Use of Back Door on Buses

[Swift]

I think the worst operation has got to be at the SCG post games.
Despite having a fairly expensive (and badly designed - eg. the chained queuing area or the sign slots have never been used) set of bus gates, and having a number of marshalls, the organsiation is simply useless.

They only board front door, and at most two buses at a time.
At a minimum the Central (1) route should be boarding three buses and all doors.

Even with marshals, they are unwilling to load all doors. What's wrong with the organisers? This state will continue to be a laughing stock -if the world outside took any notice!

[tonyp]

Would'nt an artic bus like the one pictured work wonders on corridors like Bondi Beach.swift-you are correct !!!

I think they had them once upon a time, but they were green-and-yellow and had a different join in the middle.

Capacity was sacrificed to the bus god "flexibility" - the flexibility to not provide enough capacity when you need it.

"State Transit Authority - proudly throttling capacity since 1939" [Manly conversion]

[burrumbus]

Have you got a rule number for that one,Tony ??

[matthewg]

I and a couple of others hopped on the rear door of a M30 at Sydney Uni yesterday lunchtime, but quickly the driver closed the rear and center doors and we sat there for a few more minutes while the waiting crowd filed in single file through the front door.
The bus had door cameras. The screen in the passenger area wasn't working, so the entire system may have been down. (Or my illicit rear door boarding is saved on the hard disk of the video system

[Tonymercury]

(Or my illicit rear door boarding is saved on the hard disk of the video system

Probably worth 300 lashes and transportation to Botany Bay for 7 years... er, wait a tick...

[tonyp]

I and a couple of others hopped on the rear door of a M30 at Sydney Uni yesterday lunchtime, but quickly the driver closed the rear and center doors and we sat there for a few more minutes while the waiting crowd filed in single file through the front door.
The bus had door cameras. The screen in the passenger area wasn't working, so the entire system may have been down. (Or my illicit rear door boarding is saved on the hard disk of the video system

Just beware of drivers who use the CCTV for the opposite purpose for which it's intended - to close the door on you with split-second accuracy just as you're entering it. A bit of nastiness has crept into the situation. It seems that TfNSW is focussing on policing this more than fare evasion nowadays. They're absolutely determined not to allow all-door boarding. The first litigation over entrapment and injury of a boarder, as opposed to an exiter, should be interesting.

[rogf24]

I'm on a 377 now to Maroubra and the driver isn't opening the back door to let passengers off. He's just shouting "front door please" at every single stop and it's getting annoying.

[boeing]

I'm on a 377 now to Maroubra and the driver isn't opening the back door to let passengers off. He's just shouting "front door please" at every single stop and it's getting annoying.

In my experience, it's more likely that the back door mechanism is faulty.

[Swift]

I'm on a 377 now to Maroubra and the driver isn't opening the back door to let passengers off. He's just shouting "front door please" at every single stop and it's getting annoying.

In my experience, it's more likely that the back door mechanism is faulty.

I used to try and get people to use the centre doors only and they would argue back and demand I open the front doors.. to which they would still be annoyed that I dare suggest they should exit out the centre doors and aid flow.

[deepthought2006]

I'm on a 377 now to Maroubra and the driver isn't opening the back door to let passengers off. He's just shouting "front door please" at every single stop and it's getting annoying.

In my experience, it's more likely that the back door mechanism is faulty.

Agreed. Or its control circuits.

I recall having that sort of problem quite a few times. Often I found that it was resolvable by a complete power-off reset if I was lucky and if I was able to remember the correct gibberish mystical incantations during the restart. Unfortunately, that all would take quite some time while stuck there, before I could get everything back up and running again, so sometimes it was better just to persevere with non-operational centre doors to the end of the trip or even to the end of the shift if, after consulting Radio Room, the attempted fixes were unsuccessful.

[tonyp]

if I was able to remember the correct gibberish mystical incantations during the restart.

Presumably those incantations would be in a language that would be blanked out by the decency filter on this forum deepthought2006.

[rogf24]

Just saw one guy on crutches try and enter through the centre door and the driver just shut the door. (He kind of also looked like a tourist though.)

Lucky he didn't get injured any further but honestly after seeing that, I think drivers really shouldn't be closing the door when they see someone enter, it might not be officially allowed but it's just too risky to follow the book in some cases.

[Swift]

Just saw one guy on crutches try and enter through the centre door and the driver just shut the door. (He kind of also looked like a tourist though.)

Lucky he didn't get injured any further but honestly after seeing that, I think drivers really shouldn't be closing the door when they see someone enter, it might not be officially allowed but it's just too risky to follow the book in some cases.

The driver is stupid. Do something worse to stop a wrong. SMH.

[tonyp]

Some driver will end up in the middle of litigation and the court won't accept the practice that the passenger wasn't allowed to enter through that door as a defence. NSW must br the only jurisdiction in the world where CCTV safety cameras are used to create an unsafe situation. It won't end well.

[boeing]

Just saw one guy on crutches try and enter through the centre door and the driver just shut the door. (He kind of also looked like a tourist though.)

Lucky he didn't get injured any further but honestly after seeing that, I think drivers really shouldn't be closing the door when they see someone enter, it might not be officially allowed but it's just too risky to follow the book in some cases.

I'd be surprised if that was a deliberate act. I mean, the driver is looking at internal mirrors (or if they're lucky a camera image) to check people have exited. Then they'd be checking the near side mirror before pulling out to check no-one is stuck in the door. But realistically, they're not looking for people who are entering the rear door.

That said, if deliberate, that is unconscionable behaviour.

[rogf24]

Just a bit of context it was a 200 bus and it happened at Edgecliff station. It was also a high-floor bus, it was a Scania L113CRB, so there were steps to get on. The guy put his crutches up the steps of the centre door and then the driver just shut the door while his crutches were on the stairs although he wasn't on the steps yet. He luckily didn't fall down but it looked like he would for a moment. The driver didn't close the front door at all and then waited for the guy to slowly come to the front (so it definitely seemed like it was deliberate). (And it also means the driver could also see the centre door clearly despite no cameras.)

[boeing]

Just a bit of context it was a 200 bus and it happened at Edgecliff station. It was also a high-floor bus, it was a Scania L113CRB, so there were steps to get on. The guy put his crutches up the steps of the centre door and then the driver just shut the door while his crutches were on the stairs although he wasn't on the steps yet. He luckily didn't fall down but it looked like he would for a moment. The driver didn't close the front door at all and then waited for the guy to slowly come to the front (so it definitely seemed like it was deliberate). (And it also means the driver could also see the centre door clearly despite no cameras.)

Well, that's very disappointing, and wrong.

[tonyp]

From the "not-rocket-science" department, stating all the obvious points:

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/ ... wzsgpUayc1

These must be 12 metre rigid N series and perhaps they'll be locally-bodied this time unless Volgren hits the jackpot again. Scania certainly has in the RHD market. Are the other manufacturers asleep?

Now I look forward to being told that Australia is different from Japan as well as being different from Europe.

[Swift]

Now I look forward to being told that Australia is different from Japan as well as being different from Europe.

The real reason is the 1 1/2 x cost mentioned and Aussies are cheapskates.

[Frosty]

The real reason is the 1 1/2 x cost mentioned and Aussies are cheapskates.

Sums up the coach market which is now flooded with Chinese coaches which are even cheaper than local coaches.

[tonyp]

I'm not convinced that a Scania N series chassis costs that much more, if at all, than a K series. It would be good to see actual figures before accepting the Japanese claim uncritically. The only significant item that I can see as possibly carrying an extra cost would be the portal axle. The Tokyo comparison may even be with their existing buses which may be a completely different brand.

[Mr OC Benz]

From the "not-rocket-science" department, stating all the obvious points:

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/ ... wzsgpUayc1

These must be 12 metre rigid N series and perhaps they'll be locally-bodied this time unless Volgren hits the jackpot again. Scania certainly has in the RHD market. Are the other manufacturers asleep?

Now I look forward to being told that Australia is different from Japan as well as being different from Europe.

They are the Scania N280UB euro 6 chassis bodied by Volgren. 10.6m from memory.

[Swift]

It nearly won the contract for 150 bendy buses but the govt couldn't hold out for the delays in delivery, so opted for the fuel guzzling B12BLEAs and have been paying the price since.

[Daniel]

It would also appear that the standard metro spec has been recently revised to double leaf second doors. Both CDC and Transdev incoming new deliveries have been built to include this spec.

[tonyp]

They are the Scania N280UB euro 6 chassis bodied by Volgren. 10.6m from memory.

I never realised that Sydney had one of these until I stumbled across your video taken inside one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsGzx3i-Aqw

So that's a second low-floor bus in the STA fleet. One can see in this video that the reason that the average narrow-thinking bus operator would not like the low-floor configuration is the loss of two seats to the cooling tower cabinet at the rear. This might be a consideration on long suburban runs, but for buses in typical inner city high-turnover operations like STA operates, the low floor is much more important for providing the accessibility and comfort necessary to get the crowds loaded and circulated on board properly.

And many thanks for panning that camera down so that I can see the floor!

So many of these "bus noise" enthusiast videos point the camera unmovingly straight ahead over the tops of the seats so that one can't learn anything about the layout of the bus. It's my pet dislike together with photos showing only the offside of the bus so that it's not possible to see the "working" side of the bus - doors etc. I must have spent thousands of hours trawling the net for photos of bus interiors and nearside that are actually useful! I know I should be grateful that people are actually photographing/filming buses, but .....

You do remain one of the champions in this field though Mr OCB!

Why can't I find this bus in the STA fleet lists? Is it a Custom body and how many doors does it have?