New buses are terrorist-proof!
Rejoice, for the threat posed by terrorists is no more! Transperth have pulled down the “if you see something, say something” posters over the stairs at the Busport, replacing them with posters for their community consultation sessions — one of which I attended some time ago. (I would have photos, but my batteries weren’t charged …)
Clearly, we can stop being fearful now. And if I do see a Arab-looking person carrying a sack of ammonium nitrate, well, I dunno, I think I might forget what to do.
On the note of buses: my ride home today was on a shiny new natural gas bus, complete with the lovely smell of fresh synthetic seat covering. It seems Swan Transit have finally gotten in on the CNG-bus action (previously only Path and Southern Coast had them), and the new toys sport several design changes.
Back when the CNG buses first appeared I commented on the interior design, which seemed ugly at the time but has since grown on me. These newer natural gas buses feature sexy black plastic handles on the seats (not only is black the new black, it’s the new yellow!) and the surveillance camera mountings are much, much more subtle. Other changes include better lighting (with reading lights for the kids at the front) and … dig it … openable windows! But there are only four of them, and they’re small, so I doubt they’re of any real use.
The new gas buses also seem to have addressed (albeit perhaps not solved) the annoying violent gear-shift problems of the older ones. Yay for not feeling like I’m being beaten up by the playground bully every time I’m on a bus …
For some reason, you saying ‘sexy black plastic handles’ amuses me greatly. And did you really feel like you were getting beaten up when you were on the bus? =O_o=
You mean that I don’t get the amusement of grabbing one of the seats at the very front that everyone else walks straight past and then watching all the people left standing fall over as the bus takes off any more?
Well in your case, you need to be concerned about those speed humps that have been installed at the Busport, which limit the ability of drivers to floor it as they pull away from the platform …!
I was talking about the way in which the older gas buses have bone-rattler tendencies — they often change gears at entirely the wrong time, regardless of what the driver does. On any of the major south-western routes at peak hour (most of which are served by said buses), almost every time the bus stops to pick someone up the transmission will shift gears only after the bus is stationary, giving everyone a delightfully violent thudding. By comparison the diesel buses are perfectly stable once they’ve come to a stop.
I should mention that the new gas buses also take a leaf out of the CAT interior design book, featuring funky sloped bars and a smaller number of standing handles. I imagine this’ll make it harder for people to stay standing near the back of the bus, resulting in more entertainment for you, not less