ABC #395

NEWS
THE WOT!?!
RESTORED BRISBANE HERITAGE
BUS MAKES PUBLIC DEBUT
ONE OF BRISBANE City Council’s first
purpose-built buses – a 72-year-old
diesel-powered British AEC Regal III –
made a sentimental spin around the
city on July 10, after a “breathtaking
restoration”, organisers announced.
The restoration was funded by a
$19,000 Queensland Government
Gambling Community Benefit Fund
grant.
Bus 80 – a British AEC Regal III chassis
with a Commonwealth Engineering
body built in Sydney – was one of 12
diesel-powered buses brought into
service in 1948, QOCS explains.
“Between October 1947 and April
1948, the Brisbane City Council began
consolidating the bus system in
Brisbane by compulsorily acquiring 20
private operators,” QOCS president Nick
Wilson said.
The gleaming silver Bus 80 cost
£5,110, the equivalent to approximately
$319,800 in today’s money, it states.
The bus began operating from the
BCC’s Light Street depot in Fortitude
Valley in June 1948, and remained in
service until September 1971.
Queensland State Minister for
Transport and Main Roads Mark Bailey
MP unveiled the restoration alongside
BCC Chair of the Public and Active
Transport Committee Cr Murphy.
Wilson says QOCS was grateful
the Queensland Government
funding allowed Bus 80 to have
another lease of life.
“There would be many who still
remember Bus 80 and others like it
servicing suburbs such as Doomben,
Indooroopilly, Moorooka, Norman
Park, Tarragindi and Yeerongpilly,”
Wilson said.
“It’s an important part of Brisbane’s
transport history – and while the city
looks very different, it will be great to
give Bus 80 a run on some of the streets
it would have traversed day after day for
more than 20 years.”
Acacia Ridge-based firm Coachworks
conducted the restoration, which began
in May. Coachworks general manager
Scott Isaacs says it was an enjoyable
project to work on as the coronavirus
lockdown created uncertainty in the
transport industry.
“The Covid-19 slowdown has meant
that the timing of these projects is
mutually beneficial,” he said.
“Our team always enjoy working on
club buses and it’s a great talking point
for our customers and suppliers when
they visit our workshop.”
A not-for-profit organisation
dedicated to preserving Brisbane’s bus
history, QOCS hopes to one day feature
Bus 80 and its fleet of 16 other vintage
buses at a proposed Brisbane Transport
Museum at Council’s Hangar 7 facility at
Eagle Farm, it explains.
However, until this time, Bus 80
will instead be displayed at the
Queensland Transport Museum in
Gatton, it confirms.
“It’s the first time a QOCS bus will be
able to be seen by the general public all
year round,” Wilson said.
Below: The bus began operating from the
BCC’s Light Street depot in Fortitude Valley
in June 1948, and remained in service until
September 1971, QOCS states.
STOP STOPPING
A parking ticket was slapped on a bus parked
for a layover in a bus stop in the UK recently,
while the driver nipped down the road for a
drink and a sandwich. Described by the bus
company as “a slap in the face” for drivers who
continued to work throughout lockdown,
Leicestershire County Council said the notice
“was issued as the bus appeared to be parked
up and unattended”. Apparently the appeal
against the £70 ($126) fine will be “carefully
considered”.
GOOSE WHISPERER
A Coast Mountain Bus Company driver is being
commended for escorting a gaggle of geese
across a busy Vancouver intersection recently.
Kelly Podlubny was recorded chivvying the
geese to safety after he noticed that traffic
had stopped. “I knew it was dangerous for the
geese,” he said, “so I took it upon myself to go
outside and try and wrangle them across the
street. They’re calling me the ‘Goose Whisperer’
on Facebook, which makes me smile. Hope it
makes others smile, too.”
MANY MASKS
Stuff the Bus Foundation, a charity in southern
Kentucky that donates school supplies,
has announced that its partner, Wendy’s of
Bowling Green, is supplying 15,000 surgical
face masks for schools in the state, which
will be disseminated through the foundation.
“I really think this might be the most timely
donation we’ve ever had,” said Tony Rose, the
radio host who started Stuff the Bus 15 years
ago as a promotional stunt.
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ABC July 2020 busnews.com.au