Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 354 i Australasian Bus & Coach

Queensland operator Quicksilver has added two new Volvo-Marcopolo B7R 57-seat coaches to its fleet. The coaches will be put to good use, travelling along the Great Barrier Reef drive between Cairns and Port Douglas. Quicksilver managing director Tony Baker says he is pleased that the organisation is able to offer its customers the comfort and safety of riding in these brand new coaches. “After the success of our first Volvo coach in early 2016, a second coach was commissioned and has commenced transferring our Quicksilver reef customers along one of Australia’s most scenic drives in a vehicle that brings a new standard of quality, safety and technology to the region,” he says. The Volvo-Marcopolo B7Rs have the highest possible current exhaust emission controls. “By European emission standards, it’s an enhanced…

“We’re making public transport simpler, fairer and cheaper for families” The Victorian Government has made it cheaper for children and teenagers to travel on public transport by lifting the age of eligibility for free travel from four to five and increasing the age threshold of child myki tickets from 16 to 18 years old. The change means young people will have access to concession fares until they are 19, even if they aren’t at school or university. For a 17- or 18-year-old working instead of studying, the shift could save them up to $800 a year. People under the age of 18 will also now be able to use a driver’s licence or a proof of age card to prove their eligibility for concession fares. This change will save up…

‘The guidance feature actually reduces the cost’ A unique element of Adelaide’s public transport mix is its O-Bahn busway network with kerb-guided steering, allowing operation in a tight working envelope. The dedicated busway allows buses to operate without the disruption and variability of travel on public roads. The only problem with this system is that when the buses exit the dedicated network, they travel on congested public roads to reach and exit the CBD, creating bottlenecks during peak hours. In an effort to address this, the South Australian Government initiated the $160 million O-Bahn City Access Project to extend the O-Bahn service, reducing traffic congestion and delays – particularly on the Inner Ring Route. This extension, currently being constructed by McConnell Dowell (MCD), is scheduled for completion late this year…

Sydney’s booming northwest region will receive an unprecedented boost of 1000 extra bus services as part of an upgraded public transport service that will also see Metro trains arriving every four minutes. New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Andrew Constance announced the surge in extra buses while inspecting construction progress at Cudgegong Road Station, the first station on Sydney Metro – Australia’s biggest public transport project. The new services are a part of more than 1700 extra weekly bus trips that are coming online across Sydney, the Illawarra, the Central Coast and the Hunter. The services will begin this month and will be delivered under the NSW Government’s Growth Services Program, which provides more bus services for customers when and where they are needed.…

“The scale of this project will rival any megaproject across the globe” Construction starts this year on new Sydney Metro tunnels which will run under Sydney Harbour and the CBD, with the green light now given for the project to proceed. New South Wales (NSW) Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Andrew Constance welcomed planning approval for the second stage of Sydney Metro, which starts at Chatswood and travels beneath Sydney Harbour, through the CBD to Sydenham and on to Bankstown. The approval is for the Chatswood to Sydenham section of the project. “The scale of this project will rival any megaproject across the globe, and today marks the start of even more grunt work,” Constance says. “This is an unprecedented boost to rail capacity for our great city.” Construction sites…

Curbing anti-social behaviour on South Australian public transport is the focus of a major investment in CCTV and the introduction of mobile security patrols that monitor bus and rail networks in the state. Albert Park Train Station is the latest facility to get new high definition CCTV cameras as part of the South Australian Government’s $4 million Station Security and Amenity Upgrades Program. The improvements are designed to meet the needs of the tens of thousands of passengers who use buses and trains each year, and to encourage higher take-up of public transport with the provision of better security. South Australian Transport and Infrastructure Minister Stephen Mullighan says people need to feel safe using the state’s bus and rail networks. “We are adding to our existing network of more than…

You wouldn’t think bus steps could be so important. Believe it or not, in London, the spiritual home of double-deckers, people die each year from falling down the stairs. So BCI has designed its new double-decker to prevent that from happening. “In the traditional way, the steps will go straight down,” BCI’s Chris Cordia says. “It will be one flight of stairs – so, when standing at the top of the stairs as the bus takes off, and if you’re not really holding on, you could fall a long way. Nothing is going to stop you.” But that can’t happen with the BCI double-deckers, which are already running around the London area courtesy of British bus operator and dealer, Ensign. “The staircase in this bus is a compact, short fall…

‘January 2017 saw 68 buses delivered, a far cry from the 100 delivered in December 2016’ Deliveries fell sharply in January 2017 with just 68 brand-new buses delivered to bus and coach opreators all around Australia. This compared poorly with December 2016, during which 100 new bus deliveries were reported by chassis manufacturers, representing a drop of about 30 per cent. The January deliveries number also pales in comparison with the 92 new buses delivered in January last year. For suppliers, the vast majority of deliveries were Volvos (24), followed by MAN (12). BCI was the biggest surprise in terms of manufacturers, reporting six deliveries for the month of January. The number of buses delivered by all manufacturers was significantly down compared with December 2016. The majority of other manufacturers…

A new bus network that replaces the 19 existing routes with 15 more direct and frequent services has been launched in the regional Victorian city of Ballarat. CDC Victoria (owned by parent company ComfortDelGro) transferred 14 new Volgren buses from Melbourne to CDC Ballarat, which will be used on the new network. Victorian Minister for Public Transport Jacinta Allan joined Member for Buninyong Geoff Howard and Member for Wendouree Sharon Knight in Ballarat to mark the occasion. The move is part of the Victorian Government’s $100 million investment in better bus services. “We’re delivering more trains and more buses right now, and investing more than half a billion dollars to run even more frequent, reliable services in the future,” Allan says. Many of the routes cover the same area as…

A Gold Coast tour bus operator will face the Federal Circuit Court in Brisbane over claims it engaged in sham contracting and underpaid two workers from non-English speaking backgrounds more than $43,400. The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) initiated the case against AVA Travel, along with its operations manager Terry Huang, sole director Chin Kuen Yung and partner firm JTH Enterprises after receiving a request for assistance from an employee. The request for assistance centred on a claim that staff received a text message in September 2014 requiring them to provide an ABN and informing them that they would be engaged as independent contractors from October 1, 2014 onwards. Workers continued to perform work in the same manner as they had previously done and were to be paid the same flat…

Plans to improve bus journey times and service reliability ahead of the implementation of the new B-Line services are starting to take shape in Sydney. Ex-New South Wales member for North Shore Jillian Skinner says bus services between the Northern Beaches and the Sydney CBD will become much more efficient once the new B-line services are in place. “Customers will soon be able to catch a new B-Line bus every five minutes in the busy morning and afternoon peak, in the peak direction, and every 10 minutes at other times of the day, including weekends,” she says. The B-Line bus service will stop at new citybound and outbound bus stops located on Military Road near Wycombe Road in Neutral Bay and on Spit Road near Clifford Street in Mosman. Road…

‘Our system is very robust. It comes from an industrial-level product as opposed to some other consumer-based products’ A cost-effective and reliable tyre monitoring solution is the key to preventing bus fires, according to LSM Technologies. The Australian company, which has been supplying tyre monitoring systems (TMS) to the truck, bus and heavy industry for over a decade, not only provides on-board monitoring for operators but also remote monitoring via an online telemetry system which allows fast and accurate management information. Business development manager Brendan Villiers says overheating of brakes, failure in wheel bearings and low tyre pressure are the significant causes of bus fires. LSM Technologies has seen a spike in customer numbers as a result of increasing fires across Australia, he adds. Last year’s report by the New…