News & Discussion: Adelaide Metro Buses

[metro]

This is so stupid, and at a time when Adelaide's public transport should be experiencing a huge rise in passengers with lots of new buses, major upgrades to the rail system, and a new smart card ticketing system.. it's all gone to waste with a major fiasco with shit bus operators on the city's busiest routes and the O-BAHN!!! Added to that all the rail closures forcing people to use old high-floor un-airconditioned buses for months, and for the Gawler line which is the longest and busiest and it's closed all summer. Most people would rather drive, than taking a crappy old bus from Gawler or Elizabeth on 30-40C day

all of the powers that be, the minister, the departments, adelaide metro, the operators, need to get their acts together. They first have to get buses running reliably again, they should start putting on air conditioned and low-floor buses on ALL of the Gawler Line rail buses. and once everything is in order, have a month or two of FREE public transport and hopefully people will start taking public transport again.

[bay transit]

The Gawler Line is undergoing a major,major upgrade for 7 months in preparation for the upgrade to electrification-this is the second stage for this line-surely you must understand that there is no other way to do it-this is commonsense.
These 50+ ex O-Bahn rigid and articulated buses have already been used on the Noarlunga line.Our service providers don't have 50 spare new buses with air-conditioning and are low floor lying idle to service rail upgrades-if you or the public don't like this set up you have the alternate of normal route service buses i.e. 224/228/500/502 or 502X,or the car.
Anyway this is all off topic as we are talking about Transfields Light-City Buses problems!

[Hooligan]

The Gawler Line is undergoing a major,major upgrade for 7 months in preparation for the upgrade to electrification-this is the second stage for this line-surely you must understand that there is no other way to do it-this is commonsense.
These 50+ ex O-Bahn rigid and articulated buses have already been used on the Noarlunga line.Our service providers don't have 50 spare new buses with air-conditioning and are low floor lying idle to service rail upgrades-if you or the public don't like this set up you have the alternate of normal route service buses i.e. 224/228/500/502 or 502X,or the car.
Anyway this is all off topic as we are talking about Transfields Light-City Buses problems!

Tell that to the bloke in the wheelchair

[rubberman]

The Gawler Line is undergoing a major,major upgrade for 7 months in preparation for the upgrade to electrification-this is the second stage for this line-surely you must understand that there is no other way to do it-this is commonsense.
These 50+ ex O-Bahn rigid and articulated buses have already been used on the Noarlunga line.Our service providers don't have 50 spare new buses with air-conditioning and are low floor lying idle to service rail upgrades-if you or the public don't like this set up you have the alternate of normal route service buses i.e. 224/228/500/502 or 502X,or the car.
Anyway this is all off topic as we are talking about Transfields Light-City Buses problems!

How about maintaining the line properly in the first place so that it did not deteriorate to the point where it had to be totally replaced?

While it might seem OT, it is just an example of the same sort of inability to manage a transport undertaking.

ie, it answers the question: "Is the Transfield problem just an isolated case of a stuff up that can happen to anyone anywhere, or is it the symptom of a system where people simply do not know what they are doing?"

While I am not convinced one way or the other, the more examples I see, the more I am inclined to think that the Transfield problem is systemic, and unless the government moves to increase its operational and technical competence, then this is just a sign of things to come. ie the Transfield problem needs to be addressed by not only getting the contractor to do the work, but also for government to get the competence so that it can micromanage them if need be. (Note I am not saying that government should need to micromanage the whole system, but have enough people with bus transit operational and technical skills to be able to target contractors' weak points when things turn pear shaped somewhere or other). Similarly, it needed people with the technical skills to say five or six years ago: "Start major maintainance of track and relays by sections at such and such points."

[bay transit]

Family First MP Dennis Hood was on 5aa this morning with Leon Byner and Transfield State Manager Adam Machon.Dennis highlighted some new information that had been given to him by Senior staff At Transfield's Morphettville Depot.This include insufficient training for new drivers like 2 weeks(plus extra if and where needed),as opposed to Torrens Transit who give new drivers 4 weeks training.
Under Torrens Transit's EBA their drivers are only allowed to work a maximum of 6 days straight before having a break.Transfield's drivers can be forced to work up to 13 days straight.All the other issues relating to very late running,missed trips,drivers going down wrong streets,insufficient times between journeys, and not issuing tickets to passengers were raised.
Machon said most of these problems had been overcome,and they were working on issues as they arose trying to fix them-a very evasive performance by him,when you consider these problems are still occuring on a day to day basis-so they haven't been fixed by any means.

[bay transit]

Just wondering if any one had noticed any improvements to services operated by this company in last couple of weeks?

[metro]

nah, i've stopped taking the bus

[[Shuz]]

My morning bus services have resumed to their normal state and the service reliability is back on par to pre-October 2nd standards.

However, my evening services are still all over the place and horribly unreliable. I'm waiting long times for buses that never seem to show up, and then when one does, two or three come up right behind it, all at once!

[IAintTouchin]

At Goodwood the other day, this lady got a blood nose because the bus stopped at her stop way too suddenly and she hit a the handle pole.

[bay transit]

Apparently things will improve from Monday 19th December when school holidays begin,which means new rosters will begin allowing more time for journeys to/from depots to terminuses,and between terminuses.
Hopefully this will overcome the problems that have occured since LCB took over.Mind you this new roster will require additional drivers and buses!

[bay transit]

All seems to have gone quiet at the moment.Things have improved a little,still a long way to go.
Notice that many services leave late due to drivers taking too long for breaks,including time spent smoking,on their mobiles-doesn't seem to be any urgency by some of them to leave their terminuses on time.
Obviously Transfield is very lax in this area in enforcing this!

[DM8]

Notice that many services leave late due to drivers taking too long for breaks,including time spent smoking,on their mobiles-doesn't seem to be any urgency by some of them to leave their terminuses on time.

It's been like that for well over a decade - Torrens Transit, Serco, even Trans Adelaide (when they still did buses) would leave starting points late (smoko, read the paper, etc) then radio in to say they were running behind because of traffic.

[mokeystyley]

Quote from a bus driver I know "There is every excuse under the sun to be late to a stop, there is no excuse to be early"
as told to him by his supervisor.
He was told this working for Torrens Transit and now works for Transfield.

[DM8]

I can believe that - would explain why those who left on time could be seen travelling as slow as 30-40km/h on a 60km/h road. Torrens Transit rostering was crap to say the least, according to the drivers (not just the commuting public).

So for Transfield to f**k it up so badly by comparison... either inexperience or incompetence (probably both).

[terrytate]

any idea what the salary is for a transfield bus driver?

i might ask for a job but it woul dhave to be good coin to put up with all the problems!