In December 2018 it was announced that Melbourne bus operator Transdev would not have their contract renewed, thanks to years of poor performance since taking over a third of Melbourne’s bus services in 2013.
But it wasn’t just garden variety late running and chronically dirty buses that led to the company being dropped, but something that slipped under the radar of the Melbourne media – a lack of essential maintenance that resulted in so many buses becoming unroadworthy in September 2017 that other operators had to be called up to assist in the running on normal bus services.
It begins
The rumours of a roadworthy crisis at Transdev started swirling in the world of bus spotters (yes, it’s a thing!) but the first public sign came on 18 September 2017, when buses from Dyson Group started appearing on routes normally operated by Transdev Melbourne.
As did vehicles from Sita Buslines.
Confirmation
The first media outlet to pick up the story was the Manningham Leader on September 19 – the area is dependant on buses for public transport, so I guess that’s why they noticed.
More than 30 of Melbourne’s Transdev buses ordered off the road after failing roadworthy checks
Andrew Rogers
Manningham LeaderMore than 30 Melbourne buses have been ordered off the streets after being deemed unroadworthy.
Transport Safety Victoria ordered an emergency safety inspection at bus contractor Transdev’s Doncaster and North Fitzroy depots on September 11 and 12 after routine tests by VicRoads found safety breaches with 33 buses.
In a staff bulletin seen by Leader News, Transdev managing director Warwick Horsley told employees the company would now carry out checks on its entire fleet of more than 500 buses.
“We will continue to work closely with TSV to assess the remainder of our fleet for any defects, as well as any issues with our maintenance procedures,” he said.
The company — which operates 30 per cent of Melbourne’s buses — was forced to withdraw 33 buses from service after they were found to have safety defects, but VicRoads has refused to publicly detail the findings.
Shaun Rodenburg, acting director of bus safety at TSV, said: “We are working with Transdev to make sure the immediate safety issues are effectively managed and their safety systems are sufficiently robust to ensure the ongoing safety of their bus services.”
Transport Safety Victoria has confirmed it will follow up with another safety audit once Transdev has fixed the faulty buses and has ordered a more frequent audit regimen to monitor the company’s vehicle maintenance.
Transdev is yet to respond to Leader’s questions relating to the safety defects and how routes and customers will be affected.
It took The Age a day later to pick up the story.
Melbourne’s second biggest bus operator has been ordered to take a dozen of its buses off the road due to serious defects that posed a danger to passengers.
A blitz by safety inspectors on two Transdev bus depots found 33 defective buses, with 12 in such poor condition they were ordered off the road for urgent repairs.
Victoria’s transport safety watchdog, Transport Safety Victoria, said it was the highest number of defective buses it had ever taken off the road in a blitz.
Transport Safety Victoria said it would increase its inspection regime of Transdev’s fleet of buses until it is satisfied the company’s maintenance standards are adequate.
It is currently inspecting about 40 buses a day for potential safety problems.
“We are working with Transdev to make sure the immediate safety issues are effectively managed and their safety systems are sufficiently robust to ensure the ongoing safety of their bus services,” said Shaun Rodenburg, the acting director of bus safety at Transport Safety Victoria.
Defects included engine and transmission faults, fluid and air leaks, loose fitting panels and suspension faults.
The high number of potentially dangerous faults earned a rebuke from Public Transport Minister Jacinta Allan.
“This was not acceptable and we’re taking this situation very seriously, as the safety of people travelling on buses is our highest priority,” Ms Allan said.
Public Transport Victoria is reviewing the maintenance failures “so we understand the root cause of this issue and stop it from happening again”, Ms Allan said.
With Transport Safety Victoria issuing a media release on September 22.
In response to safety data analysis, Transport Safety Victoria (TSV) recently engaged with Vic Roads to run a series of safety inspections over two nights on Transdev buses.
As a result of this work:
- TSV issued 12 Prohibition Notices to Transdev, “grounding” 12 buses which presented a risk to safety;
- TSV issued one Improvement Notice to Transdev requiring it to assess its fleet for any more buses which may be unsafe and propose a remedial action plan for those buses before they be used to provide passenger services;
- TSV issued one Improvement Notice to Transdev requiring it to review its Maintenance Management System (MMS) to find how and why it failed and how to ensure the failure cannot recur; and
- TSV will conduct a targeted safety audit to test the effectiveness of Transdev’s remedial actions once they are complete. A more frequent audit regime will be applied until TSV is satisfied Transdev’s Maintenance Management System (MMS) is operating effectively.
“We are working with Transdev to make sure the immediate safety issues are effectively managed and their safety systems are sufficiently robust to ensure the ongoing safety of their bus services,” said Shaun Rodenburg, Acting Director Bus Safety at TSV.
And Public Transport Victoria adding a curt acknowledgement of the crisis on their website.
Replacement buses operating on some Transdev routes
Added: 22 September 2017As a result of additional maintenance checks on Transdev buses, a number of their regular buses are currently out of service.
Transdev have made arrangements with other operators for replacement buses to supplement the fleet. These replacement buses may look different as they are branded by a different operator.
Customers will still need a valid myki to travel and should continue to touch on and touch off as normal on replacement buses. If a replacement bus does not have myki equipment, customers will be allowed to travel without touching on or touching off.
Real time information may not be available as some of the replacement buses are equipped with a different tracking system. Real time information on SmartBus displays, our PTV app and Next 5 on our website for these services will then display scheduled departure times.
We are working closely with Transdev to ensure that regularly scheduled services on Transdev routes are maintained and any disruptions are minimised.
The crisis grows
‘Foreign’ buses continued appearing at Transdev depots across Melbourne.
As the workshops started to fill up with unroadworthy Transdev buses.
By September 26 over a hundred Transdev buses were off the road, as Transport Safety Victoria inspectors made their way to each depot.
Now 110 @Transdev_Melb buses failed safety inspections, what does it take to actually DO something about the contract?? @JacintaAllanMP pic.twitter.com/SApbl72irg
— Transdev Watch (@TransdevWatch) September 26, 2017
Ventura, who lost a number of bus routes to Transdev back in 2013, was one of the operators called up to help.
As well as operators for further afield – like Mitchell Transit from Seymour.
CDC Ballarat.
And McHarry’s from Geelong.
But the replacement buses left a lot to be desired – plenty of older high floor vehicles were called back up into frontline service, like this one from Kastoria Bus Lines.
CDC Melbourne.
And this coach from Nuline Charter.
By October 6 Transdev managing director Warwick Horsley confirmed that 70 replacement buses were now in service.
Public transport @Transdev_Melb is significantly out of pocket after a safety audit pulled several buses from the road @laura_spurway #9News pic.twitter.com/2HbandcBhl
— Nine News Melbourne (@9NewsMelb) October 6, 2017
But it seems that even the replacement buses couldn’t avoid their death touch, as this broken down bus on hire to Transdev seems to suggest.
And back to ‘normal’
By late October the use of replacements buses operating on Transdev routes had petered out, but the quality of the bus fleet still left a lot to be desired.
Grafitti covered back seats.
Broken next stop buttons.
Duct tape holding together the front fairings.
Cracked front bumpers.
But it took until August 2018 for Transport Safety Victoria to close out their side of the investigation.
Transdev improving safety systems
2 August 2018Since the grounding of 12 buses in September 2017, Bus Safety Victoria has been working closely with Transdev to ensure the operator’s safety systems are sufficiently robust to ensure the ongoing safety of its bus services.
A targeted audit program of Transdev began earlier this year, focussing on maintenance requirements and safety culture, and audits will be conducted at all Transdev depots.
To date we are seeing that Transdev has implemented many changes to improve their safety systems and culture.
And it took until December 2018 for the full scale of the roadworthy crisis to be made public.
Transdev pulled nearly 140 buses off the road after they were found to be defective last last year, The Age has confirmed.
I guess it just goes to show how little Melbourne cares about or bus system – if 20% of our tram or train fleet was pulled out of service due to flawed maintenance, it would be front page news.
A Myki related footnote
Public Transport Victoria mentioned myki use on replacement buses in passing.
Customers will still need a valid myki to travel and should continue to touch on and touch off as normal on replacement buses. If a replacement bus does not have myki equipment, customers will be allowed to travel without touching on or touching off.
But something they didn’t mention was that none of the buses with myki readers fitted ever had them switched on – turns out the equipment onboard each bus is only configured with the routes run by a given depot, so buses from other operators were unable to ‘log in’ to the system as a Transdev route, leaving the readers as dead weight.
Further reading
The November-December 2017 edition of Australian Bus Panorama has an article by Craig Halsall covering the Transdev fleet crisis in further detail.
[…] Wong also has a post on Transdev today, focusing on recent problems with bus reliability and […]
Surely there cannot be any such thing as a “roadworthy crisis”. There might have been an unroadworthiness crisis with Melbourne’s buses, but the term “roadworthy crisis” is a nonsensical contradiction, because being roadworthy cannot be a crisis.
I bet half these failings are for small ridiculous things, not safety. I guess Transdev bid ultra low to win the bid but found no profit in these smart bus routes that become clogged with traffic.
Same thing happens all the time in IT. Usually its Indian companies low bidding, then the tax payer always has to pay the gap. Meanwhile the government washes their hands even though they picked Transdev.
No the faults were not for small things, instead you likely find low bid meant they couldn’t do proper maintenance.
It was serious stuff like the front bumper bar falling off, then being stored loose inside the bus, with passengers onboard.
https://www.reddit.com/r/melbourne/comments/7d8zaq/transdev_the_front_fell_off/
It would be funny if it wasn’t so serious. Some items may have been minor, but it is not in anyone’s interest to put a bus off the road for minor defects.
And the Transdev contract was immediately cancelled due to failure to run a safe service. Of course not, it has been extended for another 6 months.
“The company, which has only once met its contractual punctuality target in five years, will be granted an extra six months to January 2021 before the contract likely goes out to tender.”
At least Transdev didn’t receive the full three year extension that was possible!
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/extension-to-transdev-bus-contract-cut-short-as-100-new-buses-promised-20181214-p50mcg.html
Supposedly Transdev’s original bid for the Melbourne operation was priced stupidly low, so they could get their foot in the door – the result is them losing money despite all of the shortcuts being made. I wonder who in the government was stupid enough to sign off on it, making passengers suffer?
Every few years, a bus runs off the road somewhere, and there is one of these “blitzes” or “crackdowns” where the bus depot gets raided and they find 30 defective buses there.
This is bogus. Shouldn’t these “inspectors”, whoever they are, be doing this job more regularly ?
And for the bumper bar, I am not sure that the bumper bar contributes much to my safety as a bus passenger.
If the bumper bar fell off a bus that I was on, I’d help the driver pick it up and put it inside the bus. And not wait an hour for another one to turn up.
The usual target for the inspectors are the ‘dodgy bothers’ small time operators – and they catch plenty out:
http://tsv.createsend1.com/t/ViewEmail/r/E7BAA24AE6FA950D2540EF23F30FEDED
One would expect that a company that runs a massive chunk of the Melbourne bus network and is backed by a multinational corporation would be capable of following safety standards.
A bumper bar doesn’t contributes much “your safety as a bus passenger” but for a pedestrian it is bloody important:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedestrian_safety_through_vehicle_design
Probability the the difference between broken bones and being impaled on the steel chassis!
As for the bumper bar sitting inside a bus – it’s a loose item ready to be thrown around inside the vehicle if the driver has to brake suddenly.
[…] wrote about Transdev’s fleet maintenance issues last year, so the new buses are much […]
[…] 2017 marked the start of the Transdev fleet crisis, with over 140 Transdev buses taken out of service after they failed roadworthy […]