Action buses filling up?

I saw an articulated bus driving through Ngunawal on Friday night that had the grand total of four passengers. Well, three actuall,y after it stopped to let a person off. I suspect it would probably have none by the time it left Gungahlin. I’ve never seen an articulated bus in Ngunnawal before, maybe the regualr size buses were all being used or off the road for service/repair?

s-s-a said :

The utter refusal of so many people who are forced to stand, to shuffle back down the isle as more people get on, doesn’t help in a lot of situations either. etc

I agree. But I do suspect the (completely ridiculous IMO) rule that only permits centre doors to be opened at interchanges is quite possibly a contributor to this problem. People may not want to move back because they are getting off at stops like Albert Hall or Launceston St in Phillip.

Good point. And that would definitely feedback that would be good to pass on to Action too.

thatsnotme said :

The utter refusal of so many people who are forced to stand, to shuffle back down the isle as more people get on, doesn’t help in a lot of situations either. So many times I’ve been standing on a bus, it’s obvious that more people want to get on, yet people won’t move down to stand at the back of the bus. Often, people standing at the front refuse to move at all, so anyone getting on has to squeeze past them to move further down the isle.

+1; it’s even worse when there are available seats. It’s as if they are too proud to sit next to someone. It’s as bad as those people who put their bag next to them so they have two seats to themselves. I use the luggage racks all the time, and I move back into the bus. I don’t like leaving my bags unguarded, but I keep a watch on them, and it’s better than my bag taking up room.

Sometimes I do stand at the front of the bus, but that’s when I am going a short distance (like from the city to Barton or Ablert Hall.)

It would just not be possible to have about 30 people standing. On my bus the other day with 18 standing it was pretty squishy, and people had gone right up the back.

Unless you want people to be getting really friendly, get wacked over the head even more than they are already with large rucksacks or have someones backside shoved in your face for the duration of your journey, then it’s better that Action take note of the data and feedback and put on more buses. Surely we are due for one of their “reviews”?

Great to see more people on the buses, but it won’t last long if it doesn’t improve the services.

For the record, I don’t mind standing, but I do mind it leading to an even more crappy service.

The utter refusal of so many people who are forced to stand, to shuffle back down the isle as more people get on, doesn’t help in a lot of situations either. etc

I agree. But I do suspect the (completely ridiculous IMO) rule that only permits centre doors to be opened at interchanges is quite possibly a contributor to this problem. People may not want to move back because they are getting off at stops like Albert Hall or Launceston St in Phillip.

The utter refusal of so many people who are forced to stand, to shuffle back down the isle as more people get on, doesn’t help in a lot of situations either. So many times I’ve been standing on a bus, it’s obvious that more people want to get on, yet people won’t move down to stand at the back of the bus. Often, people standing at the front refuse to move at all, so anyone getting on has to squeeze past them to move further down the isle.

While I do agree that many times, the number of people allowed to stand on a bus is a very optomistic figure, there are a lot of times when more passengers could comfortably stand if people would just let them in.

The tag steer buses (the 3 axled ones) are allowed 48 standing passengers but there’s no way you could actually get that many people in there.

Why do I get the feeling Scav Hunt organisers everywhere just chortled and added a new challenge to the list for next year?

I’m still not sure why ACTION don’t release their passenger data as many overseas transit agencies do. That way external boffins can crunch the data and compare to the transit agency’s plans, and figure out if the numbers back everything up. It’s got a name… transparency?

Watson said :

scorpio63 said :

I have seen some of these buses choccas, its an OH&S issue that the Government have left themselves wide open (subject to legal action) for years.

Sorry, but I seriously doubt that. The signs on these buses say that there are 30+ stading spaces (isn’t it 39 on most?). This is no different to buses in other cities (including overseas).

The legal passenger loadings for all the different makes of ACTION buses can be found here: http://www.actbus.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=21:passenger-load-licencing&catid=17:fleets&Itemid=15

However the passenger loading is based on weight not floor space. Thus the Scania gas buses are only allowed 8 standing passengers not that I’d imagine any drivers would enforce that. The tag steer buses (the 3 axled ones) are allowed 48 standing passengers but there’s no way you could actually get that many people in there.

housebound said :

You’ll probably find the driver of the previous 111 bus decided not to turn up. It’s been happening a lot and it really annoys the would-have-been passengers who were folloish enough to rely on the service.

Bullsh**. The reason is most likely a shortage of (serviceable) buses.

Watson said :

Sorry, but I seriously doubt that. The signs on these buses say that there are 30+ stading spaces (isn’t it 39 on most?). This is no different to buses in other cities (including overseas).

I hate standing up in a bus, but in other places this is the norm, and often not only during peak hour. You just cannot have it all, I’m afraid.

Buses not showing up is a completely different matter. And if they don’t stop at your stop, that would mean they have reached capacity and it would be valid to demand extra buses.

But to start a media campaign just because you can’t have a seat…? Sorry, but that just sounds like a storm in a teacup.

Can’t work out what sort of bus the 111 is, but the capacity for standing passengers ranges from 22 to 48 on the various ACTION buses.