What happens when a bus breaks down? You send in one bad-ass looking tow truck to haul away.
The above photo was in Melbourne, and the tow truck was a privately operated vehicle that could be called out to recover any broken down heavy vehicle.
When I visited Sydney I ran into another broken down bus, but this time the paint job of the tow truck matched the bus:
In the case of New South Wales, the government owned bus operator Sydney Buses has their own recovery vehicle.
Finally, on a visit to Adelaide I found a third broken down bus, along with one very odd looking tow truck.
Nicknamed ‘Dumbo’, this truck truck was specially built in the 1980s for use on Adelaide’s O-Bahn Busway – the double ended design allows it to drive down the concrete busway track ‘wrong way’ to the disabled bus, attach the towing hitch to the front, and then tow the disabled bus out to the public road network.
And still more!
A Broadmeadows Bus Lines bus on hire to Transdev broke down on Queen Street in Melbourne, and needed a tow.
A Transdev bus broken down in Sunshine.
And a Donric Group bus in need of help while running a rail replacement service.
Further reading
- Adelaide’s O-Bahn recovery vehicle at Bus Australia.
- Brisbane Transport also has a dedicated bus tow truck.
It was cool to see the different kids of big rig hauling trucks that are utilized to help an array of larger transportation vehicles. I’ve only seen a couple of these tow trucks before but I’m always amazed at the towing capacity of them. I wonder how much it would cost to have one of these tow trucks come out and haul off vehicle. I’m sure it would be significantly more than a small family car.