Weekend bus reports

Started by Barry Drive, January 12, 2019, 12:26:28 PM

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Barry Drive

It has been brought to my attention that some Saturday shifts will now be allocated as articulated buses.

In keeping with the forum policy, specific runs will not be identified.

So far I've seen 512 & 528. Unknown how many there will be.

King of Buses


Bus 503


Busnerd

About time, they really should run exclusive 200 and 300 shifts on weekends that do only those runs and allocated larger vehicles, this way would enable them to add capacity without changing any timetables, and making sure the high capacity vehicles stay where they're needed and don't end up on quiet weekend loops.

Toyota Camry

It is beyond ridiculous if artics are allocated on Saturdays, but not on Sundays; route 300 is extremely stretched on Sundays as there is a 33.3% reduction in service compared to a Saturday, this is due to the Cohen Street Bus Station to Woden Bus Station trips not operating.

It seems that Saturday is becoming the "deluxe" weekend day for bus services, with high capacity buses and more frequent trips operating, yet Sunday is stuck with short buses and fewer services.

triumph

Apparently the 2 axle buses only need MR licenced drivers, whereas the bigger buses with 3 axles need drivers with HR licenses. Add in the voluntary aspect of weekend driver rostering - is this an influence on artic assigning?

Busnerd

That is correct, the "STAGs" and Articulated vehicles do require a HR licence to drive. I believe TC does pay an allowance to drivers operating larger vehicles but unsure how that works, if it's added onto your hourly wage whilst driving them or just all the time.

Toyota Camry

547 is reported to be operating on route 902 with the flag of Australia in the windscreen; yesterday, there were a number of complaints made about 655 operating with the same flag on display.

Bus 503

I thought it might be good to note down unusual buses operating on weekends since the Scania K320UBs tend to dominate, and other types of buses are being seen less and less. These "unusual buses" include Scania L94UBs, MAN 18.310s/18.320s from Tuggeranong (Belconnen-based MANs are quite common on weekends) and ARTICs (only on Sundays). The reason I haven't included PR2s, PR3s, Irisbuses and STAGs is because these have almost no chance of operating on weekends but the other types I've mentioned are used, but in moderation.

Unusual buses I've spotted today are 330, 360, 382, 493, 494, 499.

Bus 503

Quote from: Toyota Camry on January 26, 2019, 01:51:57 PM
547 is reported to be operating on route 902 with the flag of Australia in the windscreen; yesterday, there were a number of complaints made about 655 operating with the same flag on display.

May I ask why the complaints were made? Was the flag obstructing the driver's windscreen?

Toyota Camry

Quote from: Bus 503 on January 26, 2019, 03:59:28 PM
May I ask why the complaints were made? Was the flag obstructing the driver's windscreen?
This was due to the flag being considered racist by many, and offensive toward Aboriginal & Torres Straight Islander members of the community; I was not one of those who complained, however this issue involving 655 was discussed by many on local Canberra area social media groups.

Sylvan Loves Buses

518 was on a 918 this afternoon.

King of Buses


Busnerd

Displaying our national flag is in no way racist.

King of Buses

512, 530 and 531 are in service this afternoon.


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Bus 503

Other unusual buses in service today are 387, 444, 491, 496, 503, 504.

Toyota Camry

There is free travel on most, potentially all buses today; this is due to Myway equipment being out of order.

In addition, 322 was out this morning; it ran a circular 937 trip between City Bus Station and City Bus Station.

Bus 503

Quote from: Toyota Camry on February 02, 2019, 06:26:44 PM

In addition, 322 was out this morning; it ran a circular 937 trip between City Bus Station and City Bus Station.

Other unusual buses in service during some part of today are 352, 373 and 382.
There also seem to be more Tuggeranong-based MAN 18.320s in service today: 402, 441, 442, 443, 493, 494, 495, 501, 503, 505. (I'm not sure whether it's worth nothing these because they do tend to be moderately used on Saturdays so they're not that unusual compared to L94UBs and CNG 18.310s.)

I've also noticed that bus services are scheduled to continue though to 0230 tomorrow morning.
Is there an event on that I'm not aware of? I don't recall seeing anything in the TC weekly email update.

Bus 503

Last Saturday, 361 and 382 were the unusual buses in service, and on Sunday, unusual buses were 329 and 384. There were a couple of Tuggeranong diesel MANs in service on both Saturday and Sunday so I haven't reported them.

Also noticed that some Tuggeranong ARTICs were out yesterday on what I'm presuming were route 300s. However, I missed the route numbers when they went past and the services they were operating weren't able to be tracked on Nextthere.