STA Observations - October 2017

[J_Busworth]

The 5:01pm 400 from Bondi to Burwood was operated by W’s VSTM 2683 this evening. It was clearly insufficient for the service with the bus serverly overcrowded and the driver refusing all passengers that weren’t going past Eastgardens after the Westfield Bondi stop. The chaos of the overcrowded bus plus passenger profiling led to a severely delayed service, which was overtaken by an Eastgardens service in Kingsford. This is becoming a joke, it would be better to have a high floor from W as the fact the bus was accessible was irrevlant given the crowds.

[Jurassic_Joke]

*rolls eyes*

They need to stop that. Earlier this year I'd see many 14.5 high floor Scanias on 400 at night which is fine as long as you can lift your luggage, id just bring those back. I used 400 last night as a matter of fact and it was a Scania CB80, thats fine too.

They could even use Mercedes 0405NH Gassies from Waverley, the entry is much more friendly towards luggage (no silly slanted floor) and more overall capacity for other passengers just wanting a seat.

Thankfully the use of Busyech Midi on 389 seems to have stopped since Leichhardt got new full sized ones, but as for the overnight runs of route 400 when they come? Pretty sure we all know the answer as to what'll operate those! (hint: Route 380 overnight)

[boronia]

You have the service details, send feedback to TfNSW about it and suggest they refrain from putting small buses on this route.

[burrumbus]

Just abysmal rostering from STA.No thought PUT IN AT ALL.

[Frosty]

Though I don’t know if there is still the issue of the 389 during off-peak Mon Fri they don’t schedule even wheelchair accessible buses.
Weird though I’ve found on the late night short-working m20 that they operate using bendies thought a standard 12.5m bus would be sufficient.

[Jurassic_Joke]

You have the service details, send feedback to TfNSW about it and suggest they refrain from putting small buses on this route.

Oh I complained about that when i had to put up with it when I was coming back from Melbourne for a holiday once. Didn't go to the effort of typing, just went straight on the phone. Explained how absolutely inappropriate that bus type is for 400, you could've used literally any other bus and it would've been better and this happens all the time etc etc, except she yawned in the middle of me explaining (i said excuse me what was that, and she apologised), but the point is, I think with certain topics for complaints, they'll always go in one ear out the other. Bustechs are cheaper to run compared to other fuel-type buses. They'll never listen to passenger complaints about this.

Weird though I’ve found on the late night short-working m20 that they operate using bendies thought a standard 12.5m bus would be sufficient.

Thats a waste of capacity, trust me (I sometimes take it for fun from Central to Wynyard before changing onto a train, saves me about 50c compared to taking the train the entire way), theres only ever 2 or 3 people on it. Thing is, I don't think at late night, people want to go to Wynyard. It's a financial area thats dead after hours. Maybe Walsh Bay or King St Wharf would've been a better idea as theres actually things to see/do there at night?

I posted in last month or the month before that, the two late night services were instead an an old Scania and a Bustech but since then they've reverted to Volgren bendies.

[Swift]

Media attention is the only way the normally unaccountable boffins that work above driver level will answer about the STA's often daft bus dispatching choices of late.
Footage showing a throng trying to squeeze on a squat looking VSTM contrasting with a massive B12BLEA with three or four bums on seats, should have the desired effect of a much needed kick up the bum.
I only saw another VSTM doing a 400 a couple of nights back.
It's getting ridiculous.

[burrumbus]

Makes you wonder whats going on with choices like the above.And they wonder why they lost region 6.

[Swift]

Can't imagine private companies tolerating practises like that.

[Jurassic_Joke]

LOL.

Today on a 530 bus, a teenager and a senior got on. Senior taps on with Opal, but teenager behind her didn't - and she publicly shamed him saying tap on and pay like the rest of us, and he shrugged and said nothing and walked past. Then she sat down and began mumbling some colourful language.

The interesting bit was when she got off, she chewed out the driver, and I was honestly trying not to laugh. Unfortunately, the driver appeared to speak very little english and mumbled so none of us could hear him :/ I think i heard something like "So they took that away from you? Absolutely ridiculous"

Again, I get this is a really two-sided thing, but I'm reiterating, I really think transits should get on buses more. I'd wager they'd raise +-$600 in fines alone if they flagged down a bus and checked to see who's actually tapped on because it seems to be Sydney culture now to just deliberately walk to the second Opal reader and get an error, then take a seat

[boronia]

I often travel on buses past Sydney Boys/Girls High Schools. Lots of students get on buses there, but rarely tap on. I see the same thing at railway stations, students just walk through open gates.

Guess it is no wonder they continue this habit when they leave school.

[Stu]

With regards to short buses out on non-short bus services in the evening, due to the surplus of such a bus in the evenings, dispatch of the type of bus is at the discretion of the yard supervisor. Routes 381, 387 & 389 are not busy during the evenings although route 400 should not have short buses rostered as this service can be quite busy on some occasions during the evening along Anzac Pde and through both airport terminals.

[Swift]

Routes 381, 387 & 389 are not busy during the evenings although route 400 should not have short buses rostered as this service can be quite busy on some occasions during the evening along Anzac Pde and through both airport terminals.

Just ban them from the 400. They have a proven track record of inadequate capacity, yet the shed staff don't give two hoots and keep throwing them on. Just the STA chucking a normal.

[Michael Bamborough]

Routes 381, 387 & 389 are not busy during the evenings although route 400 should not have short buses rostered as this service can be quite busy on some occasions during the evening along Anzac Pde and through both airport terminals.

Just ban them from the 400. They have a proven track record of inadequate capacity, yet the shed staff don't give two hoots and keep throwing them on. Just the STA chucking a normal.

I've already sent them feedback telling them to stop using vstm's on 400. And they better be listening.

[boronia]

If we can get a few more people to do this, they might take notice.

[Jurassic_Joke]

Sigh.....

At Birkenhead Shopping Centre, wanting to go to Burwood, so I planned to take the oncoming M50 a few stops, then change to the 492. M50 rocks up but the desto says "Set down only - not taking passengers"

Bit early for that? Theres still another 3 stops to go / almost another km of route to go. Front door didn't open. And it wasn't even crowded

That's absolute BS. Sorry driver, I just put you through Feedback2Go for that stunt. M50? Wait. Drummoyne. Inner West. That's among the routes being franchised, is it not? And you wonder why State Transit is losing this region. Yawn.

[boronia]

Most probably the service was running late and the driver was approaching his working hours limit. Happens quite often.

[Jurassic_Joke]

Where many people were getting off (its Birkenhead Shopping centre after all), I simply couldn't walk through the front door and tap on while everyone else was alighting? I didn't dare try boarding through the middle door, as you know how hysterical that makes them, but next time this exact predicament happens, I shall exactly just do that and ignore any shouts.

Anyways. I asked in the complaint why exactly did this happen, look forward to finding out

[Stu]

492 used to operate to Birkenhead Pt shopping area many years ago, there still remains a route pointer on the corner Victoria Rd (facing West) & Lyons Rd, Drummoyne.

[Swift]

Anyways. I asked in the complaint why exactly did this happen, look forward to finding out

It's a routine tactic radio room use to try and get a bus on time. Sorry, you will be wasting your time making a complaint. The driver was authorised to do that. Besides, it would have been a matter of minutes for another service to take you to Lion's Road (MGM anybody? ) in such a busy trunk. Not worth getting anxious over.

[Jurassic_Joke]

Anyways. I asked in the complaint why exactly did this happen, look forward to finding out

It's a routine tactic radio room use to try and get a bus on time. Sorry, you will be wasting your time making a complaint.

That is not immediately obvious to a customer, and I still consider no time would have been lost if I just boarded at the same time loads of other customers got off. I'm not a disorganised tourist, its not like Id hold him up another 5 mins buying a ticket. If you want to "equalise" it, then that means, Not taking passengers, okay, also not setting down passengers, full speed ahead to the terminus because apparently I'm too late. When Opal was rolled out, I remember Gladys DID say one benefit was how tapping on and off (especially with 2 readers at the front) = passenger boarding flows faster than validating tickets (including MyMultis) through the much slower green machines

It's not customer friendly, and if it happens again on an Inner West bus, I'll just raise awareness directly with Andrew Constance, perhaps also advising such unfriendly policy ought to be scrapped when the new company takes over Inner West buses. If you're late, you're late, for whatever reason- but you shouldn't punish other customers waiting at the stop that didn't actually do anything wrong. In other words, for a customer, it means a service goes from late to "cancelled", despite the fact its actually still running. That's very controversial.

But again - I look forward to seeing what they come up with in their response.

[Swift]

As Boronia stated, drivers are subject to strict hours and this option is one at the radio room's disposal and the driver must adhere to instructions. Drivers are employed to follow operating instructions. They can't make individual judgements because the distance to the final stop is is judged to be miniscule by your mind.
What if there was a throng of passengers that would have held the bus up considerably longer? Do you expect the driver to make a judgement call each time? That will confuse people even more and cause more upset from no consistency.
Whether you like it or not, bus operations are not there to bend rules for individuals.

[Sydney_Buses_CB60]

4831 is now at Randwick as Randwick operates the 311 hence why 4831 was on that route. On another note saw 2108 Not In Service at Green Square heading to the City with an interesting desto very rare to see this bus other than along Anzac Pde.
https://imgur.com/a/6Whtd

I did see something bizzare saw a driver start a 301 shift inbound at Eastlakes 10 mins early. I never seen this before I’ve seen drivers start a couple mins early but 10 that’s something.

Holy cow! A P bus, 2108 at that, with an F/V Desto! Woah, now that's something!

[boronia]

Nothing unusual at all: buses with Mobitec destos have the full range of STA destos programmed in, including Newcastle.

An F bus so fitted could operate P services.

[boronia]

How useful is the X93?

A couple of times recently I have observed an X93 and 393 loading simultaneously at Eddy Ave, with the X93 being the lead bus.

The X93 gets only about 1/3 the loading of the 393, resulting in it leaving partly loaded, while the 393 gets near full capacity, often having to skip the Kippax St stop..

As the X93s were introduced as converted 393 runs, and the m50 no longer serves Kensington and UNSW, there is a considerable loss of capacity through that area, resulting in overcrowded services.