News & Discussion: Adelaide Metro Buses

[Brucetiki]

Does anyone know when the old buses will be phased out at Southlink?

By old, i mean the uncomfortable, loud, lacking air conditioning, lacking window tinting, old brown seaters... they are by far the worst buses out and I deliberately avoid them. I would rather spend another 5-10 minutes waiting for the next bus then catch them.

If you're referring to the Brown Bombers, they were retired in 2005 - one was at the History Festival celebrations at the NRM over the weekend.

[Brucetiki]

The oldest buses operated by Southlink are the NL 202's,the oldest being built in 1997,meaning they still have 4 years left before they are retired.

They're also airconditoned and don't have brown seats.

[HeapsGood]

I'm not sure of the model of the bus, but they have the 2 x 2 seats facing each other at the front of the bus, the 2 big areas for disabled seating with 1 or 2 fold down chairs, and then the steps up to the back section of the bus, where there are also 2 seats facing each other. From memory, they have like brown upholstery seating. There may be air conditioning, or there may not be - it usually doesn't work well in summer. They are the most horrible buses out.

[HeapsGood]

Ok it's definitely these buses https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHrShc677gg

Which is the NL202. They are absolutely horrible and seem older than 1997.

[jorcoga]

Yeah Torrens Transit has a nasty, nasty habit of running those buses on my route right on peak hour. Meanwhile I get the 100 to work two days a week and often get an articulated bus. On a route where even in the middle of morning peak there's very rarely more than 10 people aboard...

[Brucetiki]

Ok it's definitely these buses https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHrShc677gg

Which is the NL202. They are absolutely horrible and seem older than 1997.

Oh yeah, the NL’s are awful. Not as bad as the midi’s - their smaller cousin (which have been retired several years before they needed to).

[muzzamo]

Yeah Torrens Transit has a nasty, nasty habit of running those buses on my route right on peak hour. Meanwhile I get the 100 to work two days a week and often get an articulated bus. On a route where even in the middle of morning peak there's very rarely more than 10 people aboard...

In peak hour, they need all their buses on the road. Outside of peak i've noticed they use the newest buses, presumably because they have the lowest running costs.

[jorcoga]

Yeah Torrens Transit has a nasty, nasty habit of running those buses on my route right on peak hour. Meanwhile I get the 100 to work two days a week and often get an articulated bus. On a route where even in the middle of morning peak there's very rarely more than 10 people aboard...

In peak hour, they need all their buses on the road. Outside of peak i've noticed they use the newest buses, presumably because they have the lowest running costs.

Do they really have significantly more buses on the road during peak hour than during the middle of the day? You're right about buses after about 7pm or so but the service frequency on most routes (Torrens Transit ones, anyway) is more or less the same at midday as it is at 8am or 5pm.

My point stands that the NL202 is ideal for the various cross-suburban routes (100, 300, J8, 361 etc) that are relatively sparsely used and tend to primarily serve the purpose of getting people to their local shops or kids to their school - generally fairly short trips. My commute on the 100 takes a bit under 20 minutes and anecdotally very few of the people that get off at Arndale are already aboard there when I get on. Using them on busy routes in peak times? Not so much.

[Norman]

Yeah Torrens Transit has a nasty, nasty habit of running those buses on my route right on peak hour. Meanwhile I get the 100 to work two days a week and often get an articulated bus. On a route where even in the middle of morning peak there's very rarely more than 10 people aboard...

In peak hour, they need all their buses on the road. Outside of peak i've noticed they use the newest buses, presumably because they have the lowest running costs.

Do they really have significantly more buses on the road during peak hour than during the middle of the day? You're right about buses after about 7pm or so but the service frequency on most routes (Torrens Transit ones, anyway) is more or less the same at midday as it is at 8am or 5pm.

Definitely. For example, the M44 runs double the frequency in peak and the G10 runs triple the frequency in peak. Then add to that the school buses and services that only run in peak hours.

[1NEEDS2POST]

Flinders University has just started running a driverless shuttle bus that runs on public roads. Anyone can book a ride on it.

https://www.flinders.edu.au/flex-bus

[ChillyPhilly]

Is it time buses accepted card transactions?

[Norman]

Is it time buses accepted card transactions?

It would be easier to allow the card readers to accept debit and credit cards.

[claybro]

It would be easier to allow the card readers to accept debit and credit cards.

Presume you mean tapping on with your own credit/debit card? Would it even be possible to programme the machines to charge different amounts for different cards for the same journey ie bank surcharges? And aren't the metro cards able to provide data on travel habits which might be missing from private credit/debit cards? Not sure just how they actually use the system other than fare collection.

[Eurostar]

Is it time buses accepted card transactions?

I liked the idea of being able to use my bank card to top up my myki on the bus especially at Tullamarine Airport where there is not easy to find your bank's ATM machine.

[1NEEDS2POST]

It would be easier to allow the card readers to accept debit and credit cards.

Presume you mean tapping on with your own credit/debit card? Would it even be possible to programme the machines to charge different amounts for different cards for the same journey ie bank surcharges? And aren't the metro cards able to provide data on travel habits which might be missing from private credit/debit cards? Not sure just how they actually use the system other than fare collection.

If credit cards replace metrocards, could ticket inspectors verify you have paid for a valid ticket?

These days, you can make payments with your phone. Apparently Adelaide Metro has looked into this. https://www.itnews.com.au/news/adelaide ... ort-436267