Article: Banana buses taken off the road

[ozbob]

From the Brisbanetimes click here!

Banana buses taken off the road

Banana buses taken off the road
May 17, 2012 - 6:49PM

A safety check has ruled 300 articulated buses off Australian roads after a Queensland Transport and Main Roads-ordered audit.

That means 21 "banana" buses are off the road in Queensland, including three buses at Clark's Logan Buses.

No Brisbane City Council articulated buses have had to be taken from the road.

The bus order followed a dramatic crash on the Pacific Motorway on March 30, when an articulated bus abruptly turned and ended up facing oncoming traffic.

On that day, passenger Steve Spencer, who was not injured, said the bus started "weaving" across the road.

He told brisbanetimes.com.au the bus careered across the three lanes of the highway and smashed into a guard rail.

"My belief is that something went wrong with the bus, because it all started with an unprovoked, mild weave," he said.

"It was precisely because there was no obvious cause – the driver hadn't changed lanes or swerved – that I knew something was amiss early on, and so dropped to the floor and wedged myself under the seat.

"Then all hell broke loose."

Last night, a spokesman for Transport Minister Scott Emerson said the department had received the report from the independent engineering consultancy yesterday.

The spokesman said the study identified an "electrical fault in the turntable".

"It is the turntable, how it communicates with the bus, is the layman's description of it," he said.

The turntable used in many types of articulated buses, commonly called banana buses because of their length and ability to bend in the middle.

"That turntable is in about 21 buses in Queensland and we understand it is around 300 buses nationally," he said.

Transport authorities have been alerted throughout Australia, he said.

- with Marissa Calligeros

Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/banana-buses-taken-off-the-road-20120517-1yt8q.html#ixzz1v7E7MTiB

[ozbob]

From ABC News click here!

Fault confines bendy buses to slow lane

Fault confines bendy buses to slow lane

Updated Fri May 18, 2012 8:32am AEST

Almost 150 Sydney buses will have their speed capped from today, because of a potential design fault.

About two thirds of the fleet of articulated or 'bendy' buses will be forced to travel under 50 kilometres an hour, after the manufacturer Volvo contacted State Transit on Wednesday.

A State Transit spokesman says there was a problem with one of the same buses in Brisbane during March, which caused the failure of the mechanism that keeps the back of the bus steady.

He says several passengers were injured when the back section crashed into a motorway railing.

State Transit insists the bendy buses are safe, as long as they do not travel at high speeds.

It says the buses will be kept at lower speeds until the manufacturer solves the problem.

Volvo has not returned the ABC's calls.

[ozbob]

From PerthNow click here!

Safety fears put bendy buses off the road

Safety fears put bendy buses off the road

    by: Glenn Cordingley
    From: PerthNow
    May 26, 2012 10:40AM

TEN of Perth's "bendy" buses have been taken off the road over safety concerns.

The articulated Volvo B12 buses have been sidelined over fears they could "jackknife'' if the exceed 50km/h.

The Public Transport Authority said the link buses had been operated by metropolitan contractors Path Transit, Swan Transit and Southern Coast Transit.

Volvo Bus Australia alerted the PTA to a potential problem with the electronic control designed to help prevent the buses fishtailing at speeds of more than 50km/h.

"We have been assured by the manufacturer of the dampening control that the fault occurs only in Volvo articulated buses,'' PTA spokesman David Hynes said.

"None of our other articulated buses are Volvos.''

He said after the PTA had received the alert it asked contractors to keep the buses at depots until they had been inspected and a 50km/h speed restriction electronically imposed by Volvo technicians.

'The 10 buses have been inspected and none was found to have a problem,'' Mr Hynes said.

"Nevertheless, they have all been taken out of service. As an added precaution, they have all also had a 50km/h speed governor imposed until a solution to the fault is engineered and successfully tested.''

The PTA said the impact on passengers and timetables would be minimal.

[ClintonL94]

After the fishtail incident with the "bendy" from Logan City Bus fleet, all 4 of the "bendy" buses from the fleet are now back in service.

[somebody]

After the fishtail incident with the "bendy" from Logan City Bus fleet, all 4 of the "bendy" buses from the fleet are now back in service.

That's good news.  Hopefully, there is never another incident like this again.