Yes the buses did go private first, just a step in the process of the privatisation dogma.

So those quiet time tram services returned during Met days.

Regards,

> On 12 Jan 2018, at 6:27 am, Daniel Bowendanielbowen@... [TramsDownUnder] TramsDownUnder@...> wrote:

>

> On 11 January 2018 at 21:18, Richard Youltressteleg@...

> [TramsDownUnder] TramsDownUnder@...> wrote:

> > One of the few good things to come out of transport privatisation was that the government no longer owned any buses so had to stop using buses instead of some tram services

>

> I thought the buses went into private ownership well before the trams

> and trains did in 1999?

>

> But anyway... The other catalyst for no longer replacing trams with

> buses on Sundays (from memory it was routes 3, 77, 57, 82; maybe

> others?) was the removal of conductors. This caused problems on a lot

> of routes before Metcard came in, but it also meant there was no

> labour saving running a bus compared to a driver-only tram.

>

> Daniel

>