The 90 minute loop has twenty hop-on and hop-off stops which lasts three days. In other words passengers can hop off at one of these stops and get back on, a day later. In effect it is a 45 minute loop to the south of the city (returns to the Information centre) and then a further 45 minute tour to the north of the city.
Red Decker is a private, family owned company and has operated the distinctive bright red UK double decker buses since 1997. The staff consider themselves as ambassadors for Hobart by providing cultural and historical information on the bus tour.
The three red decker buses were originally built in 1961, 1970 and 1973. Two of these are imports from England and host all the hallmarks of UK historical double decker buses. We wondered how many millions of people had travelled on the 1961 double decker (we were on) from Sheffield in England (1961-1997).
We did a rough conservative estimate and calculated this red Decker had provided travel for five million, four hundred thousand people in Sheffield (based on 300 days operations each year, 50 passengers and 20 trips, leaving 65 days for repairs or fallow).
The three Red Decker's seat anything from 68 to 77 passengers (depending on the bus) and are a very welcome sight as they run throughout Hobart.
Some of the Red Decker stops includes Sullivan's Cove (Harbour side restaurants) and Salamanca Place (1850's waterfront warehouses and the famous Salamanca Markets and many galleries).
Princess Park is the historic site of the Mulgrave Gun Battery and Signal Station, the early Hobart suburbs of Battery Point St George's Church at St George's Park, Wrest Point Casino and the Sandy Bay shopping centre.
Next is Australia's oldest brewery (Cascade) from which the the convict walk tour is available to the Female factory site and the lovely Cascade Gardens.
On the second part of the tour the Red Decker stops at the 1830's Old Hobart Goal, the 1818 Botanical Gardens and the Victoria Docks along with other stops such as the Aquatic Centre and the Maritime Museum.
The Red Decker tour bus system has other options such as a river cruise, the Cadbury Factory and the third is the Cascade Brewery. This provides a broad set of choices for tourists. The Red Deckers are also available for character by schools and the like.
http://www.reddecker.com.au/?p=about
In June we enjoyed a similar bus tour of Darwin Bombing sites. This was part of our consultation process as we ourselves had run the Moruya historic bus tour for some years as part of our Australia's Bush Orchestra tourism ministry (1996-2005).
We encourage tourists to take the city's bus tour to learn something of it's history and people. The Great Falls Bus Tour in Montana, USA. In our view, the most annoying was in Paris way back in 1992 due to the unaccustomed accent of the taped English translation (after the French).