STA Observations - December 2017

[Fleet Lists]

Surprising that someone with almost 14 years membership and 4000+ posts is not yet aware of STA depot codes and bus model designations

But perhaps the fleet lists could show these codes in the depot listing menus?

I have posted this for him before - see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Transit_Authority for the meaning of the depot codes.

[Jurassic_Joke]

1317 on L90

Shame I missed that - I've always wanted one of those buses on a Northern Beaches route!

[Newcastle Flyer]

Surprising that someone with almost 14 years membership and 4000+ posts is not yet aware of STA depot codes and bus model designations

But perhaps the fleet lists could show these codes in the depot listing menus?

I know some, & know why M was chosen instead of W for one of the depots (eg: M equals upside W), but not others. But if you need a search for a depot, you can't search for a single letter.

[boronia]

M was originally "Military Rd" for the North Sydney tram depot, to avoid confusion with Newtown, and morphed over to Willoughby when that bus depot replaced the trams. Not really related to being upside down.

Interestingly, K and R were used concurrently by different tram and bus depots.

[Jurassic_Joke]

Not sure if serious or driver just having some fun with his job, but Brookvale's 1628 appeared ready for service on route 333 a bit earlier on Wynyard, a route you'd normally never find this bus type on. Sorry about the tree reflection making the desto a bit hard to read

IMG_0187.jpg (113.1 KiB) Viewed 3805 times

[Swift]

And the wing mirror blocked the fleet no. of the other bus
Speaking of wing, time for KFC.

[pgt]

Curious as to why the schedulers decided to send a red articulated Metrobus to operate the 254 outbound this afternoon (surely not out of buses now... but the 254 pretty much never sees an articulated bus). Wonder if it was a late substitution, possibly for a failed earlier bus?

Saw it going up the highway and initially thought it was a bus running special, then saw the "254" on the back and passengers on board, as it turned onto Longueville Road.

Not sure if serious or driver just having some fun with his job, but Brookvale's 1628 appeared ready for service on route 333 a bit earlier on Wynyard, a route you'd normally never find this bus type on. Sorry about the tree reflection making the desto a bit hard to read

It could well be the same Brookvale driver I've seen put up some other eastern suburbs destinations when running special along Military Road towards the city in the early evening.

It has been a while since I've seen it, but one for the X74 seems to come to mind.

[Stu]

Curious as to why the schedulers decided to send a red articulated Metrobus to operate the 254 outbound this afternoon (surely not out of buses now... but the 254 pretty much never sees an articulated bus). Wonder if it was a late substitution, possibly for a failed earlier bus?

Saw it going up the highway and initially thought it was a bus running special, then saw the "254" on the back and passengers on board, as it turned onto Longueville Road.

The last time that an artic was used to operate a 254 was Mardi-Gras 2017 - additional services from Lane Cove and extended/diverted to the former short lived terminus of King St Wharf.

During school holidays the mechanics have more buses to choose from when conducting maintenance, sometimes this can have a negative impact the number of available buses in the yard.

[boronia]

Curious as to why the schedulers decided to send a red articulated Metrobus to operate the 254 outbound this afternoon (surely not out of buses now... but the 254 pretty much never sees an articulated bus). Wonder if it was a late substitution, possibly for a failed earlier bus?

Saw it going up the highway and initially thought it was a bus running special, then saw the "254" on the back and passengers on board, as it turned onto Longueville Road.

The last time that an artic was used to operate a 254 was Mardi-Gras 2017 - additional services from Lane Cove and extended/diverted to the former short lived terminus of King St Wharf.

During school holidays the mechanics have more buses to choose from when conducting maintenance, sometimes this can have a negative impact the number of available buses in the yard.

Possibly just a need to supply a bus at short notice to cover some operational problem, and they send the closest vehicle available. Better an oversize (or even undersize) than no vehicle at all. Probably happens quite often.

[pgt]

During school holidays the mechanics have more buses to choose from when conducting maintenance, sometimes this can have a negative impact the number of available buses in the yard.

Would make sense, and sheer luck (if so?) that the allocated driver could drive an articulated bus then.

(*still recalling the time at a driver change point for a Willoughby operated 254 run, that the passengers had to change buses as well since the relieving driver wasn't trained on the then-new Bustech Scanias)

[Jurassic_Joke]

(Satirical post)

It’s probably the end of the B line MAN decker buses. It’s running overnight tonight with NYE and the drunk Northern Beaches bogan brats will probably destroy them. (I hope not). They still look pristine and fresh. Hopefully B1 is planned for standard / bendy buses overnight tonight.

There’s a reason why the private operators CDi’s dont do late night/overnight services as well as why B line has a curfew and I think it should’ve been kept tonight.

[Swift]

They should put the bendies in their place, seeing as they still have plenty of them.