Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

I use the bus around once a week. My experience is the exact opposite to that depicted in the picture. I’m frequently the only passenger on an enormous 40+ seat bus. Sometimes there are one or two other people onboard.

The bus service has been cut and cut and cut again until busses arrive very infrequently and at inconvenient times. It is not possible for me to catch a bus to and from work without walking a considerable distance (1.5 km with 80m of elevation) and then either being ridiculously early, or running late (repeat for the journey home).

Shred11 wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 07, 2024 11:04 am

The bus service has been cut and cut and cut again until busses arrive very infrequently and at inconvenient times. It is not possible for me to catch a bus to and from work without walking a considerable distance (1.5 km with 80m of elevation) and then either being ridiculously early, or running late (repeat for the journey home).

And that's why the bus is empty: if you can't just assume that there'll be a bus home whenever you want it (e.g. after beers on Friday(, people won't use them.

You need busses that are almost empty at the end of the day so that there's always a bus. And (as you point out) with a stop within sensible walking distance.

At one of my jobs, in an industrial area with thousands of workers the first bus arrived at 8:20am (pre-start is usually before 7:30am in those sort of areas). By that time there was nowhere left to park: everyone drove. We ended up running our own bus service from the nearest rail station (10km away).

Thoglette wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 07, 2024 5:06 pm

You need busses that are almost empty at the end of the day so that there's always a bus. And (as you point out) with a stop within sensible walking distance.

The buses in my area are somewhat reliable, but they used to be a lot better before everything was given to private enterprise (was government before that). The attitude to the passengers really worsened (different staff). The didn't care and generally surly in their attitude.

While before the staff were cheerful and they remembered the regular passengers.

Thoglette wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 07, 2024 5:06 pm

By that time there was nowhere left to park: everyone drove.

I've always been a bit curious about this as a non-driver: My last unit was 3k out from the Hobart CBD, with a small scattering of commercial businesses around but street parking during weekdays was almost always full (including in front of the fire hydrant marker outside my front door.) I always wondered if it was people parking as close as they could to the city without paying.

There's a similar phenomenon in my current area; I live close to a sports facility which clearly doesn't have its own adequate parking capacity, so on Netball nights street parking is full, everywhere, which appears to be a problem for some residents as most of the lots here were planned out and built on in the previous '20s, meaning very little off-street parking for the 2+ cars every household expects to have today. (Especially notable is the house of I believe 3-4 Indian blokes on the corner who each have a personal vehicle plus two of them having work fleet vehicles, with enough off-street parking capacity for about 1.8 of them.) This week I saw a council crew repainting the yellow lines around the street corner and almost told them not to bother because there's gonna be cars parked right to the corner 3+ nights a week regardless.

Average speed monitoring:

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/nsw ... 5k8rc.html

g-boaf wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 08, 2024 2:47 pm

Average speed monitoring:

Had them here in Vic for years!

Arbuckle23 wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 08, 2024 3:45 pm

g-boaf wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 08, 2024 2:47 pm

Average speed monitoring:

Had them here in Vic for years!

What are they doing about the large numbers looking at their devices, instead of at their surroundings, whilst behind the wheel?
Hopefully those cameras will also monitor that at the single points they are located.
Doesn't do anything about the idiots doing it everywhere else though.

Give a token amount of money to every successful phone use submission by the public. Problem solved

warthog1 wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 08, 2024 3:51 pm

Arbuckle23 wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 08, 2024 3:45 pm

g-boaf wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 08, 2024 2:47 pm

Average speed monitoring:

Had them here in Vic for years!

What are they doing about the large numbers looking at their devices, instead of at their surroundings, whilst behind the wheel?
Hopefully those cameras will also monitor that at the single points they are located.
Doesn't do anything about the idiots doing it everywhere else though.

Add noise cameras into the mix, those are badly needed.

I nearly had a jerk street racing in a Mustang (against a Merc C-Class) cause an accident, he cut across the front on a motorway very suddenly, then slams the brakes on because of traffic ahead and tailgates them.

But our enthusiasts here will be pleased to know he modded the Mustang with crackle explosions so I guess our enthusiasts will all forgive him.

Seriously, nobody should be driving anything with more than 55hp. They cannot be trusted.

g-boaf wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 08, 2024 6:39 pm

Add noise cameras into the mix, those are badly needed.

I nearly had a jerk street racing in a Mustang (against a Merc C-Class) cause an accident, he cut across the front on a motorway very suddenly, then slams the brakes on because of traffic ahead and tailgates them.

But our enthusiasts here will be pleased to know he modded the Mustang with crackle explosions so I guess our enthusiasts will all forgive him.

Seriously, nobody should be driving anything with more than 55hp. They cannot be trusted.

I hate noisy bloody cars and bikes too.
One good thing about electric vehicles. The speed they are capable of is scary with some of our idiotic driving public behind the wheel though.

One problem of getting people out of cars:

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/tra ... 5k8xb.html

Track failure at Central station in Sydney on Monday morning peak hour.

A lot of work hours will be lost while people are stuck on their commute to work. Naturally most places don't allow working on train for security reasons and WFH is forbidden. So productivity will be bad.

And an upset in Hoxton Park:

https://www.news.com.au/technology/moto ... 2832519b2c

News.com.au has called the entire suburb entitled.

g-boaf wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 08, 2024 6:39 pm

Seriously, nobody should be driving anything with more than 55hp. They cannot be trusted.

So my 600SS is OK then

Brought to you by The Dept of the Bleeding Obvious:
https://www.news.com.au/technology/moto ... 7b524b7541

It's the same principle as smart phones: it encourages their users to be idiots.

Hamburg low speed limits - 20km/h:

Cyclophiliac wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 20, 2024 7:23 pm

Brought to you by The Dept of the Bleeding Obvious:
https://www.news.com.au/technology/moto ... 7b524b7541

It's the same principle as smart phones: it encourages their users to be idiots.

Yes. We are in a situation now where many drivers only know how to drive with the assistance stuff on. Where they don't bother to check blindspot because tech beeps or steers if you try to change lanes into a truck don't need to concentrate on speed because adaptive cruise means you set a max and it just follows traffic speeds. The tech is switching off the alertness you need to drive with.

Cyclophiliac wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 20, 2024 7:23 pm

Brought to you by The Dept of the Bleeding Obvious:
https://www.news.com.au/technology/moto ... 7b524b7541

It's the same principle as smart phones: it encourages their users to be idiots.

It's probably not all drivers, but a fair few.

I switch regularly between four cars - my wife's Lexus, my BMW and my '73 Mini and '88 MR2.

The BMW has very unobstrusive driver aids and apart from an overexcited auto braking incident, I don't notice them. The Lexus jumps at shadows, neither has lane departure tech.

Even then when I get into the Mini in particular I have to remember I have none of that stuff as backup. It doesn't have power steering or a brake booster. So I tend to drive all the cars like they'll kill me if I mess up even slightly because it's safer that way.

We did big kilometres in a rental Kia in Tasmania a couple of years back with all the aids. It literally once made me take an exit I didn't want to, and was just constantly alarming 'lane departure' because the roads in Tasmania were only very slightly wider than the car. My only opinion from that experience was that anyone who relies on that stuff (and in this case doesn't immediately turn it all off) is an idiot.

No shortage of idiots in 'straya unfortunately

Mr Purple wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 04, 2024 9:24 am

My only opinion from that experience was that anyone who relies on that stuff (and in this case doesn't immediately turn it all off) is an idiot.

I find the driver aides very useful when driving on the other side of the road. Lane keep assist, even when arguing with it due to italian lane width, was useful to keep me in the correct part of the lane

The interesting thing is that these aids actually make a crash less likely. But that's on average, because I'm assuming a significant proportion of the population just don't pay attention to what they're doing.

ABS and traction control are the exception, they actually make it safer. I've heard stories of track driving instructors demonstrating that traction control actually makes most drivers faster as well as safer. Apparently the first thing a lot of people do on the track is turn it all off.

I eschew excessive modern car warning ('distraction'!) systems for decades of built up skill and experience.The only warning systems I have in a 2017 supercharged SV6 Commodore sportswagon are blind spot detection, front cruise control radar, overspeed and...but of course: get in, sit down, shut up and hang on!

Mr Purple wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 04, 2024 10:55 am

ABS and traction control are the exception, they actually make it safer. I've heard stories of track driving instructors demonstrating that traction control actually makes most drivers faster as well as safer. Apparently the first thing a lot of people do on the track is turn it all off.

Saw a well known motorbike instructor demonstrating the then new ABS on a BMW K100, lap with it on, then off. He got confused at one stage & went to demonstrate how quickly he could stop with ABS, but had it turned off. Things got very interesting very quickly, but impressively he managed to keep it shiny side up

Mr Purple wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 04, 2024 10:55 am

The interesting thing is that these aids actually make a crash less likely. But that's on average, because I'm assuming a significant proportion of the population just don't pay attention to what they're doing.

ABS and traction control are the exception, they actually make it safer. I've heard stories of track driving instructors demonstrating that traction control actually makes most drivers faster as well as safer. Apparently the first thing a lot of people do on the track is turn it all off.

Traction control is linked to the torque converter and electronically monitored for cut in and cut off.
It makes sense to disable it or turn it of for track work, but only in skilled hands - same with rev limiters.
It has its most use on unsealed, rough or wet roads, but it should never instil in an unskilled driver that it will save them in a moment of stupidity, inattention or blindness. Unfortunately this is the flipside of modern car safety features - making drivers think they are better and safer than they really are!

CmdrBiggles wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 04, 2024 11:57 am

Mr Purple wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 04, 2024 10:55 am

The interesting thing is that these aids actually make a crash less likely. But that's on average, because I'm assuming a significant proportion of the population just don't pay attention to what they're doing.

ABS and traction control are the exception, they actually make it safer. I've heard stories of track driving instructors demonstrating that traction control actually makes most drivers faster as well as safer. Apparently the first thing a lot of people do on the track is turn it all off.

Traction control is linked to the torque converter and electronically monitored for cut in and cut off.
It makes sense to disable it or turn it of for track work, but only in skilled hands - same with rev limiters.
It has its most use on unsealed, rough or wet roads, but it should never instil in an unskilled driver that it will save them in a moment of stupidity, inattention or blindness. Unfortunately this is the flipside of modern car safety features - making drivers think they are better and safer than they really are!

Through the torque converter in the automatic transmission and not the abs wheel speed sensors on each wheel? How so?

The modern traction control systems are by and large excellent - I'm pretty sure I'd be faster with it on rather than off.

The older ones? Not so much. I remember my 1.8L FWD Polo GTI detecting a little front wheel slip going right on a roundabout in the wet once and the traction control just cut all power to the wheels. Of course being FWD it literally just understeered straight through the roundabout.

Wheels magazine rolled a Kluger in testing in 2008, they blamed the overly aggressive electronic stability control.

https://www.carsguide.com.au/car-news/w ... tory-17451

Toyota pulled all advertising for a while as a result. Also it was 100km/hr on a gravel bend which may need to be taken into account, but having experienced some sketchy early stability control/traction control efforts the 'safety' system contributing wouldn't surprise me.

My BMW (250kW/500Nm RWD manual) uses the rear brakes as part of its traction control system. The rear brake pads and discs ran out faster than the front.