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Parent | Government of Tasmania |
---|---|
Founded | 1 March 1955 as the Metropolitan Transport Trust (MTT) |
Headquarters | Hobart |
Service area | Burnie Hobart Launceston |
Service type | Bus services |
Hubs | Hobart City, Glenorchy, Rosny Park, Launceston City, Burnie City |
Fleet | 229 (May 2023) [1] |
Annual ridership | 6.96 million (2021/22) |
Chief executive | Katie Cooper |
Website | metrotas |
Metro Tasmania, commonly called Metro, a Tasmanian Government business enterprise, [2] is the largest bus operator in the state of Tasmania, Australia, with operations in three of the four largest urban centres of Hobart, Launceston, and Burnie. Urban services in Devonport are provided by a private operator, Kinetic. Services are provided by Metro under a range of urban and non-urban contracts with the Transport Commission, a division within the Department of State Growth.
The history of Metro Tasmania dates back to 1893, when the Hobart Electric Tramway Company (HETCo) was founded by a London consortium. The HETCo was one of the earliest such operators in the world, and was the first electric tramway in the Southern Hemisphere. The company also operated two Dennis motorbuses prior to being taken over in 1913 by the Hobart City Council, who renamed it to Hobart Municipal Tramways (HMT). In 1935, HMT began to use trolleybuses on some networks to replace trams, and petrol buses were introduced on some networks in the 1940s to alleviate congestion.
In 1955, a statutory authority called the Metropolitan Transport Trust (MTT) was formed, and this entity amalgamated the operations of the Hobart Municipal Tramways and Launceston Municipal Transport, which had been operated by the Launceston City Council as Launceston Municipal Tramways between 1911 and 1953 (when 'Tramways' was replaced by 'Transport' following the end of tram services in December 1952). The Hobart Municipal Tramways were taken over by the Trust on 1 March 1955, followed by Launceston on 1 July. At its commencement, the MTT operated trams, trolley, petrol and diesel buses, and was authorised to provide public transport services within a radius of seven miles of the Hobart and Launceston General Post Offices (GPO's).
On 30 August 1959, the MTT acquired the operations of Norton Coaches, which provided bus services in the Burnie area. This resulted in the MTT operating transport services in the South, North and North-West regions of Tasmania. A year later in 1960 saw the closure of the last of Hobart's tram routes, while in 1968 electric traction was removed altogether from Tasmania's streets when the trolleybuses were retired from both Hobart and Launceston.
The MTT began using Metro as its operating name during the late 1980s when the Trust was a division of the Department of Transport. The Metropolitan Transport Trust was dissolved when Metro Tasmania Pty Ltd became a state-owned company in February 1998. [3] Metro Tasmania normally has two shareholders, by law both are ministers in the state government. The Treasurer is one shareholder, while the other holds the Transport portfolio or its equivalent - the current shareholder minister is the Hon. Michael Ferguson MP, who is Deputy Premier, Treasurer and the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure. The government appoints directors to the Board of Metro Tasmania, who in turn appoint the chief executive officer.
In May 1999, Metro purchased Hobart Coaches which operated services to New Norfolk, Richmond, Blackmans Bay and the Channel areas of Hobart. Hobart Coaches was retained as the brand name of the regional division of Metro, initially operating with separate drivers and buses at separate yards, however both the workforce and the fleet were gradually absorbed into the main operation. Services to Kingston and Blackmans Bay became part of Metro's Hobart urban network, with Channel services operated under a separate non-urban contract. In the period since 1999, some of the former Hobart Coaches routes have been relinquished by Metro either for operational reasons, because contracts were sold to other operators, or due to public transport reviews undertaken by the state government. These include New Norfolk (sold to O'Driscoll Coaches), Richmond (sold to Tassielink Transit) and Cygnet (Metro route via Snug withdrawn following government review - Tassielink services via Huonville continue to operate).
As at June 2022, Metro Tasmania employed 511 people statewide. 6.96 million passenger boardings were recorded in the 2021-22 financial year, a slight increase from the previous year. Overall, patronage still showed a decrease of 18.8% when compared to 2018-19, which was the last full financial year not impacted by COVID. [4]
Unlike public transport operations in most other Australian cities, Metro continued to operate its full weekday timetable throughout the 2020-21 pandemic, including periods where lockdowns and travel restrictions were in place. This was possible due to the low number of infections recorded in Tasmania and the effectiveness of measures put in place to minimise the chance of wide-scale outbreaks. To reduce the risk to staff and passengers and provide an opportunity to obtain contactless payment methods, Metro did not collect fares for a period during the winter of 2020 and had passengers board and alight buses from the rear doors to minimise contact with the driver. [5] Increased cleaning and daily sanitising of the fleet was also introduced. Operations had returned to normal by the start of 2021, although the cleaning and sanitising protocols have remained in place. Following the relaxing of domestic travel restrictions in December 2021, COVID began to spread widely throughout the community. This caused extensive disruptions for Metro with drivers either stuck by the virus, isolated as close contacts or needing leave in order to care for sick relatives. Consequently, in the first half of 2022 Metro was forced to cancel substantial volumes of services in both Hobart and Launceston.
In Hobart, Metro's network extends from Gordon in the southern Channel region, north to Brighton and east to Seven Mile Beach and Opossum Bay with major interchanges in the Hobart, Glenorchy and Rosny Park CBD's and smaller transfer points at Kingston, Howrah Shoreline, Metro Springfield and Bridgewater. Two high-frequency corridors, branded as Turn Up and Go operate between Glenorchy and Hobart via Main Road, New Town Road and Elizabeth Street, and between Howrah Shoreline and Hobart via Clarence Street and Rosny Park. On these corridors a service is scheduled to depart every 10 minutes or better in each direction between 7am and 7pm on weekdays.
Hobart's bus routes are numbered according to their geographical area:
Cross-town routes that either bypass Hobart City or travel through the CBD without terminating are Routes 500 (Glenorchy - Hobart - Southern Outlet - Blackmans Bay), 501 (Glenorchy - Hobart - University), 601 (Howrah Shoreline - Rosny Park - Hobart - University), 605 (Howrah Shoreline - Rosny Park - Glenorchy), 694 (Rosny Park - Risdon Vale - Glenorchy) and 696 (Rosny Park - Risdon Vale - Otago/Old Beach - Bridgewater).
Some evening and weekend services on the Glenorchy - Hobart Turn Up and Go corridor are operated to/from New Norfolk as Route 722 by O'Driscolls Coaches as part of a Tasmanian Government project aimed at increasing the integration between urban and non-urban services. Since January 2019, non-urban and urban fringe services operated by private companies (O'Driscolls, Tasmanian Redline Coaches (Kinetic) and Tassielink Transit) from destinations such as the Huon Valley, Sorell, Richmond and New Norfolk have been permitted to pick up and set down passengers travelling wholly within the Hobart urban area.
In Launceston, the Metro network is bounded by the suburbs of Youngtown, St Leonards, Waverley, Rocherlea, North Riverside, Blackstone Heights and Hadspen. The major interchange is located in St John Street in the Launceston CBD. Two high-frequency Turn Up and Go corridors are operated. The first is between the University, Mowbray and the City via Invermay Road, and the second is between the City and Kings Meadows via the Launceston General Hospital, Wellington St and Hobart Rd.
A new public transport network for Launceston and surrounding regions was introduced on 19 January 2020. This review formed part of the Department of State Growth's program of integrating urban and non-urban bus services, and included both Metro and private operators including Manions Coaches, Tassielink Transit, and Kinetic. Private operators are now permitted to pick up and set down passengers travelling wholly within the Launceston urban area. As part of a process of reducing duplication of routes and services, Metro withdrew most of its services to North Riverside via West Tamar Rd and was replaced by Manions Coaches which now includes North Riverside as part of its Legana route.
Launceston's routes were re-numbered as part of the review in order to fit into a statewide route numbering system developed by State Growth in conjunction with Metro. The route numbers generally form a pattern according to their geographical area: [9]
Metro also operates the Tiger Bus service under contract to the Launceston City Council. In the morning and afternoon peaks a commuter shuttle links the CBD with the Inveresk Park & Ride car park, while during the inter-peak period the bus alternates between three tourist-oriented routes known as the City Explorer, River Explorer and Gorge Explorer. [10] [11]
In Burnie, Metro operates within the urban area from Chasm Creek in the east to Somerset in the west, and within suburban Burnie as far south as Shorewell Park, Downlands, Havenview and Emu Heights. Non-urban services are provided westward to Wynyard, and eastwards to Penguin and Ulverstone. A new network of services developed by the Department of State Growth for Burnie, Devonport and the north-west coast was implemented on 17 January 2021, and introduced Sunday services for the first time to these centres. The Burnie general access routes are numbered as follows: [12]
Routes 194 & 195 combine to provide a half hour frequency on weekdays on the main suburban loop in Burnie, while Route 197 operates hourly to and from Wynyard. Other routes operate on a lower frequency.
The main hub for Burnie services is the interchange, located in the CBD. Passengers can transfer between Metro services, or access other services including: [13]
Route 708 connects passengers from the western end of the north-west coast to intrastate coaches to Launceston and Hobart which start and end at the Devonport interchange.
Metro currently uses a smartcard ticketing system known as Greencard, alongside paper receipt-style tickets which are only purchasable with cash on the bus and Hobart-Bellerive Ferry. [14] [15] [16] [17]
Historically, Metro used paper tickets from its foundation until 1987, when a new magnetic-striped system by Crouzet was introduced in Hobart and Launceston, known initially as Metrofare. This system allowed for easier transfers across the network and an exact fare expiration time of 90 minutes. Upon the ending of this system, all ticketing equipment was sold to Adelaide Metro, who were the last remaining company in Australia using the system. Due to its smaller network and patronage, Burnie retained paper tickets and did not use Metrofare.
It was not until 2008 when a new system by INIT GmbH began trials, using an electronic card to validate and purchase tickets. The Greencard system was introduced statewide during 2010, and allows for passengers to deposit a desired amount onto their cards, with the balance debited upon each trip. The Greencard system also requires validation on each boarding, and has a fare expiration of 90 minutes from the initial boarding. Unlike many other jurisdictions with electronic ticketing, passengers do not tag off at the end of their journey. Each bus has a single Greencard reader and ticket sales point, which is operated by the driver.
Fare types include Adult, Concession/Student and Child, and each are divided into Metro's system of zones based on the distance from the Hobart, Launceston and Burnie CBD's. Fares for non-urban areas such as the Channel, South Arm-Opossum Bay, Wynyard and Ulverstone are set by the Transport Commission.
In 2018, an announcement was made in regards to a new ticketing system slated to replace or upgrade the Greencard system. [18] It will enable the use of debit/credit cards and smart devices to pay fares, and is expected to begin trials during late 2024 or early 2025.
As at May 2023, Metro had a statewide fleet of 229 buses, [1] consisting of:
100 Bustech XDi 12.5m low-floor buses with Cummins engines were introduced to the Metro fleet between 2018 and 2021, with the prototype constructed at the Bustech factory in Brisbane and the remaining 99 being built locally in partnership with Tasmanian company Elphinstone Pty Ltd at their factory in Wynyard. These are numbered #800-899. An additional tranche of buses was ordered in December 2020, with deliveries commencing in November 2021. These buses are numbered in the #900 series. All Metro services statewide are operated by low floor, wheelchair-accessible buses. 212 of the total fleet of 229 are air-conditioned. Launceston was the first city to have 100% of services accessible, followed by Burnie and Hobart.
The Burnie fleet (13 units) consists solely of Bustech XDi buses, plus two Scania 11.9m. The Launceston fleet (49 units) consists of 30 Scania 12.5m buses (a mix of Northcoast and Custom Coaches CB60 units), and 19 Bustech XDi buses. The Hobart fleet (164 units) consists of all 20 articulated buses, 49 Scania 12.5m (Northcoast, CB60 & CB80), 86 Bustech XDi and 11 Scania 11.9m buses. All 229 buses in the fleet are fitted with CCTV systems.
Several vehicles once operated by the MTT and Metro have now been preserved by the Tasmanian Transport Museum and the Tasmanian Bus & Coach Society. These include:
The initial bus livery adopted in 1955 was the same larch green and cream carried by trams and trolleybuses. In the late 1970s a new livery of rolled gold and cream appeared, which was updated in the early 1980s with a red band below the window line and a stylised MTT logo replacing the traditional monogram. The delivery of the first buses constructed at the new Ansair factory at Kingston during 1987 coincided with a re-branding of the Trust. Although still known as the Metropolitan Transport Trust, the business began to use the name Metro in its daily operations. The new buses were rolled out in a two-tone green livery with Metro titles replacing the stylised MTT logo - at the time the buses operating in the green livery indicated that the vehicle had a passenger-operated rear door. The existing fleet retained the gold and cream through to their retirements, with the exception of the articulated buses which were gradually repainted during the 1990s.
In the early 1990s, new Metro eXpress (MX) services were introduced, and a number of Scania N112 buses and Volvo articulateds were given a livery of green and yellow on white and special MX titles. Newly-delivered Scania N113 Oranas commencing with fleet number 606 carried a modified version of this livery. The Metro livery today features a corporate white body with the Metro logo, and all buses are painted with a yellow front to aid with visibility. [25]
Buses have periodically being painted into special liveries. One of the most notable liveries was for the Busy Bee, a high-frequency service that operated for a period from the mid-1990s on the Sandy Bay & University loop in Hobart and to Invermay and Mowbray in Launceston. A number of MAN 10.180 midibuses were painted bright yellow and adorned with a cartoon bee alongside destinations that the buses travelled to. The success of the Sandy Bay service resulted in buses larger than the 30-seat midibuses being required at peak times, and a single Scania Orana was also painted in the livery.
Metro maintains three large-sized depots, one each in Hobart (Derwent Park), Launceston and Burnie. These depots house Metro's buses and managerial operations, with Hobart being the central office. Each depot contains refuelling and workshop services.
The original headquarters for the MTT were in central Hobart, with the Depot in Campbell St. Much of the historical facade still exists today on the corner of Campbell and Macquarie Streets, opposite City Hall. Part of the depot was closed between 1985 and 1987 to allow for the construction of the Sheraton Hotel (now the Hotel Grand Chancellor), and coincided with the opening of the MTT's Springfield Interchange which replaced this lost capacity and also included workshops.
Following the Tasman Bridge disaster in January 1975, the MTT was dramatically impacted as it did not have any depot facilities on the eastern side of the Derwent River. A temporary depot was established at Bellerive Oval while work proceeded to construct a new facility at Mornington. This included workshops and driver amenities to enable the MTT's Eastern Shore services to operate independently from the City Depot while the Tasman Bridge was being rebuilt. The Mornington Depot remained an important part of the MTT's operations following the re-opening of the Tasman Bridge in 1977, however its usage gradually decreased as operations began to be centralised at Springfield during the 1980s and 1990s. A small compound was retained for some years for use as a satellite yard before being vacated entirely.
Because of the widespread nature of their services, Metro also have various satellite yards located in non-urban and outer suburban areas. These yards allow buses to begin their daily services in specific places, and can allow for greater early morning frequency for some routes and reduce the need to run buses out of service. The yards have minimal facilities and exist so as buses can be stored overnight, ready to begin an inward service the next day.
Hobart ( HOH-bart; is the capital and most populous city of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Located in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent, it is the southernmost capital city in Australia. Despite containing nearly half of Tasmania's population, Hobart is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-smallest by population and area after Darwin if territories are taken into account. Its skyline is dominated by the 1,271-metre kunanyi / Mount Wellington, and its harbour forms the second-deepest natural port in the world, with much of the city's waterfront consisting of reclaimed land. The metropolitan area is often referred to as Greater Hobart, to differentiate it from the City of Hobart, one of the seven local government areas that cover the city. It has a mild maritime climate.
Redline Coaches was one of Tasmania's largest coach operators. It operated both route and charter services. As of late 2022, Redline coaches has changed its name as part of a business re-brand by the parent company, Kinetic, and has now been incorporated into the Kinetic brand with its fleet of buses reflecting this change.
Tasslielink Transit is a bus and coach operator in Hobart and Launceston, Tasmania.
Cardiff Bus is the main operator of bus services in Cardiff, Wales and the surrounding area, including Barry and Penarth. The company is wholly owned by Cardiff Council and is one of the few municipal bus companies to remain in council ownership.
Football Tasmania (FT) is the governing body for soccer in the Australian state of Tasmania. The federation oversees competitions across Tasmania, Tasmanian representative teams, and development of the sport in the state. The federation was known as the Tasmanian Soccer Association until 1996, when it was renamed to Soccer Tasmania. In line with national changes in March 2006, it became Football Federation Tasmania. In February 2019, the organisation became simply Football Tasmania.
The Tasmanian State League (TSL), colloquially known as the Tasmanian Football League (TFL) (formerly known as the Tasmanian Australian National Football League (TANFL) and several other short-term names) is the highest ranked Australian rules football league in Tasmania, Australia.
Australian rules football has been played in Tasmania since the late 1860s. It draws the largest audience for any football code in the state. A 2018 study of internet traffic showed that 79% of Tasmanians are interested in Australian rules football, the highest rate in the country.
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The Municipal Tramways Trust (MTT) was established by the Government of South Australia in December 1906 to purchase all of the horse-drawn tramways in Adelaide, South Australia. The Trust subsequently also ran petrol and diesel buses and electric trolleybuses. It ceased to exist on 8 December 1975, when its functions were transferred to the State Transport Authority, which also operated Adelaide's suburban train services.
The Hobart Bus Mall is the main urban bus interchange for Metro Tasmania in the Hobart central business district. Situated on Elizabeth Street, it serves daily commuters from suburbs, nearby cities, and towns including Clarence, Glenorchy, Richmond, Cambridge and Kingborough. The interchange spans Elizabeth Street between Macquarie and Collins streets, with additional bus stops at Franklin Square and one on Liverpool Street near the Elizabeth Street Mall's north end. The interchange is within 500 metres (1,600 ft) of connecting coach services on Murray Street, ferry services and airport bus services at Brooke Street Pier.
The South Line, also known as the Main Line and sometimes the North/South Line or the North–South Line, is a rail corridor connecting Hobart to the northern ports of Tasmania. The Railway Line was built by the Tasmanian Main Line Company.
Trams operated in Hobart, the capital of the Australian state of Tasmania, between 1893 and 1960. The city had an extensive and popular system that reached most of its suburbs. It was the first complete electric tram system in the Southern Hemisphere, and the only one in Australia to operate double-decker trams.
The Adelaide trolleybus system formed part of the public transport network in Adelaide, South Australia from 1932 until 1963.
Statewide Australian rules football competition has been played in Tasmania, Australia under the umbrella of the Tasmanian Football League from 1986–1998, Football Tasmania from 1999–2000 until the competition was disbanded in December 2000 and AFL Tasmania from 2009 when a new ten-club competition, this time known as the Tasmanian State League, was formed.
Hobart Coaches was a Tasmanian coach company. It was originally started as a subsidiary company of Hazell Bros with services starting in the Kingston and Blackmans Bay, D'Entrecasteaux Channel, Huon, Richmond and New Norfolk areas.
The Hobart trolleybus system operated in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia from 1935 until 1968.
The Launceston trolleybus system operated in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia from 1951 until 1968.
The 2014 AFL Tasmania TSL premiership season was an Australian rules football competition staged across Tasmania, Australia over eighteen home and away rounds and six finals series matches between 5 April and 21 September.
The 2018 AFL Tasmania TSL premiership season is an Australian rules football competition staged across Tasmania, Australia over twenty-one home and away rounds and six finals series matches between 30 March and 15 September.
The Launceston tramway network served the city of Launceston, Tasmania in Australia from 1911 until 1952.
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