l94ub in pre 2010 corporate livery parent government of tasmania founded 1955 headquarters hobart service area burnie hobart launceston service type bus services fleet 217 may 2014 annual ridership 10.4 million 2011 12 chief executive stuart wiggins website www.metrotas.com.au metro tasmania commonly called metro a tasmanian government business enterprise is the largest bus operator in the state of tasmania australia with operations in the largest population centres of hobart launceston and burnie . contents 1 history 2 operations 3 ticketing 4 fleet 4.1 preserved buses 5 livery 6 depots 6.1 satellite yards 7 see also 8 references 9 external links history edit ansair bodied scania n113crb in december 2012 ansair bodied man 10.180 hocl in december 2012 custom coaches bodied scania k230ub in all over advertising the history of metro tasmania stems 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 the launceston municipal tramways which had been operated by the launceston city council since 1911 . at its commencement mtt operated trams trolley petrol and diesel buses . in 1960 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 . 1960 also saw the end of hobart s trams and in 1968 electric traction was removed altogether from hobart s streets . mtt continued to operate until re branded in the 1990s as metro . metro tasmania pty ltd is a state owned company established in february 1998 . 1 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 the regional division of metro operating with separate buses at separate yards however the former has now been amalgamated into the latter and metro operates all former hobart coaches services . in december 2008 metro sold its new norfolk services to o driscoll coaches . 2 operations edit as at june 2012 metro tasmania employed 405 people and carried 10.4 million passengers in 2011 12 . 1 on 28 november 2012 metro bus drivers above a weight maximum of 130 kilograms 290 lb began to be removed from duties and placed on an exercise program paid for by the company due to occupational health and safety issues . if after six months drivers had not achieved in losing an optimal amount of weight their employment would be terminated . this action in helping drivers with weight issues has been supported by the australian rail tram and bus union and made national news headlines . 3 ticketing edit metro currently uses a smartcard ticketing system known as greencard alongside paper receipt style tickets which are only purchasable with cash on the bus . historically metro used paper tickets from its foundation until 1987 when a new magnetic striped system by crouzet was introduced . 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 given to adelaide metro who are the last remaining company using the system . it was not until 2008 when a new system by init was introduced which used an electronic card to validate and purchase tickets . the greencard system allows for passengers to deposit a desired amount onto their cards with the balance debited upon each trip . the new system also requires validation on each boarding and has a fare expiration of 90 minutes from the initial boarding . fare types include adult concession student and child and each are divided into metro s system of sections . 4 fleet edit as at may 2014 the fleet consisted of 218 man scania and volvo buses . 5 metro has used a variety of buses in its history commencing in 1955 with aec regal half cab buses . from 1955 over 300 petrol engined bedford sb3s were purchased followed in the 1970s by 75 hino bt51s 64 leyland nationals and 68 volvo b58s . 6 7 in the 1980s three volvo b58s and 19 volvo b10m articulated buses were purchased as well as four rigid b10ms 8 28 mercedes benz oh1316s . 6 and the first scania n112s . 9 preserved buses edit 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 1942 canton trolleybus 74 donated by mtt in 1964 to tasmanian transport museum in full operating condition . 10 1948 aec regal 16 acquired in 1976 by tasmanian transport museum unrestored . 11 1953 but trolleybus 235 donated by mtt in 1968 to tasmanian transport museum last trolleybus to operate in tasmania 10 1971 bedford sb3 249 donated by metro to tasmanian transport museum in 1988 in full operating condition 11 1975 leyland national 601 donated by metro to tasmanian transport museum in 1992 11 1980 volvo b58 702 preserved by private owner 1989 scania n113crb 134 donated by metro to tasmanian bus & coach society in 2010 restoration ongoing 12 livery edit 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 . a re branding also occurred shifting away from metropolitan transport trust mtt to metro tasmania and a two tone apple green livery was introduced at the time to reflect this . this livery can be seen today on some older buses and its initial purpose was to signify buses with passenger operated rear doors . in the early 1990s new metro express mx services were introduced and a number of buses were given a livery of green and yellow on white . both two tone green and mx livery exist today on older stock but this has been replaced mainly by a corporate white with a yellow front . 13 depots edit 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 . hobart was once served by the city depot which originally housed hobart s tram depot and company offices predecessors to metro today . the city depot was closed in the 1980s to make way for urban redevelopment and now hardly any remnant remains aside from several historic buildings and fa ades . satellite yards edit 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 . the yards generally have no facilities and usually exist so as buses can be stored overnight ready to begin an inward service the next day . hobart hobart cbd this yard was only recently acquired by metro after previously being used as a concrete plant . this yard generally holds up to 8 buses at any one time . mornington this yard was very large and initially housed the workshops for metro however today it remains only as a small parking area in mornington s light industrial district . bridgewater brighton this yard is often known for being a graveyard and buses that have been decommissioned from service are placed here until sold . buses used for services for bridgewater and the northern suburbs are often housed here overnight . kingston buses from this yard serve margate snug and kingston in the morning peak hour . lauderdale serving lauderdale and south arm in the morning peak . woodbridge middleton opossum bay cygnet and gordon each of these yards house one bus overnight which operate the morning peak hour service from those areas . launceston ravenswood burnie wynyard two buses are stored overnight in wynyard . ulverstone plans have also been made by metro drivers to open urban satellite yards . see also edit buses portal tasmania portal trolleybuses in hobart trolleybuses in launceston tasmania references edit a b annual report 2011 12 metro tasmania clark nick 10 december 2008 . valley bus privatised . the mercury . smith matt . metro on weight loss drive . the mercury . davies bros pty. ltd. retrieved 10 december 2012 . tasmania metro . urban fare sections & non urban fare zones explained . retrieved 8 december 2012 . metro tasmania bus australia a b travers greg 1989 . the australian government bus . elizabeth railmac publications . pp. 6 11 20 40 46 49 . isbn 0 949817 75 9 . metro tasmania volvo b58 disposal list bus australia metro tasmania volvo b10m mk11 rigids disposal list bus australia tasmanian update australian bus panorama 4 6 may 1989 a b tasmanian transport museum society . exhibits trolley buses . retrieved 8 december 2012 . a b c tasmanian transport museum society . exhibit mtt petrol and diesel buses . retrieved 8 december 2012 . tasmanian bus & coach society . about us . retrieved 8 december 2012 . tasmania metro 1993 . centenary 1893 1993 . hobart tasmania metro tasmania . external links edit company website v t e bus transport in australia cities adelaide brisbane bunbury cairns darwin geelong gold coast hobart ipswich kalgoorlie logan city mackay melbourne newcastle perth rockhampton sunshine coast sydney townsville toowoomba wagga wagga states and territories queensland retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title metro tasmania & oldid 729931098 categories bus companies of tasmaniatransport in tasmania1955 establishments in australiagovernment owned companies of tasmaniahidden categories use dmy dates from november 2013use australian english from november 2013all wikipedia articles written in australian english navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages polski edit links this page was last modified on 15 july 2016 at 15 39 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional 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