Birkenhead Transport - They rock!

[Jonthekiwi]

I have to say, no matter what is wrong with all the various buses in Auckland. You have to take your hat off to Birkenhead Transport.

Have you ever seen a dirty BTL bus? No! They are always well presented. Have you seen smoke BTL buses? No! Well maintained!

If only Birkenhead Transport could look after NZ Buses buses!

[jarbury]

The only critique I have is their 1950s ticketing system. Interestingly, Birkenhead Transport have always had a "no advertising" policy for their buses. That must cost them a fair amount of money.

[Jonthekiwi]

Oh well. Old ticket system but extremely clean and reliable buses... I can live with that!

[nzqf182]

Oh well. Old ticket system but extremely clean and reliable buses... I can live with that!

Some of there buses have old brown fake leather seats.

[jarbury]

I caught a lot of BTL buses between 2001 and 2005 and generally found the service fairly reliable. I had some issues with getting drivers on "Stafford Road by request" buses to actually go via Stafford Road rather than Onewa Road, but apart from that the service was generally OK. One other annoying thing was that the buses tended to come in bunches - with two at once along Onewa Road then a 20 minute gap, rather than one bus every 10 minutes.

[Jonthekiwi]

Buses of all companies bunch up.

The point I was making was they are spick and span. Clean, reliable - they never break down. Can any of you say that about any other Auckland bus company? BTL should be the example in maintenance and cleanliness all other companies should try to match!

[nzqf182]

Some days the link buses are bunched up in bunches of 3.

[jarbury]

Buses of all companies bunch up.

Oh I know that. My beef was that that "bus every 20 minutes" service from Beachhaven down Onewa Road was timed to go down Onewa Road at the same time as the "bus every 20 minutes" service from Glenfield. One small tweak of the timetable could have had a bus every 10 minutes, but instead you had 2 every 20.

Pretty dumb. But yeah, apart from that they're OK.

Do they still run the ancient Volvo buses?

[pickle]

Some days the link buses are bunched up in bunches of 3.

Or 4 or 5!

[pickle]

How does their old ticketing system work? I usually travel on Link, Metrolink and sometimes Urban Express

[jarbury]

The 10 trip tickets are very similar to those on the trains. That is, they're a piece of cardboard that gets clipped.

[Andrew]

They also have no day or monthly passes of their own - they only have single journey or 10-trip clip tickets (they accept the Northern Pass and Discovery Pass tho).

Their ten-trip tickets are wider than a credit card which is slightly annoying when trying to find somewhere in your wallet for them.

[dpalenski]

Do they still run the ancient Volvo buses?

yes for school runs only but are slowly being replaced with new MAN's

[leercup]

Pretty sure a Volvo does a 6pm-ish City to Bayview trip as well. Did up til late last year anyway.

[jarbury]

They're interesting buses those Volvos. The rear exit door is RIGHT at the back if my memory serves me right.

[dpalenski]

Pretty sure a Volvo does a 6pm-ish City to Bayview trip as well. Did up til late last year anyway.

maybe but the 4:25 pm to Auckland used to be an Izusu but now it's a MAN 18.240 most days

[ka9102]

The only critique I have is their 1950s ticketing system.

Gosh,Datafare--1950s machine they are 1990s ticketing system!!!!


That machine is newer than the wayfarer NZbus/Stagecoach/Yellow bus company used

[jarbury]

^^ I mean for the 10 rides cards.

[ka9102]

Do they still run the ancient Volvo buses?

not anymore,actually they have not run those volvos for a number of yrs since the new tag designlines arrived.

those volvos are NOT ancient,they might look bit old but they are 1986/87 era Volvo B6FA (Front-engined)

the real ancient things are those bedford buses they used to have.

[K270UB6]

Clean, tidy, reliable???? Well this maybe so, but Birkenhead Transport seems to be locked behind the door connecting them to a thing called reality. I find the whole "operation" old fashioned.

Why are there no side destinations on the large part of there pre 2003 fleet? Many a times I've either got the wrong bus or missed it because of this.

Sticking to a no advertising approach is while worthy, It's become a reality for many companies who have been able to profit from the cause. It may look untidy and sometimes tacky. However a bus with advertising has became a norm as many urban operators seek to diversify an whatever means necessary to fund some of the shoestring operations that are around.

Using their service on day excursions, its felt like I'm walking back in time and traveling on a preserved bus. The roller blinds, rear windows and bench seats all enhance the feeling.

As someone suggested to me a few weeks ago Birkenhead Transport reminds him and well me of someone sitting down and hand painting numbers onto buses.

Scott