.