Poor Late Night Services from Hillsbus

Sydney / New South Wales Transport Discussion
willoughby 'ductor
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Poor Late Night Services from Hillsbus

Post by willoughby 'ductor »

I understand that people were left waiting at Wynyard for the best part of two hours for a 610X service to Castle Hill last night (early Sunday morning). There are supposed to be buses at 1.37am, 1.57am, 2.17am, 2.47am, 3.15am, 3.45am but after the 1.37am nothing showed up till after 3.15am (FULL) and the first bus anyone could board was around 3.30. Is this some glitch relating to the end of daylight saving (someone thought we had an hour less last night rather than an hour extra) or is this the normal Hillsbus performance on Saturday nights?
tonyp
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Re: Poor Late Night Services from Hillsbus

Post by tonyp »

That sounds like the Sydney I used to live in that convinced me of the need to buy a car! In those days the government transport services were the offenders, not the privates.
simonl
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Re: Poor Late Night Services from Hillsbus

Post by simonl »

Not sure but shouldn't you be complaining on transportnsw.info ?
Frosty
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Re: Poor Late Night Services from Hillsbus

Post by Frosty »

Isn't poor service a problem with every night service operator . ?!?!
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Swift
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Re: Poor Late Night Services from Hillsbus

Post by Swift »

simonl wrote:Not sure but shouldn't you be complaining on transportnsw.info ?
I would be complaining to TNSW as contract operators such as CDC are subject to penalties for failure of services they are contracted to provide.
I have found dealing with CDC themselves worse than a government department where you get the runaround.
Last edited by Swift on Sun Apr 03, 2016 6:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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tonyp
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Re: Poor Late Night Services from Hillsbus

Post by tonyp »

Frosty wrote:Isn't poor service a problem with every night service operator . ?!?!
Why should it be? It must the the easiest time to operate a service. No hectic schedule, no traffic to disrupt running.
simonl
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Re: Poor Late Night Services from Hillsbus

Post by simonl »

Swift wrote:
simonl wrote:Not sure but shouldn't you be complaining on transportnsw.info ?
I would be complaining to TNSW as contract operators such as CDC are subject to penalties for failure of services they are contracted to provide.
I have found dealing with CDC themselves worse than a government department where you get the runaround.
But that's beside the point. Transport4NSW are service coordinator and doesn't all contact go through them? It should.
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Swift
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Re: Poor Late Night Services from Hillsbus

Post by Swift »

Frosty wrote:Isn't poor service a problem with every night service operator . ?!?!
It's one thing to have poor bus services. It's another thing entirely when the services don't turn up.

Simonl, it has been a few years since I attempted to resolve issues I had with some CDC drivers refusing to let me on after restrictions had been lifted due to changes in ticketing systems being introduced.
I too would presume TNSW are the ones to contact initially, assuming they will bother to investigate. :roll:
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Newcastle Flyer
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Re: Poor Late Night Services from Hillsbus

Post by Newcastle Flyer »

simonl wrote:Transport4NSW are service coordinator and doesn't all contact go through them? It should.
And have you ever tried to get a reply that ACTUALLY answers your feedback, instead of a "standard reply"?
Swift wrote:I have found dealing with CDC themselves worse than a government department where you get the runaround.
Yes, tell me about.

When the MAIN office can't even get it right about Easter Saturday being a Sunday timetable(1) (the call was diverted from the route's depot to the depot nearby. When I tried to again to make sure, the person answering the phone wasn't very friendly - at all. 2014 CDC had a Sunday timetable from Good Friday to Easter Monday, last year, they had the route running on Easter Saturday (either a Saturday or Sunday timetable), but this year again, it was a Good Friday to Easter Monday using a Sunday timetable. We were told that it WOULD BE a Saturday timetable for Easter Saturday.

At least 4 people at the starting bus stop, with not sure how many were waiting at the next main bus stop, we all were left waiting for at least 40 minutes wondering where our bus was. A driver of another route said it was a Sunday timetable, and a small poster mentioned this on the bus. So even though they put up posters in their buses, the CDC bus depot couldn't even get a simple, but important information - especially information that leaves passengers "stranded".

When I tried to contact the main depot of what happened, she said they didn't know, or words to that effect.

1. It's another reason to introduce a weekend timetable for all bus routes. This is (as far I know) one of the only bus companies that use a Sunday timetable for Easter Saturday.
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Swift
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Re: Poor Late Night Services from Hillsbus

Post by Swift »

Did you try the transport info line before contacting the company? It's plainly evident that they haven't lifted their game since 2009 when I had to deal with them regarding some drivers insisting I couldn't get on long after restrictions were lifted. I had to pull teeth to get a clear answer. Your experience resulted in worse inconvenience than I went through.
They plainly are just there to collect their regular payments from TNSW. If that was jeopardised by complaints of experiences such as yours, they would be driven to improve their customer complaints procedures.
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Re: Poor Late Night Services from Hillsbus

Post by Newcastle Flyer »

At Swift, I checked the Transport for NSW timetable site, & a third party site, and BOTH showed the timetable for the route as running on Easter Saturday.

Even after asking to re-reply with an answer that actually answers my reply, I still get a "standard reply" that doesn't answer my feedback.
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simonl
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Re: Poor Late Night Services from Hillsbus

Post by simonl »

Newcastle Flyer wrote:And have you ever tried to get a reply that ACTUALLY answers your feedback, instead of a "standard reply"?
Yes.

Raise a reasonable issue in a reasonable way and you can get a reasonable answer, with some difficulty.
Clint
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Re: Poor Late Night Services from Hillsbus

Post by Clint »

The best way to deal with bus issues now is simply to go through the Transport infoline (website or phone) unless you have the direct phone number of the depot manager or customer rep. You will then receive an answer from the company (either a rep or the manager themselves) via phone or email. Once upon a time you could simply speak to a manager, but that is much harder to do as they may be too busy doing other things.
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Re: Poor Late Night Services from Hillsbus

Post by Swift »

^ Like getting someone to listen to you while they are juggling three sticks that are on fire. :!:
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Jurassic_Joke
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Re: Poor Late Night Services from Hillsbus

Post by Jurassic_Joke »

Daylight savings or not I'm just going to say that nightbuses are extremely unreliable especially the later you go into the night. This has to do with obxnoxious drunk wasted party-goers who delay and completely fill up the bus and I honestly wish something would be done about it.
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Re: Poor Late Night Services from Hillsbus

Post by simonl »

Great screen name, JJ!
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Transport: Buses
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Re: Poor Late Night Services from Hillsbus

Post by Transport: Buses »

Why are these types of people even allowed on buses in the first place!? :? :evil:

There should be something in the terms of service which goes like "Transport and bus operators have the right to deny service to any persons who hinders or will hinder the safety and/or efficiency of the service. This includes, but is not limited to, obvious intoxication, intimidation, or refusal to cooperate, reasonably construed."

BAM, problem solved. :D
Glen
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Re: Poor Late Night Services from Hillsbus

Post by Glen »

Transport: Buses wrote:Why are these types of people even allowed on buses in the first place!? :? :evil:

There should be something in the terms of service which goes like "Transport and bus operators have the right to deny service to any persons who hinders or will hinder the safety and/or efficiency of the service. This includes, but is not limited to, obvious intoxication, intimidation, or refusal to cooperate, reasonably construed."

BAM, problem solved. :D
You should try driving a late night bus when you are outnumbered 20 drunks to one driver!
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Free Lance
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Re: Poor Late Night Services from Hillsbus

Post by Free Lance »

Too b#### right, been there done that, you are out there with absolutely no help with-in cooee, when the S### hits the fan it is mostly like the driver who ends up on the wrong end of king-hit, self preservation should be foremost in the drivers mind.
Many years ago when I was doing "pms" @ B one driver foolishly tried to stand up to a group of these thug types and certainly came off the worst for his efforts and no thanks from management cause the service was effected. Yes they really care about the drivers when I was with the STA
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Re: Poor Late Night Services from Hillsbus

Post by Swift »

Carry a GUN with spare clips. A warning shot thru the ceiling should be enough to make them turn into instant prefects on the spot as well as a boldly written disclaimer on the bulkhead absolving bussies from murder at the strike of midnight. 8).
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simonl
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Re: Poor Late Night Services from Hillsbus

Post by simonl »

A more practical solution would be to put a couple of security guards on each service. Not cheap though. Would there be a fare increase to compensate? I wouldn't mind paying to be honest.
Glen
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Re: Poor Late Night Services from Hillsbus

Post by Glen »

There are a lot of buses out late on a Saturday night!
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Re: Poor Late Night Services from Hillsbus

Post by BroadGauge »

Transport: Buses wrote:Why are these types of people even allowed on buses in the first place!? :? :evil:
If you're not going to allow intoxicated passengers then you're not really going to have anybody wanting to catch a bus at 3am.
Last edited by BroadGauge on Sat Apr 09, 2016 7:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Poor Late Night Services from Hillsbus

Post by Swift »

**Elephant in the room alert** screens for drivers.
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Frosty
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Re: Poor Late Night Services from Hillsbus

Post by Frosty »

I find whats often worse than late night services is the first services of the morning on weekends. Since often shift workers or people just needing to get work and drunks not a good combo. Often these first buses of the morning often very important due to low frequency of following services.
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