STA Observations 2020

[Xplorer]

How come the 3 door B12's haven't/won't be allocated to Brookvale? Is it due to The Spit hills being too demanding and they struggle going up?

Cheers!

N has used them on their overnighter 151 shift before, they don't seem to struggle at all

[Cazza]

The B12's are a very powerful engine, we have them up here in Brisbane in our TAG buses and they run a treat. I would say they are the 2nd or 3rd best accelerating bus in our fleet (behind the new B8RLE's and along side the MAN Diesels). They also sound amazing.

[HHH]

Transit Systems 2889 & 2891 at STA fleet yard at Leichhardt. More artics are rumoured to be transferred between the above mentioned operators after the Northern Beaches changes in late December.

[385BUZ]

The B12's are a very powerful engine, we have them up here in Brisbane in our TAG buses and they run a treat. I would say they are the 2nd or 3rd best accelerating bus in our fleet (behind the new B8RLE's and along side the MAN Diesels). They also sound amazing.

Correct. They can get up anything those things!

[J_Busworth]

How come the 3 door B12's haven't/won't be allocated to Brookvale? Is it due to The Spit hills being too demanding and they struggle going up?

Cheers!

I would presume it is due to the fact there are only a limited number of them and there hasn't been the need for a high capacity vehicle with high turnover capacity on Northern Beaches corridors in the past? In fact rumour has it North Sydney will be operating artic 144s with the 3 doors, which would mean the spit hills couldn't be an issue at all.

[tonyp]

I would presume it is due to the fact there are only a limited number of them and there hasn't been the need for a high capacity vehicle with high turnover capacity on Northern Beaches corridors in the past? In fact rumour has it North Sydney will be operating artic 144s with the 3 doors, which would mean the spit hills couldn't be an issue at all.

Anybody who has tried to keep up with one in a car up and over Nowra Hill would have absolutely no doubt about the power-to-weight ratio or maneouvrability of these fantastic buses. The thinking with artics on the northerrn beaches seems to have been driven by seating capacity, with these services being long-distance and with a relatively limited stopping pattern and low turnover en-route, so two doors is considered adequate. Also, I don't know if the union, as part of its unrelenting march against progress, is still allowing only two doors to be opened at a time?

On the Mosman peninsula and Manly area on the other hand, there would certainly be a benefit in having three-door artics, but again our friends in the union only allow them to be opened for exit, so their efficacy for high-turnover work is heavily compromised. These vehicles are supposed to be the high-capacity bus successors to the old 15 metre rigid tram, but in NSW they've been hogtied from doing that work to the same level of efficiency as the tram. Even worse, we now know that the geniuses at TfNSW are going to replace them with slow-running, slow-dwelling double deck buses, which will really drag things down. The main hope for the future is whether we can get a metro line up through the region. This would increase the capacity offered by the B Line by about 25 times and more than halve the journey time to Mona Vale. Until then, it will always be a patchwork compromise throughout the Mosman and Warringah peninsulas and, with the eventual loss of artics, it will only get worse.

[Linto63]

How come the 3 door B12's haven't/won't be allocated to Brookvale? Is it due to The Spit hills being too demanding and they struggle going up?

They have no trouble getting out of Bondi or Coogee, and these are every bit as steep.

These vehicles are supposed to be the high-capacity bus successors to the old 15 metre rigid tram, but in NSW they've been hogtied from doing that work to the same level of efficiency as the tram.

The first articulateds were introduced in 1983 to replace Leyland Atlanteans on limited stops and express services from the Northern Beaches, over 40 years after the last trams were withdrawn from north of the Spit Bridge . The next batch that were purchased in the mid-2000s, operating services in the Eastern and Northern suburbs, again over 40 years after the trams had disappeared from these areas. So while the articulateds may have been 'spiritual' replacements, incorrect to label them as successors, given that there had been several generations of rigid buses in between.

The main hope for the future is whether we can get a metro line up through the region.

It would be far enough down the the list of priorities, to safely say it won't happen. The electorates, both at federal and a state levels, are blue ribbon Liberal. Except on a few occasions when a good local independent won, or when the voters couldn't stomach the dinosaur put up, the Libs haven't had to woo the electorate. The last bit of major public infrastructure built on the Northern Beaches was probably Mona Vale depot 50 years ago. The only major bits of road infrastructure completed since the Roseville Bridge opened in the mid-1960s have been the Burnt Bride Creek Deviation in the mid-1980s and the recent Frenchs Forest intersection upgrade.

[tonyp]

The first articulateds were introduced in 1983 to replace Leyland Atlanteans on limited stops and express services from the Northern Beaches, over 40 years after the last trams were withdrawn from north of the Spit Bridge . The next batch that were purchased in the mid-2000s, operating services in the Eastern and Northern suburbs, again over 40 years after the trams had disappeared from these areas. So while the articulateds may have been 'spiritual' replacements, incorrect to label them as successors, given that there had been several generations of rigid buses in between.

I am talking in a worldwide industry context. The development of the modern articulated bus coincided with trams moving up the capacity scale and becoming articulated and, thus, leading to the decline of the rigid tram. With its equivalent functionality (multiple doors) and equivalent capacity, the artic enabled bus operators to take over the role of the rigid tram and enabled tram operators to focus on higher capacity work in city transit. Double deck buses didn't and don't replicate that role because of lower capacity and, most significantly, poor functionality.

Of course, the experts in TfNSW seem unable to perceive any of this.

[385BUZ]

Does anyone have an actual listing of what buses are being/have been transferred from TSA to STA?

[pgt]

I'm on 3851 which oddly is operating a route 200 to Chatswood.

Given the fleet lists say its a Mona Vale (F) bus, the front run plate also says F (but driver had no run number showing), curious as to whether this service is actually operated by Mona Vale (seems odd if so), or if this is a recent transfer.

If it were a recent transfer, I can't tell to which depot (didn't get to see the accreditation detail).
Normally only Willoughby and Waverley operate buses on this route, and this one terminated after the run.

[Off The Rails]

Looks like 3851 did a 200 from Bondi Junction at 7:05am, a 200 from Chatswood at 8:18am, and your 200 from Bondi Junction at 9:40am (thanks to AnyTrip), with AnyTrip also stating the operator as State Transit Eastern Suburbs. Don't entirely know if that's useful info though.

Cheers!

[Off The Rails]

AnyTrip is also stating there is a Mercedes Benz OC500LE with a CB80 body currently doing a 178 to Cromer Heights (9:49am trip ex Wynyard), which is also showing as the operator being State Transit Northern Beaches.

MightBe4878.png (30.12 KiB) Viewed 1448 times

Cheers!

Edit: Have been told this is 2541...

[pgt]

Looks like 3851 did a 200 from Bondi Junction at 7:05am, a 200 from Chatswood at 8:18am, and your 200 from Bondi Junction at 9:40am (thanks to AnyTrip), with AnyTrip also stating the operator as State Transit Eastern Suburbs. Don't entirely know if that's useful info though.

Cheers!

"State Transit Eastern Suburbs" suggests it was a Waverley operated service (theoretically could also be Randwick or Port Botany, but pretty sure they don't operate route 200 services).

What with the changes going on, it must be a very recent transfer.

Sent from my SM-G975F using Tapatalk

[J_Busworth]

I'm on 3851 which oddly is operating a route 200 to Chatswood.

Given the fleet lists say its a Mona Vale (F) bus, the front run plate also says F (but driver had no run number showing), curious as to whether this service is actually operated by Mona Vale (seems odd if so), or if this is a recent transfer.

If it were a recent transfer, I can't tell to which depot (didn't get to see the accreditation detail).
Normally only Willoughby and Waverley operate buses on this route, and this one terminated after the run.

Ex Mona Vale B10 Oranas 3849, 3851, 3853 and 3857 are all now at Waverley as of yesterday

[pgt]

I'm on 3851 which oddly is operating a route 200 to Chatswood.

Given the fleet lists say its a Mona Vale (F) bus, the front run plate also says F (but driver had no run number showing), curious as to whether this service is actually operated by Mona Vale (seems odd if so), or if this is a recent transfer.

If it were a recent transfer, I can't tell to which depot (didn't get to see the accreditation detail).
Normally only Willoughby and Waverley operate buses on this route, and this one terminated after the run.

Ex Mona Vale B10 Oranas 3849, 3851, 3853 and 3857 are all now at Waverley as of yesterday

Thought I saw 3855 on an evening 200 departure out of Chatswood yesterday (Friday).

Either way, the service used to be operated by one of the gas/CNG buses.

Sent from my SM-G975F using Tapatalk

[AlphaDraco1]

Hey, recently this idea has gotten into my mind of when the State Transit Buses we have today are gonna be disposed off
Any idea on when these buses will be retired?

Mercedes Benz O500LE CNG CB60 EVO II
Mercedes Benz O500LE CB60 EVO II(Diesel Variant)
Scania L113CRL Ansair Orana
Scania K310UB 14.5 Volgren CR228L
Scania K310UB CC CB80
Scania K310UB Bustech VST
Scania K280UB Bustech VST
Volvo B10BLE APG/Phoenix Orana
Volvo B12BLE CC CB60 Euro 3
Volvo B12BLE Volgren CR228L
Volvo B12BLE Euro 5 CC CB60 Evo II
Volvo B12BLEA Euro 3 CC CB60
Volvo B12BLEA Euro 5 Volgren CR228L

We already know that the Gas Scania L113CRB's are gonna be out next year, considering there are only 3 left, and I remember seeing on a SBM post that the North & Western O405's are gonna be out next year

[boronia]

You can assume they will generally be withdrawn in roughly age order, with a maximum age of 25 years.

Perhaps Andrew's "electric dream" will speed the process up a bit.

[Fleet Lists]

Many of these buses will go to possibly 3 different operators when the new contracts come out and then it will be up to the new operators to decide subject to the maximum 25 years rule.

[Stu]

Scania 14.5 fleet number 3431 was finally transported away today from Leichhardt AMD to be scrapped.

[HHH]

Training on the Volvo 3 x door articulated buses is occurring at the STA fleet yard at Leichhardt, two buses are being used. Brookvale Depot had one of these units on loan for training purposes as there is currently no room at North Sydney Depot to store articulated buses for training purposes.

[pgt]

The bus stop indicators at Neutral Bay Junction I noticed the other day now show the school buses on them where they didn't previously (eg. "592n Chatswood")
This was in the afternoon, and I did take a photo but haven't had a chance to take it off the phone/upload it here yet.

[pgt]

The bus stop indicators at Neutral Bay Junction I noticed the other day now show the school buses on them where they didn't previously (eg. "592n Chatswood")
This was in the afternoon, and I did take a photo but haven't had a chance to take it off the phone/upload it here yet.

Roughly same time the next day the same indicators didn't show the school services, so could have been a glitch somebody realised eventually.

[boronia]

Some of the phone apps show school services. They would be using the same data feed for each stop?

[Aurora]

The bus stop indicators at Neutral Bay Junction I noticed the other day now show the school buses on them where they didn't previously (eg. "592n Chatswood")
This was in the afternoon, and I did take a photo but haven't had a chance to take it off the phone/upload it here yet.

Roughly same time the next day the same indicators didn't show the school services, so could have been a glitch somebody realised eventually.

Are these the liquid paper? screens they were trialling a while back?

[pgt]

Roughly same time the next day the same indicators didn't show the school services, so could have been a glitch somebody realised eventually.

Are these the liquid paper? screens they were trialling a while back?

No - these are the ones installed when the B-Line concept (ie. the B1 route) was launched, so they're the overhead ones.
I suspect these use a different data feed - or did - because shortly after the Region 6 privatisation, the capacity data for all route 430 services stopped being shown on the screens, yet those other screens on the bus stop poles you speak of in the city did show them for the same routes.