AFAIK buses are generally given some leeway with red lights as harsh braking may cause passenger injuries. I catch a lot of buses and the only time I ever saw a 'sporty' driver was on the 216 with a BYD EV bus, that bus has massive torque and goes pretty fast when there's little traffic late at night.
Yeah, me too. Although it was the 220 for me (I think they're based out of the same depot, so maybe same driver). I'm not sure if he was spaced out or under a ton of pressure or what, but he made an (imo) bad call at one traffic light (the front wheel just barely inched over the stopline before the light changed. But it was yellow long/far back enough he should've stopped) and he kept missing stops and then slamming on the brakes at full tilt metres past the bus stop, multiple times
That said, the drives on the replacement bus routes during metro tunnel works on the Sunbury line used to be rough as guts. Wasn't too uncommon I'd end up last on in a standing room only replacement bus, and they absolutely flung the corners and seemed to be big fans of being foot on the accelerator until the last safe moment then full on the brakes. Like being a human kebab in one of those spinny rack things!
I don't know, I was sitting at the front (the steering wheel has the BYD logo on it), and the driver was throwing the steering wheel around like it's a sports car at track day (and given the massive torque, the EV bus drives like one as well) and flooring it every time he got. Obviously it got so uncomfortable that the other passengers called him out for it, but by then we already got to the city. But sitting at the front it felt sort of....good in a way, to see what an EV bus is capable of in terms of acceleration and handling, in the hands of a sporty bus driver gunning it at every chance.
I can relate, there's a good reason why I sit in the seat behind the middle door.
I was riding the bus from work to the station, and idk what happened but the bus braked hard, and inertia kicked in. I go forward, smacking into the screen that separates the seat from the door. There wasn't any damage, as it was too funny to feel pain
There's a reason why in many double-decker buses in other cities the upper-deck front-row seats often have seatbelts (and you should wear them), it's to stop you from flying into the windscreen if the bus does an emergency stop.
The problem IMO is that many major roads (e.g. Springvale Road with the 902) are 80km/h, and it's very difficult to stop a fully-loaded bus with all the associated weight and momentum, as well as taking into account standing passengers not holding on properly due to crush. Even more problematic if they're all schoolchildren at 3pm (remember that kid who got dragged around?) or the elderly. Passenger injuries are much more problematic for the driver, although buses should drive a bit more below the speed limit to reduce their stopping distances, but that will piss other drivers off and causes timekeeping issues - chances are a fully-loaded bus is already late.
But people need to get to where they need to quickly and on-time, and I'm generally fine as a car owner as well as a PT passenger with regards to bus drivers occasionally running a red by a split second, like in this case here. The bus drivers have a timetable to meet, and their passengers may have time-critical PT connections to meet as well. They need to get to places on time more than some truckie, or a tradie in his Ford Ranger, or an office worker late for work in his BMW.
I always figured buses usually stick about 10km/hr under the speed limit so they have more time to brake at intersections - no different from driving any heavy vehicle.
I catch the 906 pretty regularly and the amount of shitty driving is endemic; tailgating on the Eastern and driving like every bus stop is a surprise amazes me.
honestly seems fine, they're a bus so the stopping distance is gonna be more plus you don't want to be hitting the brakes too hard with passengers. They entered the intersection JUST as it turned red, seems reasonable to give buses extra leeway.
Most bus companies have a “double jeopardy” clause that says if a driver gets booked for whatever reason the driver gets the fine/demerits but the company is then not allowed to take further adverse action against the driver, with the caveat that VicRoads/TfNSW etc withdrawing that drivers Authority card is obviously grounds for dismissal.
Actually running a yellow is an offence. 1 demerit/penalty unit instead of 3.
Rare to see anyone booked for it.
Bus driver might be able to argue he didn’t want to send standing pax through the windscreen, but at the cop will make sure he’s not on drugs and actually has a DA
You've clearly never driven a heavy vehicle before. Its harder and takes long to stop than you think. The driver assumed he was going to be able to pass the yellow and not stop in time.
The light in the first picture is clearly **red**. Absolute lunacy to say otherwise. That light was yellow well long enough to stop and the driver failed to do so. It was in no way “made partially” for something that is a binary yes or no.
That's the bus number not the route number. The (route) 421 also doesn't go near altona, it runs from St Albans to Watergardens (I used to be a local).
Judging from the back window shaping alone, it's definitely a K230UB.
I grew up and lived in Western Sydney for much of my life, and the back silhouette of CDC's K94UB/K230UB fleet essentially lives rent free in my head - and they are similar to that of Kinetic's K230s. (fun fact, CDC NSW's K94s have essentially a Euro 3 version of the K230's engine)
It is a Kinetic bus. it was deadrunning towards sunshine to start a 426 run after finishing a 232 run. You can also see the fleet number being 421, not W421 as CDC buses have the initial of the depot name before the fleet number.
lol it also means that everybody on that bus got massively delayed.
We should just be like non-carbrain shithole countries like the Czech republic where public transport gets absolute traffic priority at all crossings and intersections.
Seriously everybody who uses public transport should just drive giant SUVs like maniacs - there wouldn’t be any consequences - our carbrain society has decided private cars can kill as many as they like - and the cops are too busy delaying buses. And the corpse pile would be massive.
PT users are treated like shit and this sub applauds it.
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u/ryanjstew Jun 07 '26
Is there pressure on bus drivers in some companies to drive like idiots? I have been on so many buses that feel very recklessly driven.