Had a chance to travel on one of the Gemilang/BYD K9RA electric buses currently in running Sydney a few days ago and they have the same issue regarding not taking advantage of the opportunity to be fully low floor! They do have a full-width destination board, double doors at the front and back, plus other useful features like LCD screens displaying the next stops inside and automated next stop announcements so still pretty nice buses overall.
Regardless of those issues which can be changed or modified prior to production or changed its Australian made and should be our number one priority to keep jobs and manufacturing here.
One of my firefighter mates said that with battery electric buses comes the problem of when one catches fire, they are extremely hard to extinguish plus. battery fires are incredibly dangerous and toxic to humans.
Hobart articulated buses are a mix of the Combo floor type and five proper low floor MAN articulated buses, that were purchased second hand from Melbourne. The MAN buses are much better at dealing with a full passenger load in spite of having two doors for egress (instead of three). Full low floor buses use more fuel, need more maintenance and are noisier due to the extra gearing needed to lower the rear axle to get the low floor. The Combo floor type is easier to engineer and cheaper to build. And the standing passengers stand on the low floor section, not wanting to climb the steps to move further back in the bus...
That doubledecker bus that you say is too heavy is operating in Sydney. Also the batteries are not kept on the roof and I have no idea why you would think they were. Batteries are heavy and so you want them as low as possible to the floor and not high up in the roof. Also that step up is there because of the rear wheels and actually provides extra seating because the rear wheels don't get in the way like they do at the front wheels. Buses are not trams and so their design overcomes the limitation of the bus.
After many years of this coming out, nothing has changed, but the weirdest thing about the Articulated bus is that: They miscounted the seats, the image shows 61, it says 65, and on the BRT, the image shows 61, it says 107. That's impressive, I think these buses are in great hands if their able to put in invisible seats
Perth is smart. It doesn't give Busrech a look in. Why do they love higher floor layouts? Adelaide were at the forefront in bus layouts in the 1950s. Now it's the reverse situation. Australia is strangely resistant to full low floor even when there are no mechanical obstacles. Very isolated attitudes abound here. Three doors are another obvious advantage that can be utilised by the low floor layout. Good luck with that when NSW private operators are still averse to let people out a centre exit.
‘Battery in the roof’ Oh boy, hopefully they fix that so they can take full advantage of the safety elements of bottom heavy vehicles aka harder to roll over. Be interesting to see how it all pans out, plus I’m guessing later bus designs will take that into account more.
I'm a fan of the Element bus too. Can't wait until they appear on the routes I use. I won't be too worried about it even if it's not as well designed. It still beats a diesel bus hands down. Any electric bus is a good bus.
Personally I don't see a single step (or angled ramp) as much of an issue. It's multiple steps that people struggle with . It also means you don't have large podiums over the wheel arch or weird rear facing seats as seems to occur in fully flat design. Would also think if you are using that style of design you'd be able to put batteries in the lower rear. Its not a great thing for rollover or centre of gravity to have batteries on the roof, and Aus buses tend to have larger aircon requirements than Euro and China equivalents.
interesting - but I have an unrelated question...when did Australians start saying "zee" instead of "zed"? Is this a post-2000 thing that I'm not aware of?
They do indeed - and Queensland I'm sure will be getting the new ZDi too - it's main market seems to be NSW, SA and QLD. Volgren has a strong grip on WA and VIC and Custom Denning will also dominate QLD and NSW by the sounds of it
@@AussieWirraway yeah I've noticed that. Custom Couches tends to be popular in SA, VIC and NSW. And also ACT, TAS and NT too I've noticed. Volgren, as you pointed out, is mostly popular in WA and VIC but I'd also say NSW and QLD.
Volgren has been putting different drivetrains in the same body for years and is probably Australia's most succesful bus manufacturer. Why pick on BusTech for doing the same thing? Spending money on a new chassis then trying to charge more than a Volgren bus seems like a path to a failed buisness.
In my opinion, the volgren Optimus, and this looks ugly as, there trying to make it look “FuTuRiStIc” and to me it’s really hard to make something look futuristic and not look ugly, the current bus tech design is the only good looking one I like. The Volgren CR228L looked nice and the Optimus make me annoyed at them, this is only my opinion though. Anyway, I’m exited to see these in the future to hopefully try and change my opinion on them
I don't like the "optimus" name but I think the optimus looks really nice, especially in the blue NSW livery :/ I do also like the CR228L design though.
@@jm56585 Yeah, I’ve changed my mind since this comment as well. The Optimus isn’t bad looking, but definitely is built very poorly compared,to a bustech product, especially the modern ones
@@LachieVidsTransportVlogs oh really? I thought the Optimus was pretty well built, thought the seat quality does vary a lot by operator. Actually, the only buses I've riden are the Denning Pheonix Low Floors and the Volgren CR series/Optimus with various chassis, so I guess I don't have any experience with bustech.
@@southaussiegarbo2054, No single decker bus of length 12 m - 28 m are capable of carrying 107 seated passsengers per bus. The double decker bus at 12 m long can generally carry 90 - 94 seated passengers when full, which is still not close to BusTech's claim of 107 seated passengers. Even a Bombardier Flexity Tram at a length of 30 m can only carry 64 seated passengers and 95 standing passengers. Trams generally have less seats than buses of the same length. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardier_Flexity_Classic en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alstom_Citadis
@@michaeleverett1479 ik thats what makes it funny. 107 is the total capacity 😂. Mind you i went on a catapillar bus in 2017 and the driver crammed like 150 of us in and it was like a can of sardines....no one over yellow line and you could here a beep to heavy alarm 😂. Ppl rang adelaide metro and complained bc it was so cramped that ppl were hitting others in inappropriate places everytime the bus driver touched the breaks. 😂
Not enough room under the bus for all the batteries. Plus cooling the batteries on top of the bus might be an advantage in Australia given how hot the roads get in summer. About 60000 degrees Celsius I think.
I don't hate it, I do think it will be a very good bus, and I'm looking forward to it. The point of this video was to point out some reservations I have about the vehicle, and some of the failing this new bus does have
This bus model looks really ugly. Definitely, I would choose a Volgren Optimus as it is even too out of date now. For another option, the coming new game player, Ebusco, would be my choice if I have a bus company.
ELECTRIC VEHICLES AREN'T THE WAY TO GO 🤬. They're Sh*t Boxes & Belongs In A Scrap Yard 😃😂. I Love The CUSTOM COACHES CB60'S & CB80'S 😍😃. I Loved Buses Since I Was Little 😍😃
I am Sorry but I Completely disagree with you on views on these Buses. And I Honestly think you're wrong about them. I Believe the way they design these buses is a good thing as it helps increase seating Capicity which is a GOOD Thing. Just because its not fully low floor or doesn't have an extra door doesn't make it a bad bus. Its just a unique design they're going with that still works to this Day The Same even appiles to the Combo Artics which are NOT Garbage. They just have a Unique design that actually looks Good. I Like that they're mostly High floor and Partially low at teh front. Cause not only do they apply Higher seating Capicity but they're also a nice callback to the older high floor buses why still keeping themselves Modern. Whatever flaws they may have are Fairly Minor and their Strengths makes up for it.
the transperth buses are super ugly looking not like the old MTT buses Metropolitan Transport Trust they are new-ish but ugly color and the advertising that's stuck on like a rippled sticker even the old Leyland . Mercedes and Renault (Howard Porter built ) the advertizing was set in certain spots on the bus's now its almost the whole bus and it looks crap but the Volvo b7r and b8r buses scream chinsey Chinese (exterior fitment and the engine and transmission noise is loud ) even Irzar Trans-WA buses (country coach ) not lasting long (last trip I went on one it had issues and the driver was kind of pissed off nothing gets fixed it was always a patch job) I loved the old westrail buses old Mercedes 303 coaches
Had a chance to travel on one of the Gemilang/BYD K9RA electric buses currently in running Sydney a few days ago and they have the same issue regarding not taking advantage of the opportunity to be fully low floor! They do have a full-width destination board, double doors at the front and back, plus other useful features like LCD screens displaying the next stops inside and automated next stop announcements so still pretty nice buses overall.
I have more or less the same take as you yeah, it’ll be a nice bus, but not ideal
Latest BYD bus is fully low floor bus and the operator or purchaser can request if they want the battery pack on the roof or at the back
Regardless of those issues which can be changed or modified prior to production or changed its Australian made and should be our number one priority to keep jobs and manufacturing here.
One of my firefighter mates said that with battery electric buses comes the problem of when one catches fire, they are extremely hard to extinguish plus. battery fires are incredibly dangerous and toxic to humans.
It's The Same As Electric Cars 😂
Glad I'm not the only one worried about this
Hobart articulated buses are a mix of the Combo floor type and five proper low floor MAN articulated buses, that were purchased second hand from Melbourne. The MAN buses are much better at dealing with a full passenger load in spite of having two doors for egress (instead of three). Full low floor buses use more fuel, need more maintenance and are noisier due to the extra gearing needed to lower the rear axle to get the low floor. The Combo floor type is easier to engineer and cheaper to build. And the standing passengers stand on the low floor section, not wanting to climb the steps to move further back in the bus...
That doubledecker bus that you say is too heavy is operating in Sydney. Also the batteries are not kept on the roof and I have no idea why you would think they were. Batteries are heavy and so you want them as low as possible to the floor and not high up in the roof. Also that step up is there because of the rear wheels and actually provides extra seating because the rear wheels don't get in the way like they do at the front wheels. Buses are not trams and so their design overcomes the limitation of the bus.
After many years of this coming out, nothing has changed, but the weirdest thing about the Articulated bus is that: They miscounted the seats, the image shows 61, it says 65, and on the BRT, the image shows 61, it says 107. That's impressive, I think these buses are in great hands if their able to put in invisible seats
Perth is smart. It doesn't give Busrech a look in. Why do they love higher floor layouts?
Adelaide were at the forefront in bus layouts in the 1950s. Now it's the reverse situation.
Australia is strangely resistant to full low floor even when there are no mechanical obstacles. Very isolated attitudes abound here.
Three doors are another obvious advantage that can be utilised by the low floor layout. Good luck with that when NSW private operators are still averse to let people out a centre exit.
‘Battery in the roof’
Oh boy, hopefully they fix that so they can take full advantage of the safety elements of bottom heavy vehicles aka harder to roll over. Be interesting to see how it all pans out, plus I’m guessing later bus designs will take that into account more.
I'm a fan of the Element bus too. Can't wait until they appear on the routes I use. I won't be too worried about it even if it's not as well designed. It still beats a diesel bus hands down. Any electric bus is a good bus.
Personally I don't see a single step (or angled ramp) as much of an issue. It's multiple steps that people struggle with .
It also means you don't have large podiums over the wheel arch or weird rear facing seats as seems to occur in fully flat design.
Would also think if you are using that style of design you'd be able to put batteries in the lower rear. Its not a great thing for rollover or centre of gravity to have batteries on the roof, and Aus buses tend to have larger aircon requirements than Euro and China equivalents.
The zdi at the show doesn’t look to bad it’s good we need more Aussie bulit stuff
It's easy to make a CGI, but it's not a working prototype of scale manufactured vehicle.
interesting - but I have an unrelated question...when did Australians start saying "zee" instead of "zed"? Is this a post-2000 thing that I'm not aware of?
Probably American influence.
I thought Bustech produced buses in Queensland?
They do indeed - and Queensland I'm sure will be getting the new ZDi too - it's main market seems to be NSW, SA and QLD. Volgren has a strong grip on WA and VIC and Custom Denning will also dominate QLD and NSW by the sounds of it
@@AussieWirraway yeah I've noticed that. Custom Couches tends to be popular in SA, VIC and NSW. And also ACT, TAS and NT too I've noticed. Volgren, as you pointed out, is mostly popular in WA and VIC but I'd also say NSW and QLD.
Doing well mate.. good form.
cool always amazing content :)
trolley bus gang represent
Volgren has been putting different drivetrains in the same body for years and is probably Australia's most succesful bus manufacturer. Why pick on BusTech for doing the same thing? Spending money on a new chassis then trying to charge more than a Volgren bus seems like a path to a failed buisness.
4:29 What about the Melbourne buses?
I am sad because I won’t get the bus
I live in Perth
In my opinion, the volgren Optimus, and this looks ugly as, there trying to make it look “FuTuRiStIc” and to me it’s really hard to make something look futuristic and not look ugly, the current bus tech design is the only good looking one I like. The Volgren CR228L looked nice and the Optimus make me annoyed at them, this is only my opinion though. Anyway, I’m exited to see these in the future to hopefully try and change my opinion on them
i do like both the VST (SA version only because the window line) and the Optimus, there are valid points on both sides that they're good
I don't like the "optimus" name but I think the optimus looks really nice, especially in the blue NSW livery :/
I do also like the CR228L design though.
@@jm56585 Yeah, I’ve changed my mind since this comment as well. The Optimus isn’t bad looking, but definitely is built very poorly compared,to a bustech product, especially the modern ones
@@LachieVidsTransportVlogs oh really? I thought the Optimus was pretty well built, thought the seat quality does vary a lot by operator.
Actually, the only buses I've riden are the Denning Pheonix Low Floors and the Volgren CR series/Optimus with various chassis, so I guess I don't have any experience with bustech.
Bustech is a disappointment, I would prefer Adelaide to get Volgren buses
Excellent video!
Oooooh new pfp! I like it!
Thank you!
@@AussieWirraway take a closer look on bustech site for capacities.
Regular articulated says 65 seated
Electric brt version says 107 sested 😂
@@southaussiegarbo2054, No single decker bus of length 12 m - 28 m are capable of carrying 107 seated passsengers per bus. The double decker bus at 12 m long can generally carry 90 - 94 seated passengers when full, which is still not close to BusTech's claim of 107 seated passengers. Even a Bombardier Flexity Tram at a length of 30 m can only carry 64 seated passengers and 95 standing passengers. Trams generally have less seats than buses of the same length.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardier_Flexity_Classic
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alstom_Citadis
@@michaeleverett1479 ik thats what makes it funny.
107 is the total capacity 😂.
Mind you i went on a catapillar bus in 2017 and the driver crammed like 150 of us in and it was like a can of sardines....no one over yellow line and you could here a beep to heavy alarm 😂.
Ppl rang adelaide metro and complained bc it was so cramped that ppl were hitting others in inappropriate places everytime the bus driver touched the breaks. 😂
Why are the batteries on top?
Every real EV maker knows you put them on the bottom to lower the center of gravity.
Not enough room under the bus for all the batteries. Plus cooling the batteries on top of the bus might be an advantage in Australia given how hot the roads get in summer. About 60000 degrees Celsius I think.
Yeah, it really helps when you're racing.
Hay mate why do you hate the bus that’s rude it saved the environment
I don't hate it, I do think it will be a very good bus, and I'm looking forward to it. The point of this video was to point out some reservations I have about the vehicle, and some of the failing this new bus does have
This bus model looks really ugly. Definitely, I would choose a Volgren Optimus as it is even too out of date now. For another option, the coming new game player, Ebusco, would be my choice if I have a bus company.
ELECTRIC VEHICLES AREN'T THE WAY TO GO 🤬. They're Sh*t Boxes & Belongs In A Scrap Yard 😃😂. I Love The CUSTOM COACHES CB60'S & CB80'S 😍😃. I Loved Buses Since I Was Little 😍😃
I am Sorry but I Completely disagree with you on views on these Buses. And I Honestly think you're wrong about them. I Believe the way they design these buses is a good thing as it helps increase seating Capicity which is a GOOD Thing. Just because its not fully low floor or doesn't have an extra door doesn't make it a bad bus. Its just a unique design they're going with that still works to this Day The Same even appiles to the Combo Artics which are NOT Garbage. They just have a Unique design that actually looks Good. I Like that they're mostly High floor and Partially low at teh front. Cause not only do they apply Higher seating Capicity but they're also a nice callback to the older high floor buses why still keeping themselves Modern. Whatever flaws they may have are Fairly Minor and their Strengths makes up for it.
Trolley buses are superior
gross, ill keep my 4 volvo chassis, volgren optimus bodied electric buses
the transperth buses are super ugly looking not like the old MTT buses Metropolitan Transport Trust they are new-ish but ugly color and the advertising that's stuck on like a rippled sticker even the old Leyland . Mercedes and Renault (Howard Porter built ) the advertizing was set in certain spots on the bus's now its almost the whole bus and it looks crap but the Volvo b7r and b8r buses scream chinsey Chinese (exterior fitment and the engine and transmission noise is loud ) even Irzar Trans-WA buses (country coach ) not lasting long (last trip I went on one it had issues and the driver was kind of pissed off nothing gets fixed it was always a patch job) I loved the old westrail buses old Mercedes 303 coaches