News & Discussion: Adelaide Metro Trains

[Nathan]

None of them should be referred to as stations. All of them, except Adelaide Railway Station, are glorified platforms one step removed from bus stops. The fact that St Clair can be regarded as our second best is appalling.

[metro]

With such poor train stations, how the heck did Adelaide's trains come 2nd best in AU?? Also with regular strikes, very slow trains, useless hourly/half hourly service frequencies, stalled electrification/upgrade works, hardly any staff, and worst rail patronage in AU.

[Goodsy]

With such poor train stations, how the heck did Adelaide's trains come 2nd best in AU?? Also with regular strikes, very slow trains, useless hourly/half hourly service frequencies, stalled electrification/upgrade works, hardly any staff, and worst rail patronage in AU.

goes to show how crappy the rest of Australia is

[Norman]

With such poor train stations, how the heck did Adelaide's trains come 2nd best in AU?? Also with regular strikes, very slow trains, useless hourly/half hourly service frequencies, stalled electrification/upgrade works, hardly any staff, and worst rail patronage in AU.

Do you normally catch the train or do you just go by what's reported in the newspapers? I catch the train almost every day to and from the city, and while the frequency at night can be better, the overall service is great.

Whenever I go to Melbourne I am just shocked how there can be so much uncleaned graffiti all over the trains, it's disgraceful.

Brisbane and Sydney's trains are just about as slow as our Diesel trains, and Perth is of course the top.

[monotonehell]

An aside concern is all the comparisons to bus stops as being substandard. It seems people regard bus stops as third world infrastructure and accept it that way. In an integrated metro system, 'bus stops' should be given as much thought as 'rail stops'.

[rubberman]

An aside concern is all the comparisons to bus stops as being substandard. It seems people regard bus stops as third world infrastructure and accept it that way. In an integrated metro system, 'bus stops' should be given as much thought as 'rail stops'.

I think Nathan's point is that calling these things "stations" is incorrect, or imprecise.

His thinking is in line with European practice where different size facilities have different names. Hauptbahnhof/Bahnhof/Haltestelle, for example.

[monotonehell]

An aside concern is all the comparisons to bus stops as being substandard. It seems people regard bus stops as third world infrastructure and accept it that way. In an integrated metro system, 'bus stops' should be given as much thought as 'rail stops'.

I think Nathan's point is that calling these things "stations" is incorrect, or imprecise.

His thinking is in line with European practice where different size facilities have different names. Hauptbahnhof/Bahnhof/Haltestelle, for example.

I wasn't referring to Nathan's comment specifically. But more people's attitude to bus stops in general. Which is wrong. The article has several statements saying things like "the rail stop is worse than a bus stop".

What I mean is that we shouldn't think about bus stops so lowly. We want people to patronise bus services - as well as rail. When it rains, more people take their cars, for example. Better shelters and other amenities in both bus stops and rail stops is important.

[Nathan]

Agreed. My point of comparison with bus stops was more based around that bus stops generally don't have any supporting facilities, and are small (the length of one bench, with some minor weather protection).

A station should have at a minimum:

• Proper weather protection
• Tap on points
• Somewhere to purchase tickets or recharge cards
• At least one staff
• Timetable & route information
• Toilets

Ideally they should also have some basic retail & hospitality (somewhere to grab a magazine, a coffee or a snack) and links to other transport (local buses, taxis), and even better, proper retail surroundings (shops, cafes, supermarkets, public space).

Instead we get a platform, with a bus stop shelter perched on top. No facilities, no staff. Safety and protection is made worse because our train stops tend to be isolated, hidden away in very low foot traffic areas.

[monotonehell]

...because our train stops tend to be isolated, hidden away in very low foot traffic areas.

This^ with bells on.
Most of our suburban rail stations are hidden away like we should be ashamed of them, instead of being in the middle of shopping / community / entertainment centres.

[mattwinter]

...because our train stops tend to be isolated, hidden away in very low foot traffic areas.

This^ with bells on.
Most of our suburban rail stations are hidden away like we should be ashamed of them, instead of being in the middle of shopping / community / entertainment centres.

That's definitely our big problem, but unfortunately there's no quick way to change that unfortunately. Would love to see purposeful development near stations so we can at least improve this in the long term.

I don't think we need to be aiming for tap on points (we don't really do it that way anyway with tap on machines on the trains), staff (Eastern States are starting to move away from staff at smaller stations), but these would be my priorities for all stations:
- More significant weather protection.
- Better lighting.
- Screens with Train times at all stations.
- Ticket / Metrocard machines at all stations.

If we could go that far it'd be a good start.

[rhino]

We started to head down the road of making our train stations into suburban focal points with the TODs (Transit-Oriented Developments). What happened to those?

[bits]

Agreed. My point of comparison with bus stops was more based around that bus stops generally don't have any supporting facilities, and are small (the length of one bench, with some minor weather protection).

A station should have at a minimum:

• Proper weather protection
• Tap on points
• Somewhere to purchase tickets or recharge cards
• At least one staff
• Timetable & route information
• Toilets

I agree that the the statements that train stations are worse than bus stations is stationist.

Why should a bus station be seen as less than a train station?
Ttp and Paradise bus interchanges are major stations and should be seen as equal to train stations.
Saying the much larger bus network is lower than the tiny train network seems a very outdated idea. It is promoting this idea that unless you can get on a train that your public transport solution is of a very poor standard.

[Llessur2002]

But with the exception of those on dedicated routes like the O-Bhan, buses are an inferior PT solution to trains and trams as without dedicated corridors they are subject to the same traffic congestion issues as every other vehicle on the road and therefore journey time and punctuality will suffer compared to other methods.

Whilst there should be no reason the stops should be neglected, I can understand why they are widely seen as the least-preferred option and would rank significantly lower in a theoretical hierarchy of PT solutions.

I think the perception that "unless you can get on a method of public transport with a dedicated corridor for the length of your trip then your public transport solution is of a lower standard" is generally valid.

Again, not in any way saying that infrastructure should be inferior and I acknowledge that the bus network does a great job of moving large numbers of people every day, but the user experience is almost always going to be lower than those who have access to train/tram/O-Bhan for comparable journeys.

[mattwinter]

I think part of the difference between train and bus is that trains are meant to have fewer, larger stations, while buses are meant to stop much more frequently along the side of the road. Obviously situations like the Obahn are more train-like in that way. Doesn't say anything about which is better, but the two modes of transport do different things.

Speaking of which, for a city that is relatively reliant on busses - surely smart bus stops are long overdue? I'm talking bus stops with screens displaying how far buses are away, which are the next routes coming, where those routes go etc.

[Norman]

These are available at some of the larger interchange like the O-Bahn and Mount Barker PnR. You can also bring up your own departure board on your phone using the Real Time tracker and the upcoming app. But in the city there should be more of them, for sure.