Private Observations 2019

[gilberations]

Tinted windows should go in my opinion, they don’t serve any true purpose besides making a bus look more like a space shuttle

They serve an important purpose actually. Sun protection. Believe it or not, you can get harmful UV exposure through glass. Tinting then provideds UV protection. Health and safety standards my friend.

[tonyp]

They serve an important purpose actually. Sun protection. Believe it or not, you can get harmful UV exposure through glass. Tinting then provideds UV protection. Health and safety standards my friend.

Absolutely. Though now the agencies who are pushing for AOA (like TfNSW) that AOA provides sun protection, even though the windows are already tinted. They might as well just abolish windows altogether and use PIDs to determine where you are!

I remember the first window tinting appearing on CCMC bodies in the early 1960s, it was so cool at the time. In fact tinting also literally cools the interior by screening some of the direct sunlight.

[Daniel]

Keep an eye out for Forest’s new MAN A95 Gemilang double deckers in service.

[robert]

Keep an eye out for Forest’s new MAN A95 Gemilang double deckers in service.

Saw one in depot today.

[BroadGauge]

Noticed Michael Daley/NSW Labor's campaign bus/coach, in a red AOA with the slogan "Schools and hospitals, not stadiums", headed southbound on the Federal Highway at Wollogorang around 10:15am.

Any idea what the vehicle is and who is operating it? I couldn't get too many details as I was driving in the opposite direction at the time.

[burrumbus]

We have heard variations of that slogan from Labor politicians for an awful long time.

[ScaniaGrenda]

Noticed Michael Daley/NSW Labor's campaign bus/coach, in a red AOA with the slogan "Schools and hospitals, not stadiums", Any idea what the vehicle is and who is operating it? I couldn't get too many details as I was driving in the opposite direction at the time.

According to a quick google search for "NSW Labor bus" it returned the following image. Accreditation is for Transdev South NSW (Kingsgrove). Rego is TV 8666 and it's a Mercedes-Benz 0404-3 on APG Majestic body.

[BroadGauge]

You might be right there. The one I saw was in a different livery with faces on the side, but based on the video below I'd say it's the same vehicle.

See: https://www.nbnnews.com.au/2019/02/17/b ... in-nabiac/

[BroadGauge]

PBC Goulburn are using 1549 MO, which is a Scania K280IB/Higer A30 coach, to provide the town services today instead of the usual low floor.

Today the same coach was operating for PBC Crookwell, in place of the Iveco/CB80 low floor that usually does their run. Saw it operating the route 818 trip that departed from Crookwell at 2:06pm.

[sunnyyan]

Been noticing lately that there is a lot of slack in the M10 timetable. Every time I take a M10 during the AM peak, the driver always needs to wait at Taylor Sq. Today was even worse, with the driver making 1-2 minute stops at every stop from Museum to Taylor Sq, where we waited for around 5 minutes.
At least Transit Systems has solved the shortage of artic drivers though. Last year they were running a lot of 12.5m buses during the morning peak.

[Stu]

Mercedes-Benz OC500LE with CB80 body (CJ 65 VY), presumably a demonstrator model in white had been siting at the back of Transit Systems Leichhardt Depot for the past few days.

[Jurassic_Joke]

2112 operating outside of Metrobus territory again on 438. Always a pleasure to catch this bus, especially on an unusual route, that European style front seat really is super comfortable

419015BA-CF70-4010-AB22-8FEA65ADD2F7.jpeg (102.17 KiB) Viewed 6194 times

They should perhaps repaint the bus into TfNSW livery (as with 1668)

[boronia]

Been noticing lately that there is a lot of slack in the M10 timetable. Every time I take a M10 during the AM peak, the driver always needs to wait at Taylor Sq. Today was even worse, with the driver making 1-2 minute stops at every stop from Museum to Taylor Sq, where we waited for around 5 minutes.
At least Transit Systems has solved the shortage of artic drivers though. Last year they were running a lot of 12.5m buses during the morning peak.

I've noticed that too. I caught one from Eddy Ave a couple of weeks ago, and we sat for 3-4 minutes along Oxford St. Driver told me he had started from Railway Square!!

But the first inbound service from Maroubra in the morning is often 6-8 late at Kensington.

[ScaniaGrenda]

Mercedes-Benz OC500LE with CB80 body (CJ 65 VY), presumably a demonstrator model in white had been siting at the back of Transit Systems Leichhardt Depot for the past few days.

Well according to the description on my ATDB gallery photo for this bus, it had already previously served time at Transit Systems as a demonstrator before being sent to Rover Motors Cessnock (can't remember who had it before it was sent to Rover, so is it still a demo now that it's with TS again? I can't recall a time where a bus company has already demoed a bus 2 (or x ) years or so ago only to end up demoing the same exact bus again years later but I guess there isn't anything odd or special about this.

[Jurassic_Joke]

The replacement bus service on T1 this weekend has just been atrocious, it’s never been this bad, have they cut the number of buses running or something? Waited 20 minutes at Chatswood for the next bus up the north shore and even then, the Pacific Highway has been a live car park all weekend. They had weeknight trackwork all week. The only reason they are doing this is (having seen it myself after hours) is so they can play undisturbed with their new toy called the Metro. It was the same last week too. Or even the bus types, short 12m with one door only at the front just making stops take forever when the bus is packed. Artics or deckers maybe?

I get it Metro is coming and all and testing is important but is shutting down the entire North Shore really necessary when they’re still two separate modes of transport?

[gilberations]

They’re actually doing a lot of work specifically at chatswood to accommodate the new dive for the Chatswoood - Sydenham tunnel, including relocating the Sydney trains tracks. So not just for testing metro. Sorry to bust the bubble there

[moa999]

As above. All for Stage 2 metro.
Almost 1km of the main T1 (and now T9) track needs to shift and get new support poles etc.

[Linto63]

The replacement bus service on T1 this weekend has just been atrocious, it’s never been this bad, have they cut the number of buses running or something? Waited 20 minutes at Chatswood for the next bus up the north shore and even then, the Pacific Highway has been a live car park all weekend.

Agree it was noticeably worse than usual, I had a similar wait, buses full and standing etc. The controllers are as useless as an ashtray on a motorbike, never seem to have a clue as to what is gong on. It appears that no-one is really in charge.

You would expect a couple of weeks out from an election that the government would be throwing resources at it to minimise disruption, particularly after the Christmas shutdown fiasco. Transit Systems didn't exactly help by not rostering artics which were the norm until recently on the M20, which predictably was noticeably busier.

I think we all appreciate trackwork is a necessary evil, but there does seem to have been a noticeable thinning of resources in the last couple of years. In years gone by, one of the upsides of a shutdown was that at least the buses ran more frequently than the trains, often isn't the case now.

[Frosty]

You would expect a couple of weeks out from an election that the government would be throwing resources at it to minimise disruption, particularly after the Christmas shutdown fiasco. Transit Systems didn't exactly help by not rostering artics which were the norm until recently on the M20, which predictably was noticeably busier.

I think we all appreciate trackwork is a necessary evil, but there does seem to have been a noticeable thinning of resources in the last couple of years. In years gone by, one of the upsides of a shutdown was that at least the buses ran more frequently than the trains, often isn't the case now.

Transit Systems does have a challenge in managing in artic fleet as it needs to be spread across metrobus routes and key routes legacy of STA keeping some extra artics for Region 9 with route 333 expansion & artics on Botany Rd services. Sometimes TS artics have been appearing non-traditional artic routes such as the 348 & 422.

[Jurassic_Joke]

The replacement bus service on T1 this weekend has just been atrocious, it’s never been this bad, have they cut the number of buses running or something? Waited 20 minutes at Chatswood for the next bus up the north shore and even then, the Pacific Highway has been a live car park all weekend.

Agree it was noticeably worse than usual, I had a similar wait, buses full and standing etc. The controllers are as useless as an ashtray on a motorbike, never seem to have a clue as to what is gong on. It appears that no-one is really in charge.

You would expect a couple of weeks out from an election that the government would be throwing resources at it to minimise disruption, particularly after the Christmas shutdown fiasco. Transit Systems didn't exactly help by not rostering artics which were the norm until recently on the M20, which predictably was noticeably busier.

I think we all appreciate trackwork is a necessary evil, but there does seem to have been a noticeable thinning of resources in the last couple of years. In years gone by, one of the upsides of a shutdown was that at least the buses ran more frequently than the trains, often isn't the case now.

Saturday arvo was the worst, it was a true nightmare, all of this, and honestly, I'd much rather just pay for the train (I've in the past spruiked how nice the benefit of free travel on these buses are, but in these worsening conditions, yeah nah forget it). Saturday arvo, from Pymble to Chatswood took 45 minutes because a truck near Chatswood turning off the Pacific Highway broke down. When the reason for travel is your friend landed in the Emergency department at RNS Hospital so you gotta get there ASAP and this happens (combined with a changeover to another sardine-bus, 12 minute wait), it's really just the pits.

As for the weeknight track work, they stuffed up yet again in the respect that at Lindfield, after the last train of the night before tracwork (around 10pm precisely), the first bus towards the City wasn't until 10:37pm). It used to be the first buses would start in parallel with the last train. This is just not good enough, and yes, I have written feedback about this before as the right thing to do - nothing changes. I personally suspect the NSW Government is cutting back on replacement buses quietly because now they're feeling the financial pinch/revenue loss on these (for now) 'free' buses.

Speaking of marshals, two 'unpleasant' experiences I witnessed today.

At Wynyard, this was just when I was joining the queue, a passenger (middle aged man) was verbally berating the marshal (older man) for apparently swearing "mate, I don't want to hear the F word from you even if you were talking to yourself. It's extremely unprofessional, if my own boss heard me drop that I'd lose my job, you're no exception just because you're a public servant" and the two just audibly argued, like, ugh... I do agree with the passenger here. When you're in any customer service position, swearing in any context (especially in front of customers) is a huge no-no.

Likewise, at Chatswood (this was when as earlier said, I waited for 20 minutes for the next up-shore bus), when the bus finally turned up, the line was stretching almost into the Pacific Highway it was that bad of course only a small fraction of the queue could board, but I really need to say the Marshals behaviour (another old man) was absolutely completely out of order. Verbally raging at the people "NO, THIS BUS IS FULL....FULL... DAMNIT WHAT PART OF FULL DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND", like wow, yes the bus is full, but you seriously can't taik to people like that. And yes, having once worked in retail (where you also deal with customers), yes there are really some moronic people out there, but thats really no way to go about it and you really wonder how do these people get their jobs (as any public servant positions are notorious for being quite competitive because of inflated wages).

The stationlink Marshals have all been super friendly though.

[burrumbus]

Can I take it that STA have the contract for the City-Hornsby rail replacement ??

[Linto63]

At Wynyard, this was just when I was joining the queue, a passenger (middle aged man) was verbally berating the marshal (older man) for apparently swearing "mate, I don't want to hear the F word from you even if you were talking to yourself. It's extremely unprofessional, if my own boss heard me drop that I'd lose my job, you're no exception just because you're a public servant" and the two just audibly argued, like, ugh... I do agree with the passenger here.

In fairness, tempers tend to run pretty hot in these circumstances amongst marshals, drivers and passengers.

Verbally raging at the people "NO, THIS BUS IS FULL....FULL... DAMNIT WHAT PART OF FULL DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND", like wow, yes the bus is full, but you seriously can't taik to people like that.

There are some extremely thick people who just refuse to understand what the word no means.

Buses just seem to appear as per their rosters and then sit until their allocated departure time, resulting in double parking and further chaos. It appears that there is nobody taking overall charge, seeing this happen and saying to drivers 'right on your way'. Or alternatively calling on standby buses. Also were loads of buses without signs adding to the chaos. And then there were some fairly inappropriate vehicles, high floor coaches with one door on all stops services aren't overly efficient.

The marshals are often quite nice people, its just that they are not provided with the tools to be of much assistance to passengers in terms of when the next service will arrive.

Can I take it that STA have the contract for the City-Hornsby rail replacement ??

No STA buses present so unlikely, North Sydney, Punchbowl and Transdev were the biggest providers of vehicles. Not sure about this particular shutdown, but IIRC Transdev ran the Christmas one.

[tonyp]

Transit Systems does have a challenge in managing in artic fleet as it needs to be spread across metrobus routes and key routes legacy of STA keeping some extra artics for Region 9 with route 333 expansion & artics on Botany Rd services. Sometimes TS artics have been appearing non-traditional artic routes such as the 348 & 422.

Perhaps when they get over their fantasy about double-deckers being "the way of the future", the government could actually order a whole heap of additional artics considering there's a general shortage of them. How long is it now when the last artics were purchased, must be several years? What they're going to run into is the fleet will end up life-expired just when there's the greatest need for more of them.

Verbally raging at the people "NO, THIS BUS IS FULL....FULL... DAMNIT WHAT PART OF FULL DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND", like wow, yes the bus is full, but you seriously can't taik to people like that.

Speaking hypothetically because I wasn't there to observe, but, considering it's a bit of a Sydney syndrome, I wonder if buses were actually full. On the basis of probably about 1,000 experiences of this type of nonsense over the years, I can observe that perhaps those waiting passengers on the footpath could see daylight through the bus and were trying to board because they could see that it wasn't actually full, but it had just blocked up at the front because of the usual stupidity of front door loading, not enough doors, internal steps etc.

A public transport vehicle is only full when you can't see daylight through it. Apply the "daylight test" Jurassic_Joke and point it out to the marshals if you see it

[Stu]

Can I take it that STA have the contract for the City-Hornsby rail replacement ??

No STA buses present so unlikely, North Sydney, Punchbowl and Transdev were the biggest providers of vehicles. Not sure about this particular shutdown, but IIRC Transdev ran the Christmas one.

Transdev had problems supplying enough buses and had to ask for other companies to assist.

[Stu]

You would expect a couple of weeks out from an election that the government would be throwing resources at it to minimise disruption, particularly after the Christmas shutdown fiasco. Transit Systems didn't exactly help by not rostering artics which were the norm until recently on the M20, which predictably was noticeably busier.

STA also could never provide artics on all m20 services even before Transit Systems assumed control of Region 6 and 100% of m20 services. There were a number of additional services added between 2013 - 2016 with no additional artic units painted in red nor were any units transferred from any other STA depots to build up the number of artic units in the East. The additional trips added over the years are all short working trips with rigids rostered, that hasn't changed, only the situation regarding the STA route 333 as directed by TfNSW has impacted the m20.

The STA route m40 has less artics rostered these days due to two reasons:
- many existing artics are scheduled for 333 - high frequency day & night.
- timetable increase adding more services in the evening.
There are a number of rigids scheduled to operate the m40 these days, previously this was not the case and it was very rare to to an unscheduled rigid on an m40.