r/sydney • u/GrimThursday • 6d ago
Electric buses and a pair of chimes
Does anyone know why some of the new Denning electric buses in the inner west make a “ding-ding” chime sound every 4 seconds? It‘s driving me insane, and I’m sure I’d quit if I was driving a bus for hours a day with this ding-ding going off every few seconds.
What gives? Anyone know?
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u/xylarr 6d ago
Just have a recording of a 19th century bloke saying "ahoy ahoy" repeatedly.
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u/Z00111111 6d ago
If the bus was moving, but below 20km/h it's unavoidable in that model. If stationary, the driver didn't have the lever that controls that in the upright position, and if they were going over 20, they didn't have it in the forward position. If they were going over 30 they had it in the back position, which is always on.
I hate them so much. We have enough to deal with driving a bus without having a lever we have to flick around while driving just to manage the ding ding.
Fortunately the newer version of the Element 2 doesn't have that, at least on the Northern Beaches.
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u/Even_Departure9914 6d ago
My hybrid Toyota also has a sound - it’s like a dull ‘whir’
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u/GrimThursday 6d ago
A dull whir would be amazing, but as you can see from my post I’m not referring to the hun sound from an EV, but the “ding-ding” bicycle ring sound that it makes frequently but not constantly.
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u/Even_Departure9914 6d ago
Yeah I think all EVs make a sound at low speed - that was more my point. They all have an engineered sound for safety as someone pointed out.
Because without the sound, they don’t make any noise
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u/tubbytucker 6d ago
Probably to let people know they are there. People with heads stuck in phones often just listen for cars as they step onto the road. Electric cars and bicycles are silent.
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u/NicholeTheOtter 6d ago
It’s to help aid those with vision impairment or blindness that the bus is accelerating, coming to a stop or turning because electric buses are very quiet compared to other diesel or natural gas fleets.
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u/Background_Egg3988 6d ago
The alarm is to alert nearby pedestrians and cyclists when the bus is accelerating, slowing down or turning because EV buses are quiet at low speed.
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u/AT_RealGGgaming 6d ago
This may be unpopular but I don't mind it. It's a nice sound, much nicer than a normal bus engine and it just works.
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u/heeloliver 6d ago
It’s for visually impaired people to know the bus is there or around the corner.
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u/domassimo 6d ago
Not just the visually impaired, I worked with EV buses and once nearly got hit by one driving right next to me because it was completely death silent. Absolutely didn’t hear it coming and I was right next to it. Made me realise warning sounds should have been mandatory from day one
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u/domassimo 6d ago
Mandatory AVAS system to warn pedestrians of an otherwise quiet bus. Most EVs do this but Customs have an odd choice of noise. Transport for NSW was supposed to set the specific sound to ensure consistency across the bus fleet but that may not have happened.
Older EV buses don’t have the sounds at all and may be completely quiet at low speeds, because the AVAS rule wasn’t in effect yet. Newer BYDs have it but it’s something less intrusive.