So much quieter. Just bliss. I wish I had these on my route. It would be nice if they turned off the lights or at least those for half of the bus, for the light sensitive and so you can see out the windows properly.
Pretty much what Buses around melbourne has said, the entire Transdev fleet were transferred to Kinetic. The ones that are retired from Route would be the Mercedes Benz O405NH with the Custom Coaches 550 and CB60 bodies. All of them are seen on rail nowadays or just a training bus. I personally dont mind these electric buses, but very weird for some of them to not have side mirrors with instead a camera emulating one. A negative effect is that if the camera malfunctions, you're technically not driving with side mirrors. I guess the electric buses do have a fast acceleration which I like, means the bus will catch up if its late. Eh not really, not always the case, depends if the driver puts their foot all the way down on the accelerator and keeps it that way. Might be off topic but one of the smaller Ventura depots are trialling a fully electric fleet by the start of 2024, will be cool to see a fully electric bus fleet. Ventura already has taken order of these same BYD D9RAs, with the same livery as the Kinetic buses and probably will enter service very soon. Also good to see a bus in the outro that will be soon withdrawn possibly in the very near future.
I remember catching a bunch of the O405NH's back in 2019! I didn't see any round which would make sense. According to the fleetlists though, all of the BYDs were built after the Kinetic takeover, but not sure if they may have been ordered by Transdev previously.
Cheers! Having done a few graphic design units at uni, there is a bit of a colour clash there 🤣. Maybe one, or the other pattern styles would be a more visually coherent choice
I do commute with this set of BYD-chassis optimus quite often, yes it's way silent and much torquier than the newest Scania Diesel sets due to its pure electric drivetrain, but really can't understand why it still having a beefy low floor arrangement while it's already been used the ceiling battery configuration, and eliminating the big fat transmission box, a step backward to the CDC volvo hybrid/pure electric sets' design but well, it's a BYD, can't expect too much for it.
I suspect its more to do with the limited offering of low floor (not just low entry) models in the Australian market in general. I believe BYD and Yutong have plenty of low floor models selling well internationally.
@@TalkingPlanning I believe main reason for BYD-chassis Volgren sets still using low floor, is because of the anti-rolling capability concern, battery ain't light and can be much heavier than a rooftop AC unit, if the center of gravity is too high, it could be damage the side structure due to the stress come from the top, or as bad as the old double decker which can't do a fast turn or being turnover and injured loads of passengers Volgren should have come up with the idea at their first mind for stacking more battery at the roof or on the front wheels or even back seats(like the hybrid volvo), while spreading the battery over the place isn't an old strategy since EV bus start being practical, or maybe just can't due to immatured chassis design or other factors(like a badly balanced chassis? or BYD requried non co-developing bodywork manufacturer must follow the original design?), even BYD's vanilla bodywork(not the Enviro200EV) still not comes with low floor layout, like its latest iteration B12A for KMB Hong Kong, still a low floor bus And bodywork isn't such a big deal for the limited offering claim, as bus industry do always split the chassis and bodywork, while bodywork do take the role of local production and less transporting distance=cost, thus localization for suitable transporting mode,Unless there's some manufacturer Alexander Dennis which always take large enough order in specific country like Britain or HK/SG, and willing to outsourcing to a nearby low cost factories to build But we don't low cost labour country like indonesia/malaysia as the land neighbour and shipping via sea is still too far away to rationalise the shipping cost, and OEM in australia is a huge investment but aussie is too limited to a few cities for large orders, then you know why we do always limiting our choice to volgren for both sustaining the industry and cost effectiveness.
Basically: The seats are good, the chargers are useful, it’s wheelchair accessible like every Melbourne Bus, and it’s quiet. Just a shame about where it’s manufactured I guess. The whole Transdev fleet made it to Kinetic, but not all are in route service anymore.
Overall a decent experience, and the Optimus is a nice pairing with the BYD chassis. BYD is also a strong leader in their field as one of the largest producers of batteries, motors, and EV tech from micro car through to large buses, so it makes sense.
I knew Melbourne didn't entirely escape the tram line closure phase, but I'm glad it wasn't quite so widespread. Wasn't sure which routes it was however.
@@TalkingPlanning Driver comfort, AC does not reach driver compartment, driver window does not open enough for ventilation, steering is overly heavy due to the overhead batteries
@@reneblacky the crappy heavy steering is a complaint I hear about every electric bus. At least these BYD ones seem to be slightly more reliable than the Kinetic Scania Hybrids.
So much quieter. Just bliss. I wish I had these on my route. It would be nice if they turned off the lights or at least those for half of the bus, for the light sensitive and so you can see out the windows properly.
I got admit this bus is more loud than the man cr228l that tea Smithfield has
Nice review. The good old 223 I remember catching that in the green and gold Met days.
Cheers! Just a little different since those days I presume 🤣
@@TalkingPlanning ah yes the unique sound of the MAN SL200 coasting off acceleration…
Pretty much what Buses around melbourne has said, the entire Transdev fleet were transferred to Kinetic. The ones that are retired from Route would be the Mercedes Benz O405NH with the Custom Coaches 550 and CB60 bodies. All of them are seen on rail nowadays or just a training bus. I personally dont mind these electric buses, but very weird for some of them to not have side mirrors with instead a camera emulating one. A negative effect is that if the camera malfunctions, you're technically not driving with side mirrors. I guess the electric buses do have a fast acceleration which I like, means the bus will catch up if its late. Eh not really, not always the case, depends if the driver puts their foot all the way down on the accelerator and keeps it that way.
Might be off topic but one of the smaller Ventura depots are trialling a fully electric fleet by the start of 2024, will be cool to see a fully electric bus fleet. Ventura already has taken order of these same BYD D9RAs, with the same livery as the Kinetic buses and probably will enter service very soon.
Also good to see a bus in the outro that will be soon withdrawn possibly in the very near future.
I remember catching a bunch of the O405NH's back in 2019! I didn't see any round which would make sense. According to the fleetlists though, all of the BYDs were built after the Kinetic takeover, but not sure if they may have been ordered by Transdev previously.
@@TalkingPlanning they weren't ordered by Transdev, they did have one electric bus trialling on a few routes for a couple of years however.
Great review! Can't say I'm a fan of that interior, really hope that doesn't become a widespread feature of buses throughout Melbourne haha.
Cheers! Having done a few graphic design units at uni, there is a bit of a colour clash there 🤣. Maybe one, or the other pattern styles would be a more visually coherent choice
The seat fabric is standard on most Kinetic buses. Particularly the newer smartbus fleets.
I do commute with this set of BYD-chassis optimus quite often, yes it's way silent and much torquier than the newest Scania Diesel sets due to its pure electric drivetrain, but really can't understand why it still having a beefy low floor arrangement while it's already been used the ceiling battery configuration, and eliminating the big fat transmission box, a step backward to the CDC volvo hybrid/pure electric sets' design
but well, it's a BYD, can't expect too much for it.
I suspect its more to do with the limited offering of low floor (not just low entry) models in the Australian market in general. I believe BYD and Yutong have plenty of low floor models selling well internationally.
@@TalkingPlanning I believe main reason for BYD-chassis Volgren sets still using low floor, is because of the anti-rolling capability concern, battery ain't light and can be much heavier than a rooftop AC unit, if the center of gravity is too high, it could be damage the side structure due to the stress come from the top, or as bad as the old double decker which can't do a fast turn or being turnover and injured loads of passengers
Volgren should have come up with the idea at their first mind for stacking more battery at the roof or on the front wheels or even back seats(like the hybrid volvo), while spreading the battery over the place isn't an old strategy since EV bus start being practical, or maybe just can't due to immatured chassis design or other factors(like a badly balanced chassis? or BYD requried non co-developing bodywork manufacturer must follow the original design?), even BYD's vanilla bodywork(not the Enviro200EV) still not comes with low floor layout, like its latest iteration B12A for KMB Hong Kong, still a low floor bus
And bodywork isn't such a big deal for the limited offering claim, as bus industry do always split the chassis and bodywork, while bodywork do take the role of local production and less transporting distance=cost, thus localization for suitable transporting mode,Unless there's some manufacturer Alexander Dennis which always take large enough order in specific country like Britain or HK/SG, and willing to outsourcing to a nearby low cost factories to build
But we don't low cost labour country like indonesia/malaysia as the land neighbour and shipping via sea is still too far away to rationalise the shipping cost, and OEM in australia is a huge investment but aussie is too limited to a few cities for large orders, then you know why we do always limiting our choice to volgren for both sustaining the industry and cost effectiveness.
Basically:
The seats are good, the chargers are useful, it’s wheelchair accessible like every Melbourne Bus, and it’s quiet.
Just a shame about where it’s manufactured I guess.
The whole Transdev fleet made it to Kinetic, but not all are in route service anymore.
Overall a decent experience, and the Optimus is a nice pairing with the BYD chassis. BYD is also a strong leader in their field as one of the largest producers of batteries, motors, and EV tech from micro car through to large buses, so it makes sense.
Speaking of buses replacing trams, the 223 replaced one of the Footscray tram routes which closed in 1962.
I knew Melbourne didn't entirely escape the tram line closure phase, but I'm glad it wasn't quite so widespread. Wasn't sure which routes it was however.
Hated by the drivers! not driver friendly!
Fortunately the passenger experience is decent. What are the general 'pain points', that drivers aren't liking?
@@TalkingPlanning Driver comfort, AC does not reach driver compartment, driver window does not open enough for ventilation, steering is overly heavy due to the overhead batteries
@@reneblacky the crappy heavy steering is a complaint I hear about every electric bus.
At least these BYD ones seem to be slightly more reliable than the Kinetic Scania Hybrids.
@@reneblacky ah okay, makes sense. Many things which could be addressed in a future design revision though.