Canberra's orange buses are coming back (but don't panic)

You’re about to spot a lot more orange buses on Canberra’s roads, but don’t worry – they’re not here to stay.

The first wave of Renault PR-series buses entered the ACTION bus fleet in April 1987, and while the ACT Government has been trying for years to get them off the road because they don’t meet modern accessibility standards, it appears there’s still plenty of love for them.

Chances are, you went to school in one.

“A lot of people obviously were not happy how long they stayed in service, but I think there’s a pretty decent following,” Zac Mathes from the Canberra Transport Museum says.

“When people think of a bus in Canberra, they always think of the old orange and blue buses.”

The drivers enjoyed them too. Zac started at Transport Canberra – as it’s now known – in 2019, when there were still “a fair few” in service.

“They’re just simple, and feel like you’re driving a real heavy vehicle, whereas in the new ones, the steering is so light, it can just feel like driving a car.”

They were only meant to be on the roads for 15 years. But partly due to delays securing electric buses to replace them, the last one, Bus 980, only hissed to a stop in August 2024 after 32 years and well over a million kilometres travelled.

Bus 980 and the remaining blue and orange buses are strictly relegated to driver-training duties now.

But the Canberra Transport Museum, with support from Transport Canberra, has hired them out for one last hurrah – the ‘Renault PR-Series Farewell Tour’ – on Saturday, 2 November.

The museum also has six buses of its own, including the original Renault prototype tested by ACTION in 1985 and an early articulated bus. One is owned by another bus driver, but most have been rescued from auction for close to scrap value.

“The most expensive was the artic bus which set us back about $10,000,” Zac says.

Driven by volunteers, the buses will leave the City West Bus Station at 10:30 am on the day for a tour of Canberra; tickets cost $24.50.

In the morning and afternoon, they’ll also resurrect another old favourite – route 333 between Belconnen and Tuggeranong.

“It’s something a lot of people in Canberra remember – riding the 333 to and from work. It just seems to resonate with people, and especially if we use our bendy bus because that’s all that used to operate the 333,” Zac says.

The morning trip will leave Tuggeranong Interchange at 9:30 am and the afternoon trip departs Belconnen Community Bus Station at 4:05 pm, following a similar route to today’s R4.

Anyone is welcome to pay the $3 fare and jump on board. But it’s worth bearing in mind the 333 buses will only stop at the main interchanges in Tuggeranong, Civic and Woden.

The day has been a long time coming. The museum doesn’t have a physical space as yet, and it’s a long-term project to turn one of the buses into a sort of mobile museum. But up until recently, the cost of registration has been prohibitively expensive.

“But now they’re all at an age where we can go onto historic rego and get them on the road quite cheaply,” Zac says.

Many of the buses’ odometers have been replaced over the years, so it’s hard to put a finger on how many kilometres they have travelled. But Zac puts it “almost up to two million”. And they’ve proven pretty reliable.

“We’re now just encountering your normal, everyday mechanical issues. They’ve been parked for a while so the hoses start to perish, so you’ve got to get in and change them.”

One they’d love to add to the collection is Bus 982, the last Renault ever delivered and still held by Transport Canberra for training.

“That would give us the prototype – the first delivered – and the last delivered,” Zac says.

“When Transport Canberra is done with it, we’d be very interested in acquiring that.”

Many of the museum’s 40 members are former bus drivers and mechanics but “a lot are younger bus enthusiasts, which is really good because it can get passed on when we get tired of managing it”.

Zac worked with QANTAS up until COVID, but won’t go back from bus driving.

“I like the people,” he says.

“And you’re sort of your own boss. When you are on the road, you don’t have someone over your shoulder, and obviously do everything within the boundaries set out. But you can pace yourself, while meeting lots of people and enjoying the always changing scenery.”

For more information on the Renault PR100 Series Farewell Tour, or to book tickets, visit the online Trybooking event listing.