STA Observations - January to June 2018

[Jurassic_Joke]

Try to avoid 2110 on M30 today if you can - aircon is completely broken, bus is a Sauna, people are drowning in their own sweat, ooops.

[Swift]

What if I need to get somewhere and this sauna turns up?
I hardly think you've got a choice. Saunas are good for removing toxins. Let's face it, many passengers are toxic.

[Jurassic_Joke]

If you have the choice - in my case I’m coming from Newtown towards City so I did have it. Just thought my favourite prototype Metrobus was better than this

[Swift]

I guess you were primarily making the point that buses like this shouldn't be operating. Not a good incentive to leave the "truck" at home.

[Jurassic_Joke]

That’s exactly the point I was trying to make =)

Would have been more appropriate to use any other bus that had AC working, it’s 30c outside now anyways, I’ll submit feedback so they can fix it asap

[AccordV6L]

I just got told by someone that Burwood's 2833 has been in an accident and has lost part of its driverside livery wrap

[stajourneyman]

Yes, regarding 2833, the offside rear section is now in TfNSW livery, as opposed to the Queen's visit? wrap.

Of equally mild interest, it was doing the M41 late last night.

Might actually be the only time that an 85th anniversary bus has done/will do this run, given that B is still fairly conscientious in allocating metrobuses to the M41.

[marcnut1996]

Yesterday around 5pm, I saw one of the new buses from B doing 418 on ANZAC PARADE (it is supposed to go along Rainbow Street) in Kingsford, even dropping people off at the Barker Street bus stop. Wonder what happened.

[Swift]

Is 418 one of those twice daily routes carting a specific niche crowd?

[Fleet Lists]

No -check the timetable - it is half hourly seven days a week.

[J_Busworth]

Is 418 one of those twice daily routes carting a specific niche crowd?

No, it was actually one of the Suburban Routes from Sydney's Bus Future.

[boronia]

Is 418 one of those twice daily routes carting a specific niche crowd?

No, it was actually one of the Suburban Routes from Sydney's Bus Future.

And has had good loadings on the times I have used it

[Swift]

I was struck by the sight of a B10BLE (best bus in STA IMO) going through the roundabout at Kingsford in an unusual direction. That's how I discovered this unexpected run.

[boronia]

How long ago was that?

[Stu]

^ I think that swift's sighting could be in reference to a 418 service. B-Depot operate a very small amount of services and includes at least one of the services that divert via J. J. Cahill High School - Mascot.

[Frosty]

Though I wouldn’t be surprised that B driver ended up going up via Barker St & Anzac Pde considering all the roadworks around Kingsford & Nineways with constant changes & unfamiliarity of doing 418 with so few B depot trips.

Reminded of me of this time when a driver was not too familiar the 348 route & the paper instructions were incorrect regarding the westbound Huntley St diversion told driver of the correct info otherwise the bus would have ended up heading down Bourke Rd towards Mascot.

[AccordV6L]

^ I think that swift's sighting could be in reference to a 418 service. B-Depot operate a very small amount of services and includes at least one of the services that divert via J. J. Cahill High School - Mascot.

The 14:28 418 (operated by B ) that goes via J.J Cahill High School. I've actually caught this very service twice now, however there is almost no students from that school that board this service. Therefore, is it really necessary to have this diversion in the afternoon?

There is a 418 leaving BJI and 07:42 that also does this diversion (likely operated by R). Anyone know what the patronage levels are on this bus?

[Swift]

How long ago was that?

Stu is correct. I was describing how I first noticed the 418 and it was quite a while ago when the roundabout was still there. I was struck by seeing an Orana body B10BLE with Burwood accreditation operating in the area and then saw 418 on the desto, which was a route I never knew about, and I thought it must be one of those cross country routes that only runs a few times a day.
I must go on a ride.

On another note, I was pleasantly surprised to see an R plated 48xx Euro III Volvo B12 late-ish at night rounding the corner from Cathedral St into Crown St, Woolloomoolloo on a 311. Not a bus you expect to see around there at that time. Made me feel warm and fuzzy seeing this over depressing Waverley fare.

[Stu]

The loadings are fairly decent, especially between Ashfield and Marrickville which has been that way since its inception - pre merge with ex 357. There are also a number of people traveling between Marrickville & Sydenham over to Mascot, routes 423, 425 & m30 assist in providing customers who then transfer to a 418 service. There were two timetable updates in 2017 and one timetable update in 2014 of which increased Sunday services by boosting the frequency from every 60 minutes to every 30 minutes.

[neilrex]

At 9:20 on Saturday at airport T2, the luggage was taking a while to come out so I used the "free internet" to check the bus schedule. Next 400 services were in 35 and 38 minutes. What the? So I took the train. Next train in 7 minutes. The one after that , 9 minutes ( 2 minutes later ). At platform 18, next train cancelled. A lot of disgruntled customers.

[pgt]

Here’s some outdated route information still on show at Lane Cove Interchange Stand C (stop 2066 228).

140 has been discontinued
252 now extends to Gladesville
289 no longer runs, having been replaced by a rerouted 292
292 now runs via Mowbray Rd
Info for route 530 is missing. 530 runs to Burwood via Drummoyne and Five Dock.
I sent some feedback to TfNSW, hopefully they’ll update the route information soon.
(Image removed for clarity)

There are dozens of stops with incorrect information. I know of a couple stop where the information is just plain wrong, not even out of date. TfNSW doesn't generally do anything about it unless it is in one of the the Contract cross over zones like in the CBD.

They finally updated the one at Gore Hill outside the TAFE and reinstated the "X" after the 602 and 612 route numbers (one earlier version did show the X, then it was dropped for reasons unknown).

Mind you, considering some of the J poles (and route arrows) along the Pacific Highway still show route 250, I'm not holding my breath that they'll get to updating the signage in a timely manner.
(IIRC route 250 disappeared back in 1990?).
There's also a couple of blue/white 143/144 route arrows near St Leonards that date from when Reserve Road was closed (for the RNS Hospital [re]construction) and they changed route 144's operation as a result.

[Daniel]

2904 the first Scania Volgren is being prepared at K.

[Jurassic_Joke]

I'm looking forward to it. How sad though it won't even be in State Transits possession for very long. I must catch a photo of it with State Transit accreditation before the next 3 months pass.

Otherwise, I shall give a shoutout to Scania K280UB CB80 very quickly becoming one of my favourites in the fleet, also from K, for having such great aircon to help with the last two days. Like an M set. That and the beastly engine sound. Its interesting comparing it with the Volvo B7 Gen I counterpart, very similar to comparing M sets and Waratahs - Scania CB80 "sings" (sounds like a spinoff of 0500LE CNG) and Volvo CB80 "growls" (more quiet, forgettable). Pity theres more of the Volvo version, but with 100 of Scania's, thats pretty good too.

[Swift]

I wonder how soon we'll see it appear in Maroubra on a 400?

[Ikarbus]

Excuse my ignorance as I've only been back on this forum recently after a long hiatus.

What are the details of the latest orders on the books i.e. quantities?