Victorian Bus Observations 2026

[BanksfielderIdiot823]

Welcome to 2026.

PS. Volgren Dandenong's not far from completing Bus No. 6000.

[Heihachi_73]

Saw Kinetic bubble bus 595 parked at Ringwood station yesterday, which seemed odd given that they no longer run on Doncaster routes and AFAIK there was no planned rail replacement services. I'm guessing it was on driver training as it doesn't show up on the transportvic.me bus tracker as being in revenue service since 2021. Or maybe it just wanted to relive the good old days by running a 380 Ringwood loop service, not knowing it's now the 668/669.

[1whoknows]

Lots of standby rail yesterday - might have been on that.

[Heihachi_73]

Saw another bubble bus in Ringwood today, this time it was Ventura 1152 belching a heap of grey smoke while running a 742 Oakleigh service. Apparently 1147 was also on the 742.

[streetdirectory]

Does anyone have any info on what this bus was and what happened please?
https://www.theage.com.au/national/vict ... 5ntif.html

[scott]

The fleet lists are showing that Ventura 1150 has been withdrawn, the second of the bubble buses, the other was 1146 last year.
I would not be surprised if the whole batch of bubbles is gone by the end of the year, they are getting up there in age and seem to be falling apart.
Travelled on one before Christmas and it felt on it's last legs.
Parts may be getting difficult to procure maybe.

[Linto63]

Dysons on the market.

TPG gets cracking at $4b bus business Kinetic, eyes Melbourne buy (Australian Financial Review)

[Heihachi_73]

The fleet lists are showing that Ventura 1150 has been withdrawn, the second of the bubble buses, the other was 1146 last year.
I would not be surprised if the whole batch of bubbles is gone by the end of the year, they are getting up there in age and seem to be falling apart.
Travelled on one before Christmas and it felt on it's last legs.
Parts may be getting difficult to procure maybe.

I wonder how long Scania 858 will last in service. Or fellow oddball Scania 993 (CB80) for that matter. Both haven't turned a wheel this year according to the TransportVic bus tracker.

[MotorOmnibus8562]

Sighted on Bus enthusiasts Victoria Facebook is Transit Systems #43 repainted into the Transport Victoria livery

[scott]

[/quote]
I wonder how long Scania 858 will last in service. Or fellow oddball Scania 993 (CB80) for that matter. Both haven't turned a wheel this year according to the TransportVic bus tracker.
[/quote]

I saw 858 earlier this week in service on the 732 Vermont South shuttle. It is a 2012 model, so it would probably a few years left I would say, ditto for 993.
The oldest of the MAN bubbles were delivered in 2008, so approaching 18 years old, so getting ripe for withdrawal.
What are they going to replace the withdrawn buses with?, given our great Government have paused diesel bus purchases for 5 years, unless something has changed, I am not sure Ventura Eastern region bus services are going to go electric just yet.

[MotorOmnibus8562]

I wonder how long Scania 858 will last in service. Or fellow oddball Scania 993 (CB80) for that matter. Both haven't turned a wheel this year according to the TransportVic bus tracker.

I saw 858 earlier this week in service on the 732 Vermont South shuttle. It is a 2012 model, so it would probably a few years left I would say, ditto for 993.
The oldest of the MAN bubbles were delivered in 2008, so approaching 18 years old, so getting ripe for withdrawal.
What are they going to replace the withdrawn buses with?, given our great Government have paused diesel bus purchases for 5 years, unless something has changed, I am not sure Ventura Eastern region bus services are going to go electric just yet.

My best guess is with likely second-hand buses, I know there's a bunch of Ex Dyson's buses (mainly the K320C Optimuses and a few of the newer Ex Moonee Valley Buses) that are being leased to Torrens Transit in Adelaide, The tram replacement is finishing up shortly so We might see some buses being Transferred back to Melbourne, perhaps to other operators.

[BanksfielderIdiot823]

Broken down Dysons #944 (Optimus, K310UB) towed away @ Reservoir. Last tracked on a Rte 555 to Epping [17:11 from Northland SC; 17:32 @ Reservoir].

https://www.reddit.com/r/MelbourneTrain ... reservoir/

[BluDART]

Sighted a Transit System's Volgren optimus bus operating a 241 along Johnston Street this morning, oddly it was displaying route 401 to North Melbourne on its desto. Would have thought they had enough time to program route 241 into the controllers prior to the route starting.

[Heihachi_73]

Saw a Kinetic Gemilang today heading westbound (presumably from Mitcham) on Doncaster Rd towards the depot for "The Best Rest".

[MotorOmnibus8562]

Just sighted at The Transit Systems depot from the train was one of the Ex Dyson's buses that were sent to Adelaide to help with tram replacement. I think the fleet number is fleet #4264

[Heihachi_73]

I saw 858 earlier this week in service on the 732 Vermont South shuttle. It is a 2012 model, so it would probably a few years left I would say, ditto for 993.
The oldest of the MAN bubbles were delivered in 2008, so approaching 18 years old, so getting ripe for withdrawal.
What are they going to replace the withdrawn buses with?, given our great Government have paused diesel bus purchases for 5 years, unless something has changed, I am not sure Ventura Eastern region bus services are going to go electric just yet.

My best guess is with likely second-hand buses, I know there's a bunch of Ex Dyson's buses (mainly the K320C Optimuses and a few of the newer Ex Moonee Valley Buses) that are being leased to Torrens Transit in Adelaide, The tram replacement is finishing up shortly so We might see some buses being Transferred back to Melbourne, perhaps to other operators.

Ventura wants buses, not self-propelled Camden benches.

An accurate scale model of a standard-issue Dysons green and white Scania can be ordered here:
https://www.toyworld.com.au/products/br ... tion-truck

It probably would cost almost as much as a new bus just to upgrade a typical Dysons bus to Ventura standard - the bus would have to be gutted internally and fitted with a brand new interior, repainted to remove the green livery and the non-transparent Dysons logo wrap which covers the windows even more than the ads, upgrading the destos and PIDs if the Dysons ones aren't the same (apparently some of them are identical to Ventura's though). Nah, dump the lot in Adelaide or NSW!

[MotorOmnibus8562]

There are also plans to upgrade the bus network round Wollert and Epping with a new Route 355 and Route 577 being extended and renumbered to Route 337, so either, Dysons may get a couple of their sold buses Back, source some Buses from Shepparton by replacing those with Electric Buses (as the Shepparton Depot now has infrastructure for Electric Buses) or reactivate buses retired from route services for Growth.

[BluDART]

Observed a considerable number of Scania Hybrids from Kinetic deployed by Fitzroy and Doncaster away from the usual orbital routes this weekend operating on routes 207, 250, 251, 302, 304, 305, 905, 906 & 907 compared to the odd one every now and then on weekends.
The Scania Opticruise transmission is noticeably different in acceleration but also quieter on the freeway compared to ZF ecolife transmissions.

[Heihachi_73]

No! Keep them off the freeway, I don't want to hear constant rattling from the myki pole immediately ahead of the rear door for 45 minutes on the 906 (the last one I copped with that issue was 4022 yesterday). The Eastern Carpark isn't exactly known for having a freeway-quality road surface, only for-profit toll roads funded by the government for half a century receive get that treatment. Never mind Victoria Pde which was seemingly last paved circa 1960 (or 1860, going by the cobblestones in outbound the bus lane).