New Scania buses for ACTION

fromthecapital said :

I caught a bus this morning in lieu of riding my bike (don’t worry rioters.. I own a private car and pay all applicable taxes). One thing I noticed compared to my previous life in London is that the stop buttons are few and far between and sometimes hard to access on action buses. Also it would be much more efficient if passengers could exit at the back at every stop.

A circular went out to all drivers earlier this year advising that passengers can now exit from the rear door, at any stop, upon request.

Very Busy said :

Currently, all 33 existing articulated buses are used every weekday for school services. The reason that they are sometimes used on expresso services is due more to convenience rather than passenger volume. Several drivers operate shifts that include school services aswell as expresso services and they don’t go back to the depot to change buses.

Fair enough if they’re all used then, but my Expresso service (the 703) would often not cope with a normal bus – it’s frequently standing room only, with a lot of people in the isles, on an articulated bus. It’s a very popular service (by Canberra standards anyway!)

The extra long buses were a disaster as they could only be driven on main Canberra roads (too big to turn without hitting people, etc).

They were cheaper than artics (I understand the greens made the govt get them because they were cheaper) but they were a false economy as they are pretty useless and a waste of money.

I caught a bus this morning in lieu of riding my bike (don’t worry rioters.. I own a private car and pay all applicable taxes). One thing I noticed compared to my previous life in London is that the stop buttons are few and far between and sometimes hard to access on action buses. Also it would be much more efficient if passengers could exit at the back at every stop.

thatsnotme said :

Very Busy said :

“They will be used on high volume, high frequency routes across the ACTION network.”

“will replace the existing articulated buses in the ACTION fleet”

Given that the existing ACTION articulated buses are predominantly used on school services, these two statements contradict each other.

If the new articulated buses will replace the old ones, and the new ones will be used for high frequency routes, how will the high volume school services operate with fewer available articulated buses?

Some of the Expresso routes use articulated busses too – I’m glad to hear that there will be new ones purchased, I was wondering how everyone who catches my Expresso would fit onto a regular bus!

You’re also assuming that all of the current articulated busses are out on the roads every day, and that all of the old ones will be retired. It wouldn’t surprise me if once all of the new fleet is in, that the newest of the old busses still operate for a while.

Currently, all 33 existing articulated buses are used every weekday for school services. The reason that they are sometimes used on expresso services is due more to convenience rather than passenger volume. Several drivers operate shifts that include school services aswell as expresso services and they don’t go back to the depot to change buses.

Very Busy said :

Given that the existing ACTION articulated buses are predominantly used on school services, these two statements contradict each other.

If the new articulated buses will replace the old ones, and the new ones will be used for high frequency routes, how will the high volume school services operate with fewer available articulated buses?[/quote>

This would be a waste if the new articulated buses are used for school runs. I think it is time that the government outsourced buses for school runs as to concentrate on its normal routes with higher frequencies.

Very Busy said :

“They will be used on high volume, high frequency routes across the ACTION network.”

“will replace the existing articulated buses in the ACTION fleet”

Given that the existing ACTION articulated buses are predominantly used on school services, these two statements contradict each other.

If the new articulated buses will replace the old ones, and the new ones will be used for high frequency routes, how will the high volume school services operate with fewer available articulated buses?

Some of the Expresso routes use articulated busses too – I’m glad to hear that there will be new ones purchased, I was wondering how everyone who catches my Expresso would fit onto a regular bus!

You’re also assuming that all of the current articulated busses are out on the roads every day, and that all of the old ones will be retired. It wouldn’t surprise me if once all of the new fleet is in, that the newest of the old busses still operate for a while.

“They will be used on high volume, high frequency routes across the ACTION network.”

“will replace the existing articulated buses in the ACTION fleet”

Given that the existing ACTION articulated buses are predominantly used on school services, these two statements contradict each other.

If the new articulated buses will replace the old ones, and the new ones will be used for high frequency routes, how will the high volume school services operate with fewer available articulated buses?

Waiting For Godot said :

Isn’t SAAB/Scania almost broke? Not exactly the best investment to make.

Are we back in 1921? i’m confused. Can you link to your source, or does adding a question mark to the statement mean you don’t need to research it? Not exactly the best statement. to make
http://www.scania.com/investor-relations/company-overview/financial-history/

Scania Year-end Report January-December 2010
Operating income rose to SEK 12,746 m. (2,473), and earnings per share rose to SEK 11.38 (1.41)
Net sales increased by 26 percent to SEK 78,168 m. (62,074)
Cash flow amounted to SEK 11,880 m. (5,512) in Vehicles and Service

http://www.scania.com/Images/Scania%20Year-end%20Report%202010_232063.pdf

Not to mention they are largely owned by Volkswagen and MAN.

Doesn’t sound like a company that’s ‘almost broke’ to me.

I for one welcome the SCANIA buses.

Waiting For Godot said :

Isn’t SAAB/Scania almost broke? Not exactly the best investment to make.

SAAB was owned by General Motors & have not been apart of Scania for some years. Scania is a strong compaby with a strong market presence in the world market, Europe in particular.

SAAB have been unloaded by GM after the GFC hit & there were no takers so they announced that they were going to dispand the company. Somebody else has come to the party I believe.

SAAB are actually an aeroplane manufacturer & were way before they built cars.

A quick google though reveals this reported yesterday (or today as the case may be…):

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/8924038/Saab-GB-goes-into-administration.html

I this form SAAB themselves:

http://newsroom.saab.com/news/news/swedishautomobilenvissuesthirdquarter2011tradingupdate.5.6b70d8f7131ef59e7497ffe843.html

Anyway on the subject of bike racks & buses, the standard length for a rigid vehicle is 12.5M, almost all large rigid buses are built to this length, the ACTION buses are very close to this so the fitment & use of a bike rack makes them overlength or close to it.. The tag steer buses are already over dimension in their standard format (14.5m) & require special approvals to be built & use on public roads. ACTION being a goverment department have done this in conjuction with the ACT RTA.

The maximim length of an articulated vehicle is 19m, the articulated buses are old tgechnology that has been around for ages & the tag steer is relatively new to buses (has been used on low loader trailers for years). An articulated bus does not need a special approval as they are geneally well under 19m.

Technically there would be no reason that an arctic could not have a rack given the standard dimension but I cannot see it happening as I think the drivers would be against it. It would also have to still be able to turn in a 25M radius with the rack down.

Bus specs can be found here:

https://www.action.act.gov.au/about_us.html