Use of Back Door on Buses

[BAMBAM]

Transdev South, formerly Veolia at the time, had earlier this year on many of their Metrobuses operating on M92 a computer written sign sticky taped on to the back door stating "we regret to inform you that this door is unserviceable, we are sorry for any inconvenience".

I can understand on one bus but it was across many vehicles.

One day I was let off the bus at Bankstown interchange through the rear door of a Metrobus - one with the above mentioned sign on it.

I do remember reading somewhere that in the contracts for these private operators all new vehicles had to be fitted with two doors, it just seems nobody has stated why they have to all have rear doors in the bus.

At the time, the sign was on the Red Volgrens only. The bustechs and custom coaches didn't have them on. However, one driver did still open the rear door of the bus even though the sign was placed on the door

If you were travelling on some of the older buses that transdev south runs e.g pmc 160 or custom coaches that have rear doors, you would have to exit via the front doors because previous companies had disconnected the power of the rear doors or sealed the doors locked. Even the ex STA MK II doors was disconnected.

[Doc68]

bloody joke this has gone on so long. The knee jerk reaction, the wasted money, & productivity. The gov buses had mirrors (most privates too tight to do same) BUT best was the Brisbane Leopards when the rear door was closed if someone (kids) put their hands between the door rubbers an alarm would sound Worked on those buses built in the 60's, must have been in the too hard basket for the later body builders. but could have saved lives as well as sped up public transport

[Tallewang]

If memory serves me correctly it stems back to a incident at East Wahroonga where a young school child was caught and dragged by the rear door. Subsequently private operators were advised not to use the rear door.

So why is it considered "safe" in the eastern suburbs, inner west , lower north shore, etc, to exit the back door ?

People are always going on about "dwell time" on the trains. And pre-pay buses, which can be quite inconvenient for some
people ( infrequent travellers in neighbourhoods where there isn't a corner store every two blocks ). Getting off buses
without using the back door is slow and tedious and impedes other people who are trying to get on.

In Brisbane, you can get out the back door of the bus.

[Tallewang]

(regulars seem to make a beeline for the front door anyway).

They may do that in the western suburbs, and then they come to the east and try to get off the front after the bus has already stopped and people have already started getting on. Come to think of it, they do that on the trains too.

If it is impossible to have a standard policy then at least there should be real big signs everywhere informing the passengers that the back door is not in use.

Or build a segregation wall between eastern and western Sydney.

Actually, that's right. There should be signs indicating to passengers whether the back door should be used, or not. If the government is actually planning for a comprehensive and consistent metro-wide transport system ( as they should, the way oil is going ), then they should be assuming that people will be travelling more outside their own local stamping grounds.

[Bodysurfer]

Use of the rear door is still verboten for STA drivers doing school specials.

[sydguy37]

Simple solution - on the next stop display have a "exit via front door" or "exit via rear door".

[Reo]

I was on a Brisbane Council bus only last week that actually had a sticker behind the driver's compartment stating that passengers MUST exit via the rear door.....a bit like Hong Kong.

Reo

[CityRail]

I think another safety feature can be added is that every back door of the bus incorporates an alarm, when the bus closes the back door, it milk announce "Doors closing, please stand clear" followed by beep sounds as the door is closing.

This has happened in foreign countries and it should be helpful to remove the hangover of accidents.

[captainch]

govt buses have operated for the past 30 more years with out this feature and has been only a few accidents think this system works well......................you will proberlly find that transport for nsw will indruce this feature in ALL buses soon to standize this feature! as its stupid to have one using back doors the other not as teck all new buses under contract are fitted with 2 doors and same features!

[simonl]

I think another safety feature can be added is that every back door of the bus incorporates an alarm, when the bus closes the back door, it milk announce "Doors closing, please stand clear" followed by beep sounds as the door is closing.

This has happened in foreign countries and it should be helpful to remove the hangover of accidents.

Urgh. Make it like pathetic NSW & QLD trains then.

[rogf24]

Newer buses already have a doors closing tone for the rear door but not the front door.

[Mr OC Benz]

In Perth, our older high floor buses, when the bus stopping light comes on, it says "Exit via rear door". I don't think this rule was ever enforced (and these days no one pays attention). But really when you have passengers exiting from only the front door, it affects the efficient movement in the bus as people who are wanting to board have to wait until everyone has hopped off the front, whereas if they used the back door, a few seconds before everyone hops off the rear door passengers can hop on in almost a continuous flow (in a perfect scenario). Honestly though I've always found that passenger flow on boarding and exiting works better when you have at least one door for boarding (if on board ticketing is necessary) and two doors for alighting. So far only artics have this privilege and unloading passengers from a 3 door Artic is almost as quick as from a 2 door rigid. Unfortunately the way that most European chassis are designed doesn't permit multiple doors for RHD application. Luckily in Perth now, our buses are specified with wider doors, so theoretically, unless you're the size of an A380 Super Jumbo, two people can hop off at the same time through the same door virtually without bumping into each other.

[captainch]

most sydney govt buses have a rail in the middle of back door and 2 people can alight side by side!

[macpro622776]

Captain you must be stuck in the 1990s ...none of the low floors have the rail, representing the majority of the fleet now.

[captainch]

thanks for reminding me

[adamstevens2196]

At the time, the sign was on the Red Volgrens only. The bustechs and custom coaches didn't have them on. However, one driver did still open the rear door of the bus even though the sign was placed on the door

If you were travelling on some of the older buses that transdev south runs e.g pmc 160 or custom coaches that have rear doors, you would have to exit via the front doors because previous companies had disconnected the power of the rear doors or sealed the doors locked. Even the ex STA MK II doors was disconnected.

I got told, similar to what you said BAMBAM, there was an accident involving the back door on a Veolia/Connex Bus, and they got told they couldn't have a back door on their buses, hence why all new buses from 100's up to the 300 Metro's inc. some early 400's don't have back doors, and older buses such as 99, 101, 102 etc that had back doors were bolted shut. However some ex Transit First Buses such as 640's didn't have the back door bolted shut, but still didn't get used, especially seeing as they were hardly used on route services.

[pgt]

I think another safety feature can be added is that every back door of the bus incorporates an alarm, when the bus closes the back door, it milk announce "Doors closing, please stand clear" followed by beep sounds as the door is closing.

Cue some of the Bustech buses that actually had the voice cues like that - some Transdev South (ex-Veolia) buses had this (306 comes to mind?), and compared to buses in the same series that only had a tone/sound when the doors were opening/closing, one had to wait what seemed an eternity for the voice to finish before the door actually opened/closed, which I suspect irritated quite a few drivers and passengers (not surprisingly, whenever I saw that bus on my morning trip, it was seldom on time).

(I suspect some Surfside QLD buses may have this setup too, or were they smart enough not to put it in their own buses?)

[crazyturbo76]

(I suspect some Surfside QLD buses may have this setup too, or were they smart enough not to put it in their own buses?)

ALL Busways Bustech vehicles bar the ex-KBG O405NHs have the annoying "Doors closing, stand clear please" announcement; the latest batch of 18.320s (#1167 onwards) play a tone when the doors open/close as well.

Yes, back doors are rarely used on private buses, but as a regular Busways bus rider I have noticed that sometimes drivers open both doors at times, either for the convenience of the passengers (even with only a few people on board) or during peak hour (passengers can also request the driver to open the back door for them).

On other occasions the back doors are only opened when the bus pulls into a terminus, but on a couple of occasions the driver hasn't opened the back door in that case.

[tonyp]

If Sydney private operators can't handle two doors, I'd hate to see how they go with five doors!

P1150775.JPG

Not only that, but with entry through all the other doors and entry through the front door discouraged!

The bus industry in Australia is a generation behind and is its own worst enemy. If it wants to stay with the times as a relevant form of mass transit and not be relegated to quiet outer suburban work, with the heavy lift work replaced by trams, then it had better reform asap.

I'm presently looking at the issue of buses being able to use tram lanes on the CSELR (proposed at Kingsford end) and I'm telling them that Sydney Buses will have to reform and have, not only prepay, but all-door entry, or it won't work. The buses will simply stuff the trams with their long dwell time.

In (by Australian definition "unsafe") Europe, buses are now able to achieve pretty-much the dwell time of trams and the incorporation of buses in tram lanes (particularly for direct interchange through tram stops) is becoming widespread. Bus operations need to lift their game here, the sooner the better. Not to mention introducing multi-door buses in the heavy use areas, like the one pictured by Mr OC Benz which is specifically designed to work amongst trams.

[Mr OC Benz]

Much the same issue I raised with the Department of Transport in Perth, if Light Rail was to use St George's Tce, which would most likely mean shared use with buses, which if not thought out properly would be a disaster and cause too many disruption to tram services if the bus design standards remained the same. Luckily it seems the preference remains on Hay St, but no formal decision has been made yet.

[CityRail]

Newer buses already have a doors closing tone for the rear door but not the front door.

But not every buses has.

So far, Bustech has the most comprehensive door closing safety system, followed by Custom Coaches.

There's nothing that you can heard from Volgren.

[Bjwh86]

Busways policy is it is totally at the drivers discretion where and when the back door is used.

[tonyp]

Busways policy is it is totally at the drivers discretion where and when the back door is used.

Perhaps TfNSW could show a bit of backbone and mandate that all doors be opened on all buses at all stops?

[dude]

Use of only one door is another trait of Australia slooping down into the English settee. I wonder how long it might take the centre door of the Borismasters to ban from entry via the said door.

[Bus-1809]

One of the reasons why I love Transperth... Rear doors are fitted to all buses and rear doors must be used.

Volgren have the safety plate at the rear doors that prevents the doors from closing if someone is standing on it.