26 February 2009

Deane's take over the Brumbies run - What's ACTION good for?

| johnboy
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Ross Sully’s show on ABC Radio this morning had the bombshell news that after wrangling with the union ACTION won’t be providing the charter buses which move a good 8,000 people in and out of Canberra Stadium for Brumbies games this weekend.

Instead Deane’s are going to take a swing at it. More news on this as it comes to hand.

UPDATED The ABC now have the story online.

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MrMagoo said :

Can a smaller regional outfit like Deane’s cope with their regular services, the Brumbies vs Force and the RCS on the same weekend?

Don’t underestimate Deanes. They are quite a large company now, not only doing Queanbeyan and surrounds but the South Coast as well, and they’ve bought Transborder and Lever Coachlines.

Funnily enough, the ACTION website has the following for both the Brumbies game and the Royal Canberra Show:

Latest News
Brumbies vs. Force

Please note: These special services will be provided by DEANE’S. Look for Dean’s / Transborder buses when catching a bus to the Brumbies this Saturday.

Canberra Show

Please note: Special services to the Canberra Show will be provided by DEANE’S. Look for Dean’s / Transborder buses when catching a bus to Show this weekend.

MrPC said :

Oh, and will Deanes use that shiny new two lane freeway that opened a few years back instead of wasting time coasting up Northbourne and Mouat without actually picking up passengers along Northbourne or Mouat? Why must the territory build such roads and proceed to fail to run buses along it?

If Deanes do use the new road it will be a big F A I L to them. I’m sure the rugby fans want to see the game rather than sit in a traffic jam!!!

It would be way easier for people to know which bus to board at the stadium if the drivers could just put where they are effing going onto the effing desto. Most of the time the buses display “Special”, even when headed to the stadium. Well, the drivers of such buses sure are “Special” but the buses shouldn’t be, since just about every bus in the fleet can display such destinations as “Stadium – Brumbies Special”.

As for the buses back from the Stadium to various clubs, again, most of those clubs are in suburbs where ACTION either currently or has in the past terminated buses. If the one to say Dickson Tradies displays “Dickson” on the front instead of “Special”, then there’d be way less demand for supervisors.

Will Deanes bother to print out destination boards for the buses they will be sending out there?

Oh, and will Deanes use that shiny new two lane freeway that opened a few years back instead of wasting time coasting up Northbourne and Mouat without actually picking up passengers along Northbourne or Mouat? Why must the territory build such roads and proceed to fail to run buses along it?

I believe the transport ministry is now with Mr Stanhope.

Funny that!!!!!!

Gungahlin Al6:34 pm 26 Feb 09

Is there something fundamentally wrong when a government-run bus service concedes that it can’t run a – you know – bus service???

I believe the transport ministry is now with Mr Stanhope. Where is his rationale on this situation?

The first rule of govermnent is that it always costs ore in the end to let the government do anyting…

Surely that a private operator doing this will cost more???? So who foots the bill?? Can a smaller regional outfit like Deane’s cope with their regular services, the Brumbies vs Force and the RCS on the same weekend?

Sorry ACTION but it would seem you have very much dropped the ball or show bag on this one.

Tom Elliot evaded the real issue, ie, the END of the game when huge crowds swamp the buses and need to be directed (crowd controlled) by someone in authority. There are cars, buses and people (some a bit plastered) everywhere. I don’t see how two supervisors would ‘cut it’. The drivers would naturally be concerned for their own safety in such a scenario. It would only take one numbskull to create a major problem. I have a family member who did this run last weekend and was appalled. It appears to be yet another cost cutting measure (along with the non-implementation of the new weekend timetable taht sould have been started 12 months ago).

Steve_Pedestrian said :

Will this also affect the Canberra Show this weekend?

Yes. Deane’s will be providing the buses for the Canberra Show as well (although the ACTION bloke didn’t seem so confident about this one).

My fiancee and I were considering taking the bus to the show this year (we haven’t done that in a couple of years) however I think with all this crap going on, we’ll just drive.

Steve_Pedestrian10:57 am 26 Feb 09

Will this also affect the Canberra Show this weekend?

Apparently it’s to do with numbers of Supervisors rostered on.

Wrangling with the Union, what do they want Free tickets, don’t they get Raiders tickets through the CFMEU? Chairman Jon as Transport Minister will no doubt stick his head into this sooner rather than later.

I thought for a moment you were reporting that Robbie Deans had been appointed as a new coach!

The bloke representing ACTION was brilliant. He spoke for a good 10 minutes without saying anything of substance. Personally, my favourite part of the interview was when he started talking about Matt Giteau coming back next year.

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