Ventura Group News 2018

[scott]

Noticed on many buses on Oakleigh routes, a small device about the size of a mobile phone under the Myki BDC, is this some sort of tracking/GPS/monitoring device?

[scott]

Seen today was 1343, one of the new batch of Volgren Optimus Scanias on route 732, some differences to the seating arrangement inside and a Thermo King A/C unit.

[B10BLE]

I have noticed on the fleetlists that Moorabbin have lost quite a few buses to Dandenong (514, 517, 529, 581, 604) and one to Croydon (546). I'm guessing these will be replaced by K310s that are pending delivery? Has Volvo stopped manufacturing the B7 or have Ventura stopped ordering in favor of Scania?

Also a lot of L94s and L113s in the Moorabbin list that I haven't seen before, PTV livery or otherwise, just by looking at their build year, 1999, I'm guessing they'll spend their final years as railway buses before retirement.

[scott]

There is a B8RLE listed in the to be delivered section of the fleetlist (#1358), so Ventura are still ordering some Volvos I suspect, however the majority of the new deliveries are Scania. The B7 ceased production about 12 months ago.

I would think all of the remaining L113CRL's and earlier non airconditioned L94's will be decommissioned from PTV service and moved to rail when deliveries are completed. The oldest buses on PTV service at each depot will be high priority for replacement.

[Zenith3050]

Noticed what seems to be a self-driving bus parked in the Dandenong depot. It's still in an all white livery but has a Myki sticker on it.

[Edit: Changed 'Driverless' to 'Self-Driving']

[Buswas]

If its parked it would be driverless!!

[Craig]

Noticed on many buses on Oakleigh routes, a small device about the size of a mobile phone under the Myki BDC, is this some sort of tracking/GPS/monitoring device?

This is used for the "BusMinder" tracking system which was initially used to assist parents track their kids and their school buses on private (non-myki) school runs. Most of the charter operators have introduced similar systems in recent years.

Gradually Ventura has been rolling this out on each depot (starting with Ivanhoe depot routes, the V/Line service to Cowes, 788 over a year ago, TeleBus about 6 months ago and more recently at other depots, i.e. Oakleigh, Moorabbin & Dandenong) and real-time maps can be found tracking services for each route on their website, although some drivers seem reluctant to log-into each trip and only some trips track. This is separate to the tracking systems managed by PTV for the PIDs on SmartBus routes and the PTV app, and is a Ventura initiative.

If you access the maps on their website via a computer, you can view vehicle numbers for each trip (however a couple of buses are out of whack as the devices were shifted between vehicles). This feature unfortunately doesn't work in the Ventura Tracker SmartPhone app though, and it's hit & miss if you can get the pop-ups to work on a phone internet browser.

The device also acts as a navigation unit and can give audio and visual instructions to drivers. This would originally just a good idea for when a relief driver had to cover a school run but it is also coming in handy to allow more routes to be shared between depots (see below) & obviously for settling in newbies too. The directions have been customised specifically for bus routes, including locations of upcoming stops and timepoints along with specific warnings for hazards, eg multiple bends along parts of Route 709 through Keysborough South where drivers need to give-way to ongoing traffic. If you sit in the front half of the bus you can overhear a good deal of the instructions, must be driving some drivers bonkers!

Kind Regards


Craig

[Craig]

[b]I have noticed on the fleetlists that Moorabbin have lost quite a few buses to Dandenong (514, 517, 529, 581, 604) and one to Croydon (546). I'm guessing these will be replaced by K310s that are pending delivery? Has Volvo stopped manufacturing the B7 or have Ventura stopped ordering in favor of Scania?

#546 was replaced at Moorabbin Depot by #1282 over a year ago (after the batch of new Mercs arrived at Dandenong, causing a cascade of some of the newer B7RLEs) and it got sent to Croydon, joining the depot's charter fleet I believe, being air-conditioned unlike the majority of the rail fleet (#185 ex Pakenham Depot with AC ended up in the rail fleet before #179 which still makes rare appearances in the outer south-east in red & cream).

New rosters were implemented on December 2 for Moorabbin & Dandenong drivers. Almost all Moorabbin routes along with about two-thirds of Dandenong routes are now shared between both depots, much like the extreme examples of multi-routing rosters of Nationalbus and now Transdev across Thomastown, North Fitzroy and Doncaster depots. Previously only Routes 811, 812 & 828 were shared between the two depots.

It appears Dandenong has increased the overall number of trips it now does hence the reallocation of several Moorabbin buses across. It seems odd that some O405NHs transferred, when a Volvo-only transfer might have been more seamless for the workshop and drivers.

As for new Ventura deliveries, it was announced recently that Ventura had signed a four-year agreement for at least 21 new Volgren track buses each year for the next four years, double the length of the usual arrangements previously entered into. It has been stated these will be primarily Scanias, however at least one Volvo B8RLE is about to be delivered too (#1358).

Full article from ABC magazine - https://www.busnews.com.au/industry-new ... -extension

Another tid-bit those not on the Facebook groups might have missed is that the last of the O405 ultras ex National (#490, #492 & #114) have sadly been withdrawn after being in storage for some months pending their fate. It was suggested to me their Vicroads permit for their length had to be renewed. I was lucky enough to ride one of them on three Transdev routes last year during the height of their fleet crisis.

Those keenly watching the fleet lists will also note as more buses enter the rail fleet, Scania L113CRLs are slowly being scrapped altogether, no doubt until Ventura can reach a fully AC fleet. #800, #803, #1160 (ex #815), #1161 (ex #816), #1162 (ex #817) have all bitten the dust now. The end of the two-tone blue is nigh.

Kind Regards


Craig