Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 337 i Australasian Bus & Coach

Melbourne’s commuters were thrown into chaos with the recent train and tram stoppages in the city. At the time of print, commuters have been thrown into disarray as the Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) members have planned — and gone through with — some work stoppages recently amid disputes over pay and working conditions (p18). Much of the planned industrial action has meant commuters have had to make alternative travel arrangements to get about their daily activities e.g., work. As we all know, the public transport system — particularly in Australia’s capital cities — are often integrated to work with one another. Some of the commuters have been able to catch earlier services, work around the system with the replacement bus services on offer or, like me, have bitten…

Ideas on how bus, tram and rail services could be improved came thick and fast at a Victorian Government community brainstorming session in Bendigo recently. The Victorian Government’s Regional Network Development Plan has seen workshops conducted throughout regional Victoria over the past two months. Victorian public transport minister Jacinta Allan says a plan for better train and coach services across regional Victoria will be formed and the sooner the better, as people in Bendigo rely on public transport heavily and deserve the best services possible.…

A new $5 million bus interchange near Huntingdale Station in Melbourne’s east is set to bring bus transport into the future and boost student patronage. The new bus interchange and upgraded car park will be delivered by Public Transport Victoria (PTV), in close consultation with Monash City Council and Monash University, who contributed $200,000 to the bus interchange upgrade. Public transport minister Jacinta Allan says the new transport hub will make public transport a more attractive option for people in the eastern suburbs. The existing gravel car park across Huntingdale Road from the station will also be paved and tidied up, at a cost of $2.6 million. Monash University director of business support Paul Barton says the new bus interchange will make life easier for its students as well as…

Householders in Adelaide’s newest subdivisions may soon be directly funding public transport services. People living in new developments on the outskirts of Adelaide may soon have to pay a new type of ongoing tax, to help the South Australian Government fund new public transport services. The current system sees home buyers pay a single new infrastructure fee as part of the initial purchase price, but SA minister for planning John Rau says this is does little to cover the long-term cost of extending bus and rail services. A feature of the new legislation is the establishment of a new State Planning Commission that will assess each new development based on its merits, rather than Adelaide district councils and the creation of a growth boundary for the city. The new legislation…

Perth’s core CBD bus fleet of 32 vehicles will be replaced with Volvo Euro 6 diesels at a cost of $18.2 million, after electric-diesel hybrids were deemed too expensive. The decision comes after Transperth trialled a diesel-electric hybrid bus as an option to replace its aging fleet — which will now be gradually decommissioned over the next three years — with the first Euro 6 city bus to arrive next year. Western Australia transport minister Dean Nalder says the 18-month trial thoroughly assessed the on-road handling, maintenance requirements and the economic cost of diesel-electric technology. A lack of quickly available parts and the need to re-train staff for the new technology were factors that indicated diesel buses remain the best choice for the Transperth network. The WA Government has already…

Rear-door bus boarding will be allowed permanently at Sydney’s CBD bus stops from early October following a successful trial of the system. The initial two-week trial showed strong results in moving passengers faster and should help counteract issues caused by the closure of bus lanes during light rail construction in the CBD. New South Wales minister for transport Andrew Constance says rear boarding will only be allowed for Opal card holders and only during the afternoon peak at five of the city’s busiest stops. “These are exactly the kinds of improvements we need to be making to the CBD road network to ensure the network keeps operating efficiently and effectively throughout the years of construction ahead of us,” he says A considerable reduction in average bus alighting times was achieved…

Long, hot days on mining sites are a lifestyle few manage to experience. But in Darwin, the uniqueness of a major construction project has allowed the local economy to benefit and be a part of a major oil and gas project. Buslink Vivo was purpose-built to provide transport for the workforce building the Ichthys liquified natural gas (LNG) Project’s onshore facilities. Now, more than 300 locals have been employed to transport the workers to and from the Project site. Buslink Vivo is the creation of a partnership formed in 2012 uniting two types of expertise: Buslink, the largest bus operator in Northern Australia and a specialist in transporting people in tropical and remote areas; and Transdev Australasia, under its Vivo brand, transports workers to industrial sites. The partnership’s primary objective…

If you haven’t already used AdBlue in a bus or coach, chances are you will one day. AdBlue is the most recognised form of diesel exhaust fluid (DEF), which is needed for selective catalytic reduction (SCR) emissions control. SCR is used in many Euro 4 and Euro 5 buses in Australia to control oxides of nitrogen (NOx), which can harm the respiratory system. The other main method for controlling NOx is exhaust gas recirculation (EGR). It’s widely expected that the next round of emissions standards — Euro 6 — will require at least SCR, if not both EGR and SCR, for most buses. (The diesel particulate filter [DPF] is a separate system for dealing with soot.) SCR is on the rise, and unfortunately the anecdotes of drivers putting AdBlue into…

PERCENTAGE BY REGION PERCENTAGE BY APPLICATION SALES BY CHASSIS Deliveries continued to tumble in August, with a total of 104 buses delivered in July, compared to 113 the previous month. Top of the pack was Volvo with a solid 37 buses delivered, Mercedes-Benz came in at a distant second with 17 deliveries. Thirteen Volvo route service buses were notably delivered to the Public Transport Authority in Western Australia. SALES BY BODY Forty-four buses were delivered by Volgren this month, while Custom Bus was involved in 10 deliveries. Less than five buses were delivered by the majority of the other builders. SALES BY AIR-CONDITIONER Thermo King led the way among air-conditioning suppliers and was included in 49 deliveries, a big leap from last month’s result (38). Enduro made an appearance and…

Michael Apps  BIC National Secretariat PO Box 6171, Kingston ACT 2604 P: 02 6247 5990 F: 02 6273 1035 E: admin@bic.asn.au If you have not yet registered for the Bus Industry Confederation (BIC) conference in November, then it is time to make the decision to come and support your industry and think about where your business — whether you are a supplier or operator — is heading in the next 10 or 20 years. A raft of federal and state government reports this year have painted a clear picture of the challenges that we face in our cities and regions with a growing and ageing population and meeting future transport demand. The challenges that the bus industry specifically face are several. These challenges will be the subject of discussion in…

Graeme McDonald A member of the Money Resources Group P: 03 8699 5000 F: 03 9690 9484 M: 0401 189 160 E: graeme@ moneyresources.com.au Ever sat in front of late night television and been amazed at the sort of advertisements that pop up — from dubious dating sites to strange blending machines that are so good we want you to have two. Now you are more likely to see advertisements for quick, small loans — most talk about amounts between $1,000 and $2,000, with one recently pushing the upper end of $5,000. These advertisements are promoting what is known as the ‘payday lender’. The name says it all. They will advance you an amount equivalent to your next pay to help you out of a financial spot. That sounds like…

One the most vital attributes of any bus, no matter what it’s used for, is comfort. Comfort cannot be achieved if one is either too hot or too cold and, with temperatures easily topping 40C in the height of summer, air-conditioning becomes crucial. Additionally, happy passengers equal a happy driver and ultimately a happy operator. Air-conditioning suppliers understand the important role they play when it comes to providing this comfort and helping operators deliver their passengers in fresh-mode, instead of having them arrive as a mass of congealed, sweaty bodies. Despite the obvious need to provide this service, any economist will tell you demand is never unlimited, and it seems the number of suppliers domestically may have reached a tipping point. ABC magazine caught up with air-conditioning suppliers at the…

Tim Capelin Piper Alderman partner P: 02 9253 9936 E: tcapelin @piperalderman.com.au W: piperalderman.com.au Not only can companies and other business operators be prosecuted under work health and safety laws, but so can individuals. Further, individuals can be jailed for the most serious breaches of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011. The individuals with the most onerous obligations are officers of a corporation. Officer is defined under work health and safety laws by adopting the definition of officer from the Corporations Act. Officers are required to exercise ‘due diligence’ to ensure the business complies with any duty or obligation under work health and safety laws. They must take reasonable steps to maintain up to date knowledge of work health and safety matters; understand the business operations, and the associated…

Minister for transport and infrastructure Andrew Constance and skills minister John Barilaro have announced eligible apprentices, trainees and Tafe NSW students can now apply online for a concession Opal card. Apprentices and trainees were previously only able to access concession fares when travelling between their home, workplace and place of training. Now they can access the concession fare for travel at any time on the public transport system. Barilaro says more than 80,000 apprentices and trainees are eligible to apply, and with the attractive Opal offerings and lifted travel restrictions many will for the first time take up the offer of concession travel. The change should make it easier, simpler and more cost effective for eligible Tafe NSW students to travel. To be eligible for a concession opal card Tafe…

Brisbane Bus Lines (BBL) and Australian Bus and Coach Drivers’ Guide author John Duffy were recognised at the 2015 Queensland Road Safety Awards in Mackay recently. BBL and its business partner Strategix Training Group received a commendation in the Industry Award section, and John Duffy highly commended in the Fleet and Occupational Safety Award section. BBL operations manager Damian Dempster was applauded for a program he helped implement aimed at improving road safety, developing the preventative safety skills of existing staff and ensuring its new drivers were trained in accordance with industry best practice. Each of its drivers participated in a risk-based defensive driving course, enrolled in a Certificate III in Driving Operations and the operator even created its own bus driver academy. On the same occasion, Duffy was lauded…

The O-Bahn City Access Project has passed an important test — with a project impact report showing significant benefits will be achieved for bus passengers and all Adelaide road users. South Australian transport and infrastructure minister Stephen Mullighan says the project impact report signalled an important step towards the next stage of the project. “The report shows our primary objectives — to significantly improve travel times for more than 31,000 O-Bahn bus passengers and more than 70,000 vehicles, which travel this part of the city ring route — will be achieved through this projects,” he says. This next stage of the O-Bahn project, which involves major earthworks to create a tunnel near Grenfell Street, will eventually help reduce congestion in Adelaide. The project impact report addresses issues raised by the…

NZ Bus’ new depot in the Wellington suburb of Kaiwharawhara was officially opened by the New Zealand transport minister Simon Bridges recently. Close to Wellington Railway Station, it provides good links with other modes of public transport and complements the city’s planned bus network changes. NZ Bus CEO Zane Fulljames says the depot is part of the organisations investment in new infrastructure to support Wellington’s future public transport needs. “NZ Bus is Wellington’s major public transport operator, and the opening of this new depot reflects our ongoing commitment to modernising Wellington’s bus network to make it more efficient, reliable and accessible for everyone,” he says. The Kaiwharawhara depot will provide important extra capacity while the Kilbirnie depot improvements take place between 2016 and 2017. NZ Bus spent $4 million on…

A South Australian operator who has previously been warned by the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) about workplace laws now faces workplace action for breaches. The FWO found the company continued to misclassify drivers as subcontractors instead of employees, underpaying five of them more than $10,000. Chryss Enterprises first came to the FWO’s attention as part of an inquiry in 2014 into allegations of sham contracting among transport operators engaged by the SA Government to transport special needs school students. The operation was formally cautioned 12 months ago about ongoing breaches of workplace laws. Chryss was one of nine minibus operators to receive a letter of caution in relation to unlawful independent contracting arrangements. The company provides transport services for tourists, businesses and schools, including vehicle hire, wine tours, general transfers…

An Australian supplier is encouraging operators to implement and enforce more stringent alcohol testing policies following trends overseas. Guardian Interlock Systems founder and managing director Les Libbesson says more Australian operators need to rethink their policies, particularly after engaging with business owners at the recent BusVic 2015 Maintenance Conference and Bus Expo. “After consulting with a number of bus operators at the recent expo, it would seem that for some operators testing is only done on a set cycle so that it meets the statutory requirement,” he says. The guidelines relating to drug and alcohol testing programs in accordance with the Public Transport Act, New South Wales (1990) states any operator must have adequate arrangements in place for the testing of the transport safety employees under their control. Targeted testing…

When Mobile Air Conditioning Services owners Gregg Chapman and Jim Cannon got the news their business had won the contract to service the entire Brisbane City Council (BCC) fleet after a long drawn out tender process in August 2010, they nearly fell off their chairs. Although they knew, and had worked hard to prove the team had what it takes to mix it up with the big boys — they were up against some of Australia’s leading air-conditioning suppliers. Thermo King, Coachair, and Mobile Air are some of the businesses which tendered for the BCC service contract originally. The contract for the last five-year term went to tender on December 2009 and the council finally awarded it to Mobile Air Conditioning Services in August 2010 and it has been its…