Newcastle Transport

[LB608]

An interesting transfer 3698 Scania,looks like Newcastle is still getting Sydney's cast offs

[Fleet Lists]

A bus reported to have been withdrawn nearly 12 months ago - in TNSW livery. Seems rather strange.

[Stu]

I wonder if 3704 ex R-depot which is currently at K in the mechanical area which is also withdrawn and also in TfNSW livery will be sent up to Newcastle?

[ScaniaGrenda]

If that is the case I'll have to keep an eye out for it as I frequent the Newcastle CBD weekly. It Would definitely be an interesting change from the Volvo's & MAN's we have down here. Not that I have anything against them but just that it'll be good to see more variety of buses compared to the MAN's and Volvos.

The million dollar question is, how long will it stay down here for before being sold off or scrapped?

[Daniel]

3698 is now registered m/o 5515.

[Newcastle Flyer]

Bus drivers 'on a downer': http://www.theherald.com.au/story/49751 ... n-a-downer.

[ScaniaGrenda]

Is it common for BCI's to operate the 110 Shuttle bus? I'm asking because I happened to spot one this afternoon operating this very shuttle run. The reason I further ask is that anytime I've caught the 110 shuttle bus it's 100% been a Volvo Bustech VST even with Newcastle Transport taken over it's still bustechs on the route so i'm surprised there is a BCI on it.

[Xplorer]

I’ve seen non VST buses on 110 since Keolis Downer took over, but not BCI’s yet

[burrumbus]

Quick question for our Newcastle experts .What sort of loadings does the 110 get ??

[mandonov]

About a half dozen whenever I've ridden it.

[Newcastle Flyer]

Quick question for our Newcastle experts .What sort of loadings does the 110 get ??

Depends - anywhere from ZERO to say one of two (especially if it's the second 110 behind another 110), but the first usually about say 20 - 25, but unusually the other day, a 110 had a good load, & from National Park St it had only limited standing room. Just a normal day, no events or anything, not even peak hour.

But usually I'd say an average of about 20 or so.

[Tonymercury]

Its also evident during the operation of rail replacement services to Broadmeadow that there are a goodly number of people using the 110 to extend the free travel zone to Hamilton. The opening of the new station will probably upset some of these.

[ScaniaGrenda]

Quick question for our Newcastle experts .What sort of loadings does the 110 get ??

I've caught it at 10am some times and it's only half full (this is only just shortly after hopping off a train that's pulled into the station)

Yesterday around 3:30 - 3:40PM the 110 bus back to Hamilton I was on was full. I even took note of one person standing in the no standing area at the buses rear door and the Driver never said anything about it. There was no more seats left. This was only after it made the 3rd stop to pick up the remaining passengers.

Of course this is the afternoon I'm speaking of here so obviously it's going to be packed with people travelling back home.

[moa999]

I even took note of one person standing in the no standing area at the buses rear door and the Driver never said anything about it. There was no more seats left. This was only after it made the 3rd stop to pick up the remaining passengers.

Regular occurrence on many routes in Sydney.
At least it means there will be sufficient demand for LR.

Is TripView correct that Newcastle Interchange opens for first services on Sunday ??

[boronia]

I even took note of one person standing in the no standing area at the buses rear door and the Driver never said anything about it. There was no more seats left. This was only after it made the 3rd stop to pick up the remaining passengers.

Regular occurrence on many routes in Sydney.

Some drivers are touchy about this, same with the forward area and the 15 standing pax rule. Others are flexible to meet circumstances.

[ScaniaGrenda]

I even took note of one person standing in the no standing area at the buses rear door and the Driver never said anything about it. There was no more seats left. This was only after it made the 3rd stop to pick up the remaining passengers.

Regular occurrence on many routes in Sydney.
At least it means there will be sufficient demand for LR.

Is TripView correct that Newcastle Interchange opens for first services on Sunday ??

I spoke to an operator using one of the customer information phones at a Train station yesterday on the Hunter line. I've gotten the same operator in the past ( I recognise the operators voice as I've previously asked where the call is connected too and he said Maitland)

Maitland staff customer service operator informed me it opens this Sunday and is definitely accessible to the public while I didn't ask where he sourced it from I think they would of been told internally anyway when it opens. If he said it's open Sunday then it must be.

Heck even this Facebook page says it "Officially opens Sunday 15th October". https://www.facebook.com/nswincidents/p ... 3862977112 which then links to this http://revitalisingnewcastle.nsw.gov.au ... terchange/ which then further says

"On Sunday 15 October 2017, Newcastle Interchange will open to the public and rail services will commence operation." So yes by the sounds of it's open to the public on the 15th and Trip adviser is correct. I'm hoping to be there both Sunday and Monday (Hopefully Monday but no word on it). 8-10 am hopefully I arrive there.

[moa999]

The PIDs at Central are using Newcastle Intg for the station

[mandonov]

Visited Newcastle Interchange today and I like it a lot. It’s the first station in Newcastle with ticket barriers (newer Opal ones), and there’s already a small food outlet on the concourse.

The hoarding that’s covering the future light rail platform has a full size picture of a tram. Already built into the platform is the ramp and stairs to cross the LR at track level.

[mandonov]

Only thing that remains to be done is the cleaning up of Hamilton Station to get rid of all the demountables on the platforms.

[Tonymercury]

and there’s already a small food outlet on the concourse.

From the plan it seems that is the only retail outlet.

Does it sell Opal topups?

[mandonov]

Not that I saw. There are machines and a lot of staff though.

[crimsontide]

The PIDs at Central are using Newcastle Intg for the station

The Intg is not very user friendly to those not regular users, why can't it just be renamed back to Wickham???

[boronia]

If you are not a regular visitor to Newcastle, you probably wouldn't know where Wickham was. You expect the train to be going to "Newcastle" so that should be part of the destination.

But "Intge" is not a meaningful abbreviation of interchange.

[crimsontide]

Did people know where Hamilton was, other than the place you needed to change to get to Newcastle?

[Newcastle Flyer]

From the plan it seems that is the only retail outlet.'

And looks to be expensive, with very little room to move.

Does it sell Opal topups?

No, but Richard King from the Richard King's Breakfast show said that he had to "purchase" an opal card from the nearest point that being Hamilton, but I think their is a top up machine on the concourse.

Of note, it is unprotected from the weather. When it rains (& it poured at times while taking a video of the first trains), the concourse gets very, very, very wet & slippery, as do the platforms. The real Newcastle Station was never that cold, and was more protected from the weather. Even yesterday, the sun was shining, but it got windy & the wind made the station cold.

Passenger Numbers
Of note of the trains I observed is that they are getting a lot less passengers than when the equivalent trains were arriving at the real Newcastle Station. For example, the train that came in on Sunday around the 18:00 mark had only about 20 passengers. Same train arriving at the proper Newcastle Station regularly had anywhere from 5 - 10 times that amount.

On Monday, just after the official opening, two trains (an Oscar & a V-set) came in. Both had 18 passengers. And yesterday our 4 car train from Sydney had no more than 19 passengers - looked as though roughly half of these passengers were staff &/or other NSW TrainLink staff.

Using other stations
Most passengers are still using either Hamilton or Broadmeadow or elsewhere instead of this "Wickham Interchange", especially due to lack of parking.