News & Discussion: Trams

[Norman]

I would support bi-lingual signs in Mandarin on the tram, just like they do on the City Free buses, but not audible announcements.

You're worried Adelaidians ears will burn if they hear an announcement they can't understand?

Some people might feel that way, yes, especially in a city with fewer Chinese migrants than our interstate counterparts. But personally I just don't see the point of it when the announcements are place names that don't translate into another language anyway.

In terms of statistics, what proportion of our population only speaks Mandarin but not English?

[Nort]

I would support bi-lingual signs in Mandarin on the tram, just like they do on the City Free buses, but not audible announcements.

You're worried Adelaidians ears will burn if they hear an announcement they can't understand?

Some people might feel that way, yes, especially in a city with fewer Chinese migrants than our interstate counterparts. But personally I just don't see the point of it when the announcements are place names that don't translate into another language anyway.

In terms of statistics, what proportion of our population only speaks Mandarin but not English?

Apologies, I misunderstood "wouldn't support" as being actively opposed.

Obviously any foreign language announcements should be based on the number of speakers of that language usually around.

[Patrick_27]

Considering Sydney and Melbourne don't even have bi-lingual signage and/or announcements and they are international cities, why should Adelaide be worrying about this?

[rubberman]

Considering Sydney and Melbourne don't even have bi-lingual signage and/or announcements and they are international cities, why should Adelaide be worrying about this?

Depends on whether we want to attract tourists from a particular place or not. It would need to be tied in with an overall tourist strategy though.

Sydney and Melbourne attract enough tourists by virtue of their reputations as tourist destinations. Adelaide is far less known. So, either we accept we are not interested in tourists and their revenue from certain areas, or we make ourselves more attractive/easily accessible to them.

It's very much like asking why bother to have flights to or from these areas? They can come through Sydney or Melbourne. Or maybe if there's direct flights and signs they can follow at the destination, the convenience may attract more?

I don’t care one way or the other. Merely that if we figure we want more tourists, then we have to make it easier for them. If, otoh, we don't care, let's not bother.

[Haso]

I would support bi-lingual signs in Mandarin on the tram, just like they do on the City Free buses, but not audible announcements.

You're worried Adelaidians ears will burn if they hear an announcement they can't understand?

Some people might feel that way, yes, especially in a city with fewer Chinese migrants than our interstate counterparts. But personally I just don't see the point of it when the announcements are place names that don't translate into another language anyway.

In terms of statistics, what proportion of our population only speaks Mandarin but not English?

Some numbers...

In Australia, according to the statistic (2016) we have 1,2 million people who declare themselves Chinese by ancestry or 600.000 by birth in China. Close to 4% of them do not speak English at all or have insufficient knowledge for a basic communication. Close to 60% speak only Mandarin/Cantonese at home.
Greater Adelaide have 56.000 and they are fourth largest ethnic group in Adelaide. Last year we had 45.000 visitors from China. That is about 9% of all foreign visitors who visited South Australia…
For whatever reason… only 3.5% of Chinese tourists who visited Australia has visited our state…
We have 32.000 international students in Adelaide and approx 30% of them arrived from mainland China.

[rubberman]

East End stop under construction

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North Terrace looking East

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North Terrace looking West

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[rubberman]

University stop under construction

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[AndyWelsh]

State library new stop in progress.








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[adelaide transport]

Definitely seems to be moving at "snails pace"-so much for the constant change of finishing dates! Is April looking good?

[Patrick_27]

I don't really care to hear about the so-called hurdles that had to be overcome with this whole project, because this remains to be probably the messiest and most disorganised infrastructure project I have seen come together in my lifetime (which says a lot). I understand that contractors were working around building construction sites, amass of private vehicles and different public events. However that doesn't excuse how much quicker and smoother things could have been moving with certain elements of this project. If it was required that the gutters on the southern side of North Terrace be taken in, why was this, the relocation of services and installation of new light poles not done at the same time early on in the project? Furthermore, regardless of whether there are plans to overhaul the entire street-scape of the North terrace boulevard, why have the reinstallation of gutters seen the southern footpath become a maze of wide and narrow sections, why has the uniformity been lost when it was the principle point of the upgrade fifteen years ago? Why have we got one of the Gawler Place platforms nearly finished when the construction of the other hasn't even started yet?

Perhaps I sound like someone commenting on The Advertiser FB, but as an active supporter of trams and their reintroduction to Adelaide, this whole project has turned out to be the worst form of marketing for the ADELink blueprint and I certainly don't recall the Victoria Square to City West extension being this bad and yet aesthetically that portion of our current tram network remains to be the nicest.

[rubberman]

I don't really care to hear about the so-called hurdles that had to be overcome with this whole project, because this remains to be probably the messiest and most disorganised infrastructure project I have seen come together in my lifetime (which says a lot). I understand that contractors were working around building construction sites, amass of private vehicles and different public events. However that doesn't excuse how much quicker and smoother things could have been moving with certain elements of this project. If it was required that the gutters on the southern side of North Terrace be taken in, why was this, the relocation of services and installation of new light poles not done at the same time early on in the project? Furthermore, regardless of whether there are plans to overhaul the entire street-scape of the North terrace boulevard, why have the reinstallation of gutters seen the southern footpath become a maze of wide and narrow sections, why has the uniformity been lost when it was the principle point of the upgrade fifteen years ago? Why have we got one of the Gawler Place platforms nearly finished when the construction of the other hasn't even started yet?

Perhaps I sound like someone commenting on The Advertiser FB, but as an active supporter of trams and their reintroduction to Adelaide, this whole project has turned out to be the worst form of marketing for the ADELink blueprint and I certainly don't recall the Victoria Square to City West extension being this bad and yet aesthetically that portion of our current tram network remains to be the nicest.

I've already given my contrary view, so I won't labour the point on that.

The Gawler Place 2 stage platform looks to be necessary because they can't do the southern platform without either waiting for the power networks work to be finished, or cut off a further lane for the duration. Choose one, I guess. While it would really be lovely to have every other service provider drop whatever programs they have on, reality in project management says that other service providers give you a window when they can do their work, and you often have to work round that. Wouldn't it be great if we could just get all those other service providers to drop everything and do stuff when we want it to make us look good. That can happen, of course, if governments own the infrastructure providers. Of course if there is a government that outsources and privatises, then the outcome is that those outsourced providers work to their own timetable. You are now seeing one of the downsides of privatisation - loss of control.

Next point. Victoria Square to The Entertainment Centre. Well, looks great. Except that centre islands don't allow for buses to run along them when substitutes are required. Nor can they double as busways, as is done elsewhere. Port Road and Grange Road buses could run along the tramline as is done elsewhere in the world, and save 5-10 minutes along Port Road in the peaks, plus get buses off the car lanes helping motorists. Looks good, but is about 50% of what it could be. If you wsnt to criticise, there's a place where it's warranted. Could have had a bus lane AND a tram lane in one. Looks nice, but.

Edit. Adding a bit more, now I'm on my bus, lol! One of the best ways to judge the quality of project management is to compare the outcomes with the original project brief. Did it come in on time and on budget, and does it do what it said it would? In this case, the flyer we all saw posted here in July, said that it would be finished by late in the first quarter of 2018. Looks like being on time to me. Which means that all the fiddly stuff was anticipated and allowed for. There was also a fly through video. Didn't that show what was intended for the street scape? I reckon, those that don't like it should have put their hands up then, rather than during the election campaign.

[Tonsley213]

When is this due to be open. Obviously not before the election?

[Norman]

When is this due to be open. Obviously not before the election?

I think end of March was the last date that was published. So, yes, after the election.

[rubberman]

When is this due to be open. Obviously not before the election?

The official brochures circulated in last July said late in the first quarter of 2018. I haven't seen anything that differs substantially since then.

That timeframe is literally from mid March to the end of April. I guess the exact date would depend on how the testing goes. I can't see them finishing by the election from where they are now. They might have the stops finished and the overhead up by then, but still be in testing mode is my guess.

[rubberman]

I read through the ALP 200 page pdf of what they were going to do as far as trams was concerned.

Basically, it was continue with Adelink, but with no details of what or when. In other words, anything from nothing to something, maybe sometime.

Sounds like if they have some spare money sometime, they might do something.

Well, it doesn't look like my vote is going to be swayed by this one way or the other least.