Infrastructure Discussion

[King of Buses]

Can't recall if there's a Woden Interchange dedicated thread somewhere. But Woden Interchange closed this evening.

The final departure was a route R4 to Tuggeranong at 2141, operated by BUS376.

The final service altogether was a terminating route 65 to Woden, arriving at 2154, operated by BUS384.

Kudos to whoever planned the double matching Gas MANs!

[triumph]

From Transport Canberra Newsletter today
"The ACT Government has engaged Evoenergy to undertake electrical infrastructure works at Woden and Tuggeranong bus depots so they can house up to 300 battery electric buses.

With the first of Canberra's 12 electric buses now on the road, Transport Canberra is continuing the transition to a cleaner, more sustainable future by building the infrastructure we need to power a zero-emissions public transport fleet.

The installation of high voltage cables, which will span 11.9 kilometres, will support the new Woden bus depot with capacity to charge up to 100 buses and upgrade Tuggeranong depot to charge up to 200 buses.

Procurement is also underway for a further 90 electric buses as we transition to a fully electric bus fleet by 2040.

In the short term, internal electric works at the Tuggeranong and Belconnen bus depots will increase electrical capacity to enable more flexible charging arrangements."

This is one of the major costs in switching to an electric fleet. The supply has to be strengthened all the way back to the substation! Compare also with the multiple installations necessary to supply Light Rail power (though voltage conversion, reducing transmission loss, peak demands from acceleration of vehicles, and redundancy are also relevant to the arrangements).

Apparently this is also apparently a major constraint on the gas bus fleet size - it is said the gas network pressure could not be sustained for the refuelling at night of a larger fleet.

(This is likely to become a more general electricity local grid/retail network issue as more and more electric vehicles and other equipment is deployed to reduce carbon emissions. Fast chargers make it worse as they have higher current demands. In rural towns this could be a very difficult situation with potential, at least initially, to severely limit the number of fast chargers that can be simultaneously used/deployed.)

[Barry Drive]

The Media Release from A Barr and C Steel gives a little more detail:

This work involves augmentation of Evoenergy's electrical distribution network by connecting two bus depots, via two new 11 kV dedicated underground feeders from Evoenergy's Wanniassa Zone substation, to help manage maximum demand of up to 12.2MVA at Tuggeranong and 5.1MVA at Woden.

$26.3 million over three financial years will be invested to complete these critical electrical infrastructure works and will ultimately provide the depots with the energy required to charge and operate up to 300 battery electric buses.

I'm no electrical engineer, but I presume that each depot will also need a new substation.

A certain opposition transport spokes-idiotperson has made the claim that his party will "deliver electric buses quicker than Labor". This is despite there not being any suitable depots to house or charge them at. So even without having to wait for Woden Depot to be built, it may still take three years for Tuggeranong Depot to have a suitable power supply to support charging more than 12 electric buses.

[Sylvan Loves Buses]

Oh so that's why I keep getting brownouts at night, cuz they're charging the bloody electric buses...

[triumph]

Wow, standby to receive, when they get a few more up and running.....

[Barry Drive]

The two metal shelters on Gundaroo Drive at Chuculba Cres have been removed due to the upcoming road duplication works.

One of them has been installed at Hardwick Cres 4860 (near Caltex). Any sightings of the other one appreciated.

*cough* Ampol.

Might have found the other one. Stop 2135 on Renmark St has a recently relocated metal shelter. Google streetview only has a 13 year old photo of an aluminium shelter at that location.

[triumph]

City West layover was ostensibly fully replaced by Turner Layover with the new 30/1/23 Time Table - yet there was an Action bus in the City West layover mid afternoon today!

[743]

Some changes along John Gorton Drive noted today.

Frames for shelters (no seats or glass as yet) have been installed at stops 2839 and 2837. Unfortunately I'm not familiar enough with shelter design to know what make these are. These are the first two stops for Route R10 on the inward after turning on to John Gorton Drive.

Bus stop flags have been installed at stops 2738 and 2838 for Route 47. These are the stops on John Gorton Drive between   the turns out of Denman Prospect and Whitlam. I believe the stops have been active for this route since its commencement however there were no flags until now, just pads and Bus Zone signs.

[Barry Drive]

I noticed those shelters, but wasn't sure if they were new. Further south there are R10 stops which actually have decent patronage that still don't even have seats, so why those two stops are getting shelters is questionable.

I believe they are Stoddart "classic" shelters, which are the RoadsACT standard shelter.

[Northside]

I wonder if Capital Airport Group have paid for them. The shelters on Holborow went up long before they even had passengers. The stops on John Gorton that receive larger passenger numbers are located in Coombs/Wright. Coincidence??

[triumph]

Canberra Hospital Main Entrance has been constructed across Hospital Road, thus dividing the road into two sections.

Unless the new entrance (it is in use) is a substantial temporary building, it would seem that effective Transport Canberra service to the entrance (as existed when buses were routed along Hospital Rd) is now unlikely. Caveat - on the leg from Bateson Rd there is a small roundabout at the entrance which might be useable one day for buses to divert to the entrance, if in fact the buses can fit round it.

(The existing stops involve an unsheltered uphill walks to the main entrance areas and thus I don't call them effective for a Hospital service.)

[743]

I noticed those shelters, but wasn't sure if they were new. Further south there are R10 stops which actually have decent patronage that still don't even have seats, so why those two stops are getting shelters is questionable.

I believe they are Stoddart "classic" shelters, which are the RoadsACT standard shelter.

A shelter is currently being installed at stop # 2846 John Gorton Dr opp Opperman Ave, Coombs. This was the only remaining stop on John Gorton Dr for the R10 citybound without a shelter.

[triumph]

Old City West bus layover has still been regularly used by some drivers. That has now come to an end with the fencing off of the site for a Light rail 2a construction depot.
There is still at least one die hard out there - a bus laid over on Saturday in a part of the adjacent City West bus stop.