They probably didn’t replace the sticker as a cost measure.
If they didn’t have to replace the glazing, they wouldn’t have.
I do wish we had a clearer sense of the brand standards generally, and how the orange/grey stops and stations palette is meant to fit in with all new buses now being cyan, and QR, G:link, Brisbane Metro and the ferry operations each having their own livery not related to anything else.
1 Like
The last batch of mid-life Volvo B12Bs that were passed from Kinetic Gold Coast depots were split between Marcoola and Caloundra depots.
I’d assume either the above happens again, or all of the second batch of ex-Kinetic GC B12Bs are at Marcoola, whilst the late 572x to early 573x Volvo B12Bs to be transferred back to Caloundra.
The 572x and early 573x Volvos tends to ping pong back and forth between Marcoola and Caloundra a fair bit.
Another fine unit in Kinetic’s fleet I’ve discovered this morning is the ‘tilt bus’
While not as fast as QR’s equivalent train it’s just as fun through the corners! 
(mostly tongue in cheek and it didnt sag as badly while driving but I’m surprised a bus with dodgy air suspension is allowed to run)
Update: My bus back to Landsborough today has a different issue, the door sensors are broken! The driver just had to get up and manually force the doors shut because they kept reopening.
2 Likes
I am hearing more and more rumours of a bus improvement package that is in the works, set to coincide with the opening of Kinetic’s new Noosa depot in a few months.
Didn’t pay much attention when it was just chatter in local community groups, but someone in another transport forum who appears to be a driver for Kinetic has also now flagged an imminent announcement. The info so far is:
- New bus routes, focusing on the growing southern suburbs and also network improvements up toward Noosa and that area.
- Timetable improvements to the existing network.
- All of the older MDI buses being transferred to Townsville
- Between 7 and 20 ‘MAN’ buses in Volgren Optimus body, unsure if this will come from Gold Coast fleet or new.
- ~10 TMR buses to be leased for an unknown period.
- Reshuffle of the local fleet to spread out between new and existing depots.
Two different sources have indicated that these changes will be rolled out in December, but it’s worth noting that it’s almost 2 years since consultation for the Bus Service Improvement closed so TMR don’t seem to be in a rush.
1 Like
Wouldn’t be surprised if Coomera gets its fleet of MAN Optimus passed onto Noosa and replaced with more GBVs, as those have been steadily delivered to said depot and Molendinar as well.
About the MDIs: Tweed Heads still has a few of them to operate routes 767/768 on really tight streets around Tugun. I’m not particularly sure what will happen to them in the future as they’re getting quite old and a bit unreliable.
That’s what I was thinking, I’m also hoping as more and more of the old VSTs in the Sunny Coast fleet get retired (3 have been decommissioned in the last few weeks alone with many more about to hit end of life) they start moving the newer VST/XDis up from the GC too.
I’ll be glad to see the end of the MDis, they’re way too small for operations on the Sunny Coast especially in school holidays. Nothing worse than being at a crowded bus stop and something that can almost be called a minibus pulls up. In the last school holidays some services were so crowded that you couldn’t even board anymore.
As for my guess, I’d suspect the XDis out of Marcoola and some of the ‘newer’ Volvos B7RLEs out of Caloundra will be transferred to Noosa. The TMR fleet almost entirely going to Caloundra, whilst the MAN Volgrens (ex-Kinetic GC depots) probably split between Noosa and Marcoola
Gympie Bus improvements announced this week (that region isn’t big enough to warrant its own thread imo) - Gympie bus improvements | Translink
Sunshine Coast to follow, hopefully?
1 Like
4 Likes