Woden Depot Discussion

[Sylvan Loves Buses]

On mt way past the depot yesterday, noticed they've started to strip the old building down.

[Bus 400]

Drove past Woden Depot today & it's totally flattened this week.

Not sure if the rumors about the Darts being left behind before the demolition began are true or not though...

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[Sylvan Loves Buses]

They were all moved over to Fyshwick a few days before the fence wrapping went up.

[Sylvan Loves Buses]

Didn't take long to demolish everything, but it certainly seems like they're taking their sweet ass time to decide to build something. Won't be much of a depot if all the buses are to be sitting on dirt and ashes.

[Busnerd]

Not sure why there'd be ashes there unless they burnt the old depot down...

Haven't looked too closely at the site to see what is happening but given it used to be an old depot, it is possible there is old underground fuel tanks which would have to be removed and the area made 'clean'/safe again prior to any new underground tanks going in, although most new depots now use above ground tanks which are cheaper to fix and replace.

[Barry Drive]

A new contract titled "Independent Commissioning Agent for Woden Bus Depot" has recently been posted.

It looks to be a quality assurance role for the build process.

Of interest, the contract mentions the depot will cater for 104 buses and is due for completion by December 2022.

I haven't seen an actual contract for the construction.

[Bus 400]

I'll believe when I see it.

[Stan butler]

Catering for 104 buses and due for completion in dec 2022?   Yeah right.

[Barry Drive]

Catering for 104 buses and due for completion in dec 2022?  Yeah right.

Are you suggesting that a pile of dirt, where there is no (known) contract can't be transformed into a working depot for 50 buses* in less than 10 months?

* in the budget estimates, it was mentioned that "stage 1" would house 50 buses, although that doesn't tell us what will be left for stage 2. Workshops perhaps?

In any event, Woden Depot will only need to be ready to take the non-leased electric buses. Since that tender hasn't been issued yet, there may not be a need to hurry.

[Sylvan Loves Buses]

With how carparks and skyscrapers are being made nowdays, would a two-story bus depot really be too much of an ask?

[Stan butler]

Are you suggesting that a pile of dirt, where there is no (known) contract can't be transformed into a working depot for 50 buses* in less than 10 months?

* in the budget estimates, it was mentioned that "stage 1" would house 50 buses, although that doesn't tell us what will be left for stage 2. Workshops perhaps?

In any event, Woden Depot will only need to be ready to take the non-leased electric buses. Since that tender hasn't been issued yet, there may not be a need to hurry.

Look how long it has taken them to complete the new Turner layover......  i think that was originally meant to take 6 months too.  Yes I know Covid may have been a factor in some regards, but the delay cannot be fully put down to Covid issues.  FWIW it appears they are still working on it too.

Roadworks in general are very slow - have you seen the cordoned off section in jabbanunga st in ngunnawal.  That particular section has been like that for well over a year - and it seems to be getting worse and yet there is still no signs of any more work on it.

[Barry Drive]

I haven't seen an actual contract for the construction.

It is now May. Still no contract and no sign of work commencing at Woden Depot.

Guess you can't rush these things.

[Sylvan Loves Buses]

With all the construction going on around Canberra now, it's possible that there's no one left to do the work. If only the government or somewould could push the construction industry more to make them have more people doing each job one at a time - get tf on with it so to speak so other stuff like this can get focused on.
Does this continued delay mean that the Renaults may not actually be getting replaced as soon as TC were hoping/expecting?

[Bus 400]

I'm sticking with Belconnen getting light rail before a bus depot in Woden.

A good Opposition would ask what's the 10-15+ year hold up?

[triumph]

With all the construction going on around Canberra now, it's possible that there's no one left to do the work. If only the government or somewould could push the construction industry more to make them have more people doing each job one at a time - get tf on with it so to speak so other stuff like this can get focused on.
Does this continued delay mean that the Renaults may not actually be getting replaced as soon as TC were hoping/expecting?

Don't hold your breath. Aren't the new electric buses going to be housed, at least temporarily, at existing depots?
Also TC is under the pump to meet disability access rules by retiring the Renaults ASAP.

Your first point is very relevant - there is a severe shortage of skilled project resources Nationwide. At a meeting I recently attended a TC person stated that this shortage is a main driver in the timing of the Light Rail extension to Commonwealth Ave. The result being that the raising of London Circuit will come before the extension rather than being fully integrated with it.

Resolving the shortage is not as easy as chucking money at it (except to wastefully compete with some other project auction style). Building up capacity takes time for training and organisation development, then to justify industry making the investment there needs to be reasonable assurance of a pipeline of projects. The alternative is to import the resources and leave out Australians, and that is a political debate for another forum.

[Barry Drive]

... is due for completion by December 2022.

I haven't seen an actual contract for the construction.

On the City Services website, there is now a page for the Woden Bus Depot project.

Construction

Start date: November 2022

Expected completion date: late 2024


But there still isn't a published contract. This may also mean that the promised 90 battery electric buses cannot commence service prior to this date, unless there are upgrades planned for the existing depots.

[Barry Drive]

But there still isn't a published contract.

To correct the record: as mentioned here, the 2018 contract is still valid and has been varied multiple times. The current value is $30m, but there will be a further variation soon to include the 50 or so bus chargers.

There has also been a contract (worth $5.9m) with ActewAGL to provide a high voltage connection to the Wanniassa sub-station.


I went past the Woden Depot building site recently. Was quite impressed with how much has gone up, especially since it was just a vacant lot for so long.

[L94UBbusfan]

Sorry if this is a stupid question or in the wrong place, but based on the information I've found, Woden Depot is able to charge 96 electric buses at once. Is 96 buses Woden's absolute maximum capacity, or could more non-electrics be based at Woden if needed? Obviously Woden is meant to be an all electric bus depot, but if for some reason more capacity was required, how many buses could Woden Depot hold if it really had to? Currently there are no more than 85 buses based at Woden Depot at any given time (excluding the Fuso Rosa's in the Special Needs fleet).

From what I could find, Tuggeranong Depot's capacity is 200 buses, but before the opening of Woden Depot there were around 230 buses based at Tuggeranong, while Belconnen's capacity is apparently 250.

[Barry Drive]

Just from a visual inspection, I don't think it would have the ability to house 96 buses, if the SNT fleet remains there.

I would say the current 85-90 buses is the limit.

[Sylvan Loves Buses]

I'm by there every other day and often thinking about this myself. You could theoretically line up a couple buses along the fence between the south exit and the workshops, maybe even squeeze a few more in here and there. No more than maybe 10-15 I would imagine - they'd have to not be electric though.