SMRT New Euro-V Mercedes-Benz OC500LE WAB bus (Part 1)
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Originally posted by sbs&tibs:
Its real, from amdep.
3C? -
Originally posted by bus555:
and I heard that Ocs ever appear on 969 bef. I dunno izzit for not
What I heard from some others is that SMB9 is supposed to be on 969 today but went 812 as a breakdown replacement.
I'm quite sure that some OC cameos happened went unseen by bus fans. SMB 7 S on service 167 is a very good example.
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Originally posted by TIB1018B:
Some updates:-
SMB8P and SMB9L will be assigned to AMDEP.
SMB6U is still on hold in KJDEP.
SMB 6U is out today on 189 this morning doing 970S104 or S105 cannnot remember. evening peak 6U is doing 190 S shift today -
Originally posted by TIB 589B:
SMB 6U is out today on 189 this morning doing 970S104 or S105 cannnot remember. evening peak 6U is doing 190 S shift todaySorry to say but SMB6U was seen on 970 during PM Peak , doing 970S104 , off service at abt 7+pm
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Originally posted by TIB 589B:
SMB 6U is out today on 189 this morning doing 970S104 or S105 cannnot remember. evening peak 6U is doing 190 S shift today
Wrong. 6U was still on S970 today, my friend caught this bus in the late afternoon from Shenton Way. -
all s-shift uh??
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Seems like only 4A is full day. Arriving YSI 11.36pm.
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Originally posted by sbs&tibs:
Wrong. 6U was still on S970 today, my friend caught this bus in the late afternoon from Shenton Way.
or is it on 190/970 xover? -
Originally posted by service_238:
or is it on 190/970 xover?
970/189. -
Originally posted by off_service:
What I heard from some others is that SMB9 is supposed to be on 969 today but went 812 as a breakdown replacement.
I'm quite sure that some OC cameos happened went unseen by bus fans. SMB 7 S on service 167 is a very good example.
OK, story goes like this.The bus that did the 969S107 slot in the morning, when the SL brought it out again at 3.20pm towards Yishun, broke down. As a result, S812 waiting time kena stretched to >18 mins. SL returned to depot, starter allocated him SMB 9L to drive.
SMB 9L spotted doing overnight parking in Yishun just now, so tomorrow not sure what service liao. YIBP services most likely.
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Hmmm... I went cycling down to Yishun today to see if I can see any of these buses, and I managed to chase SMB 9L and SMB 7S on routes 812 and 806 respectively. An interesting thing to note: SMB 9L was using right-hand side route number layout on it's LED display, similar to TIB 1034D's and SBS Transit's buses' LED displays, while SMB 7S was using the traditional left-hand side layout.
I didn't manage to board the buses (I was with my bicycle), but I did get close enough to it to observe what the buses were like.
Let me just say, seeing these buses in person made me realise how sinfully-ugly these buses actually are. They look just OK in photographs, but once you get up close in person to these buses, you will see how everything is mismatched and poorly designed in terms of aesthetics. I thought the Scania K230UB buses had mismatched sides relative to the front and rear, but the Mercedes OC500LE bus' front, sides, and rear are just so mismatched with each other, I wonder if it was the result of a human, monkey, and gorilla each designing each of those seperately and then haphazardly clobbered them together. Whoever approved this design must be shot, stabbed, dragged through mud, whipped, burned, and her/his remains fed to dogs for uglyfing our fleet of buses.
I don't want to say too much about the interior yet, since I have not boarded these buses yet, but from what I have seen from the outside, it doesn't feel welcoming at all.
I also managed to hear the door-closing chime, and if I ever get to ride these buses, I will actually consider it a curse worse than being forced to ride the Nissan U31RCN buses every single day - which I am now starting to think of as a blessing, seriously. When I first heard that God-awful voice on SMRT's MRT trains, something in me just cringed so hard it died and buried itself over 9000 feet under; if I was forced to either hear that voice again and again on a bus or listen to tasteless heavy-metal music for 24 hours, I could choose the latter.
I really really dread about having to ride these buses one day (this has never happened with a new bus model or a bus model I have not rode before), though I will still ride it just once if one does pull up on me on a route I'm going to take, so I can make a full judgement about this bus. But let me just say it first: I never really hated any model of buses before, and for SMRT to ruin their Mercedes OC500LE buses far enough for me to hate it even before I set foot on it is really an "acheivement" they should be "proud" of.
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Originally posted by Oceane:
OK, story goes like this.The bus that did the 969S107 slot in the morning, when the SL brought it out again at 3.20pm towards Yishun, broke down. As a result, S812 waiting time kena stretched to >18 mins. SL returned to depot, starter allocated him SMB 9L to drive.
SMB 9L spotted doing overnight parking in Yishun just now, so tomorrow not sure what service liao. YIBP services most likely.
First, SMB 1H breaks down in the middle of an expressway in the middle of nowhere on route 190 on it's first day; now this.
Well done, Saw Phaik Hwa. Well done, SMRT. Keep "moving" people, and keep "enhancing" lives.
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Originally posted by Oceane:
OK, story goes like this.The bus that did the 969S107 slot in the morning, when the SL brought it out again at 3.20pm towards Yishun, broke down. As a result, S812 waiting time kena stretched to >18 mins. SL returned to depot, starter allocated him SMB 9L to drive.
SMB 9L spotted doing overnight parking in Yishun just now, so tomorrow not sure what service liao. YIBP services most likely.
Do the 854E/531 xover (parent 167) and that would be totally awesome! -
Originally posted by eX.A.K.R.:
Hmmm... I went cycling down to Yishun today to see if I can see any of these buses, and I managed to chase SMB 9L and SMB 7S on routes 812 and 806 respectively. An interesting thing to note: SMB 9L was using right-hand side route number layout on it's LED display, similar to TIB 1034D's and SBS Transit's buses' LED displays, while SMB 7S was using the traditional left-hand side layout.
I didn't manage to board the buses (I was with my bicycle), but I did get close enough to it to observe what the buses were like.
Let me just say, seeing these buses in person made me realise how sinfully-ugly these buses actually are. They look just OK in photographs, but once you get up close in person to these buses, you will see how everything is mismatched and poorly designed in terms of aesthetics. I thought the Scania K230UB buses had mismatched sides relative to the front and rear, but the Mercedes OC500LE bus' front, sides, and rear are just so mismatched with each other, I wonder if it was the result of a human, monkey, and gorilla each designing each of those seperately and then haphazardly clobbered them together. Whoever approved this design must be shot, stabbed, dragged through mud, whipped, burned, and her/his remains fed to dogs for uglyfing our fleet of buses.
I don't want to say too much about the interior yet, since I have not boarded these buses yet, but from what I have seen from the outside, it doesn't feel welcoming at all.
I also managed to hear the door-closing chime, and if I ever get to ride these buses, I will actually consider it a curse worse than being forced to ride the Nissan U31RCN buses every single day - which I am now starting to think of as a blessing, seriously. When I first heard that God-awful voice on SMRT's MRT trains, something in me just cringed so hard it died and buried itself over 9000 feet under; if I was forced to either hear that voice again and again on a bus or listen to tasteless heavy-metal music for 24 hours, I could choose the latter.
I really really dread about having to ride these buses one day (this has never happened with a new bus model or a bus model I have not rode before), though I will still ride it just once if one does pull up on me on a route I'm going to take, so I can make a full judgement about this bus. But let me just say it first: I never really hated any model of buses before, and for SMRT to ruin their Mercedes OC500LE buses far enough for me to hate it even before I set foot on it is really an "acheivement" they should be "proud" of.
relax.. only 132 units.. compared to 900 K230s.. -
Originally posted by service_238:
Do the 854E/531 xover (parent 167) and that would be totally awesome!914X perm slot?
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Originally posted by TIB1018B:
SMB8P SMB9L SMB10G will be assigned to AMDEP.
SMB11D SMB12B SMB13Z will be assigned to KJDEP.No Merc OC500LEs assigned to WLDEP as yet.
I wont be surprised that the starting few OCs are split between AM and KJ, dhen the last remaining all give to WLDEP.
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heard 7S has a different back?
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Originally posted by Scania N113CRB luver:
I wont be surprised that the starting few OCs are split between AM and KJ, dhen the last remaining all give to WLDEP.
probably. since WLDEP still have lots of UD...
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Originally posted by eX.A.K.R.:
First, SMB 1H breaks down in the middle of an expressway in the middle of nowhere on route 190 on it's first day; now this.
Well done, Saw Phaik Hwa. Well done, SMRT. Keep "moving" people, and keep "enhancing" lives.
If you have no details as to why the bus broke down, please dont put the blame on SMRT.
When the B9s first came out, many of them brokedown as well, but why are there so little comments made on SBST compared to SMRT? I sense some kind of biasedness.
The OC500LEs are prone to breakdown now. Even the Australian bus companies are having problems with them. So its not entirely SMRT fault. Mainly its due to the electrical modules on the bus i heard. Not too sure. Perhaps Dave (Powered_by_CNG) can enlighten us on that.
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Yes the OC500LE are indeed not very bad. Not even compared to any buses, the fact that how it looks like will revolutionize how public buses are in Singapore.
Yes it might somehow look unproportionate. Windscreen seems to be too big. Engine sounds weak etc. But there are changes, positive ones that are aimed at bringing public transport here to a higher level.
Yes SMRT might be still cramming people on the buses. But by not giving them a chance, more time to prove themselves, we will not know.
One simple thing that rounds most of the doubts around; out of ten world cities that I went, seven to eight cram people on board buses and trains, majority in peak hours. They are either on par with Singapore, or even better. Take Tokyo as a good example.
The one thing that can revolutionize starts at the 'retarder stick' that helps the bus captain to slow the bus down instead of relying fully on the foot brake. By pulling the stick on the lower right toward the driver, the braking is effected. What exactly it activates, whether the retarder or the mechanical brakes itself, I am not sure. But it is a brand new thing not seen on other Singapore public buses yet.
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Originally posted by Scania N113CRB luver:
If you have no details as to why the bus broke down, please dont put the blame on SMRT.
When the B9s first came out, many of them brokedown as well, but why are there so little comments made on SBST compared to SMRT? I sense some kind of biasedness.
The OC500LEs are prone to breakdown now. Even the Australian bus companies are having problems with them. So its not entirely SMRT fault. Mainly its due to the electrical modules on the bus i heard. Not too sure. Perhaps Dave (Powered_by_CNG) can enlighten us on that.
I'm not trying to be biased, but for a brand new bus to break down on the very first day was a really amazing "feat" for them to accomplish. As for later breakdowns, as long as it's not their first day of deployment, I'm still cool about it; I guess I will see how thier reliability goes from here, but from what SMRT has been feeding us, I cannot be optimistic.
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Originally posted by eX.A.K.R.:
I'm not trying to be biased, but for a brand new bus to break down on the very first day was a really amazing "feat" for them to accomplish. As for later breakdowns, as long as it's not their first day of deployment, I'm still cool about it; I guess I will see how thier reliability goes from here, but from what SMRT has been feeding us, I cannot be optimistic.
Dhen answer me clearly. I want a solid answer. The australian bus operators i believe are much better than SMRT, but why is their OCs having the similar breakdown problems? Theirs also brand new. Different bodywork also, but displays same symtoms. Engine felt powerless, engine stalling, breakdowns, etc. I want a solid answer to your post.
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Originally posted by TIB1224Y:
Yes it might somehow look unproportionate. Windscreen seems to be too big. Engine sounds weak etc. But there are changes, positive ones that are aimed at bringing public transport here to a higher level.
I'm cool about the larger windscreen; I just don't like how it's designed compared with the rest of the bus. It's like they were trying to imitate the look of those TIBS-modified Volgren bodies without any regard for the design language of bus' bodies (very difficult for me to explain this concept, but in short, it just felt "struck-on"); not only that, they managed to distort it while copying the design by making it look flatter (the original design on the Volgren bodies had a pronounced curve on it's front). And as for that rear, it really must go; that rear looks so much like an out-of-place sore butt on that bus.
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Originally posted by Scania N113CRB luver:
Dhen answer me clearly. I want a solid answer. The australian bus operators i believe are much better than SMRT, but why is their OCs having the similar breakdown problems? Theirs also brand new. Different bodywork also, but displays same symtoms. Engine felt powerless, engine stalling, breakdowns, etc. I want a solid answer to your post.
These have to be mechanical problems from the manufacturer of the bus (Mercedes-Benz in this case); if a bus is poorly-engineered, it will suffer from such problems. No matter how great or lousy the operator is, in such a case, if you are given a bus with inherent mechanical problems, it is bound to break down often and give headaches for everyone even if they are well-maintained, unless these inherent problems are rooted out at the core.
Still, that first-day breakdown is really unprecendented. I could expect that even such a poorly-engineered bus could have at least run for a few days before breaking down - as far as we all know, SMB 1H was brought out only once before being officially deployed; there was also a great deal of time in between for the mechanics to catch and fix any problems that might have occured in the period in between.
(I'm aware though that there is a rumour that the bus was brought out before it was registered and put on a limited trial on route 854 long before it was officially unveiled; even then, it was a limited trial, and if we assume the bus was brought back to the depot afterwards for storage, I could have expected them to do more internal testing to make sure all systems work as they should under real-world situations, and catch any problems that might surface.)
And, surely if SMRT knows how problematic this bus model is, why do they still want to purchase it as a fleet replacement? Unless the management were living in shells and didn't know anything about the problems the Australians were having, or the fact that they were looking to scrimp on new buses, they should not have bought buses with such a problematic reputation; unreliable buses don't leave a good impression with the commuters. SMRT's reputation is already through pit-bottom, but it seems like the management is only caring about their big fat profits year after year.
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Originally posted by eX.A.K.R.:
I'm cool about the larger windscreen; I just don't like how it's designed compared with the rest of the bus. It's like they were trying to imitate the look of those TIBS-modified Volgren bodies without any regard for the design language of bus' bodies (very difficult for me to explain this concept, but in short, it just felt "struck-on"); not only that, they managed to distort it while copying the design by making it look flatter (the original design on the Volgren bodies had a pronounced curve on it's front). And as for that rear, it really must go; that rear looks so much like an out-of-place sore butt on that bus.
No new bus, complain no new bus. Got new bus, complain design is copied, modified, etc. Is it really fun to rant about such stuffs? Think again please.
If you rant about the things im ranting about the OC500LE, which is poor aircon circulation, then maybe i would take in your complains or whatsoever. However, if you dislike the bus and make remarks on SMRT simply because of lousy design of the bus, i dont see any reason why you would do that. Do you take a bus simply because of its radical design, or would you rather take a bus that provides comfort for you throughout the journey?
The OC500LE is one the first few new buses that makes me sweat like as if im taking an ELBO.