News & Discussion: Adelaide Metro Buses

[Nathan]

Does anyone do the car commute up Anzac Highway to the city? How much worse has the traffic gotten since the new bus lane?

Anyway I take the bus and it goes up Anzac Highway via the new bus lane.

Some drivers are completely ignoring the bus only lane, so perhaps it needs better marking.

Yesterday the bus driver laid on his horn for several seconds to a car cruising in the bus lane, pretty funny.

Doesn't matter how you sign it, there will always be drivers that ignore the bus lanes. I have a view over the East Tce and Botanic Rd bus lanes (and used to ride along the Botanic Rd ones when I previously lived in Stepney) and they are filled with cars all the time.

[OlympusAnt]

bus lanes aren't as bad as the stops on South/Unley/Goodwood road that aren't offset from the edge, so the bus holds up traffic when it stops

[ChillyPhilly]

A friend spotted this near a rear bus door.

Could we be about to get rear door loading?

[Norman]

A friend spotted this near a rear bus door.

Could we be about to get rear door loading?

Yes, but only on O-Bahn routes.

http://www.adelaidemetro.com.au/O-Bahn-upgrade

[Nathan]

It's a good move, but I'm not sure 'exciting' is the word to describe it

[adelaide transport]

I suspect there is a lot more to come,plus new timtables for all O_Bahn routes.

[monotonehell]

The more I think about it, the more I find myself in the naysayer camp on centre door loading.

Instead of one orderly queue to enter the front door, what will we have? I'm thinking something like a cross between tram loading and other bus routes where people all bunch up and struggle over who's next to get on. *

Unlike a tram, buses don't have much centre isle room. It'll be a bun fight with people going both ways in the isle and the bus filling up from two places.

I'm thinking any gains in getting people on will be lost in the chaos.

EDIT: Okay now I've looked at some articles from a few places and it seems I'm wrong.



* I've noticed that O-Bahn and some other 'middle class' routes people tend to form one queue. Then when a bus arrives, the passengers who want that bus all step aside and form a second queue and then file aboard. Where as routes to the outer suburbs and leafy suburbs, people all just stand around in the vicinity of the stop and all rush toward the bus and passively fight to get on when it arrives.

The only thing that upsets the 'system' is when a bus stops not at the designated stop, but somewhere behind it.

[rubberman]

It works well overseas...and in Perth. So, no risk at all, past maybe some teething problems.

The other thing is that when the old MTT changed from three door loading to front door loading, they had to increase the number of stops. This was because of the extra loading/unloading time. That meant much more weaving in and out of buses along King William and Grenfell Streets, and North Terrace. That took up space which could have been used for taxis or loading or quick pickups/setdowns, as well as being bad for other traffic.

Single door loading is a curse during peak hours.

[PeFe]

Adelaide Metro should re-instate a previous policy (from the 80's/90's?) of passengers entering the buses from the front door and exiting via the middle door.........the number pf people I have seen in Adelaide exit the front door and then walk back in the direction the bus has come........!!!
I was in London recently and one day tried to exit the front door of a bus (because ferals were blocking the middle door) and the bus driver asked me very politely "to please exit via the back door."

[Llessur2002]

Depends how full the bus is though - I've often entered a really busy bus in peak hour and ended up standing very close to the front due to lack of space to make my way any further along the aisle. In these cases it's much easier to hop back off from the front door instead of delaying the bus by 30-odd seconds trying to barge your way towards the back door hoping that the driver realises you're still trying to exit before driving off...

[rubberman]

Politeness and orderly behaviour aside, all door loading and unloading is far faster than specific doors for entry and exit. I have on my mobile phone a video I took in Ostrava - bendy bus draws up, opens up, loads 170 people, doors close and it leaves. All within 35 seconds. A front loading bus might take more than three minutes.

That means four or five minutes extra transit time in the city. It means more buses in the road at any one time. It means more buses weaving in and out of multiple stops. It might have been worth the aggravation when getting rid of conductors. However, now we have a card system, reversion to all door loading would be a massive improvement, not only in trip speed, but in reducing the peak hour chaosvof Grenfell St, Nth Tce, and King William Street.

[Algernon]

After a few years of all door loading buses in Europe I can't figure out how I ever lived without it

[The Scooter Guy]

A friend spotted this near a rear bus door.

Could we be about to get rear door loading?

Yes, but only on O-Bahn routes.

http://www.adelaidemetro.com.au/O-Bahn-upgrade

Can you imagine how many people to & from the Fringe, Festival of Arts, 500, etc will be using all doors to board & alight?

[rev]

The dedicated bus lanes on Anzac Highway are being removed this weekend after a six month trial.

[Llessur2002]

Have just seen on 7 News that the ANZAC Highway bus lanes are to be removed tomorrow. I haven't driven ANZAC Highway since they were installed but apparently peak travel times substantially increased (anecdotally due to drivers not merging correctly - the age old Adelaide problem...).

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