News & Discussion: Trams

[English Electric]

Looks like there's an odd tram that occasionally does the full Glenelg <-> Ent Centre route. Not sure what the point is of throwing those in the mix other than to add confusion.

And speaking of confusion, whoever did the timetable needs a slap on the back of the head. They've combined all the routes into a single timetable, portraying the Ent Centre to RAH, Railway Station to Botanic Garden(s), and Rundle Mall to Festival Plaza all as spurs. It's a complete unreadable mess.

Looks like the trams doing the full Glenelg/Entertainment Centre run are the 5 or 6 cars that go out for morning & afternoon peak hours extras.

It's probably operational convenience to send these extras to the E/Centre where there's a two-track terminus rather than try to reverse them at RAH where there's only a single-track turnback.
Plus it gives a direct service between southern KWS, Vic Sq and Pirie St for city workers using the Entertainmant Centre P&R (but only any good if you're a late starter or early finisher).

Also, looking closely at the start and end of day, seems like no trams need to routinely use either of the new single curves into North Terrace outside Government House.


The layout and the route graphics in the printed timetable is a bit of a mess, but no worse than some of the Adelaide Metro bus timetables where there are multiple destinations or bifurcating routes.

All part of DPTI's cunning plan to make paper timetables unusable then (due to "no demand") eliminate them & pocket the cost savings. After all, everyone has a smart phone and data connection to use the website, journey planner or app, don't they?

[1NEEDS2POST]

Looks like there's an odd tram that occasionally does the full Glenelg <-> Ent Centre route. Not sure what the point is of throwing those in the mix other than to add confusion.

I'm going to guess it's so the trams on the Entertainment Centre <-> Botanic Gardens route can get to/from the depot.

And speaking of confusion, whoever did the timetable needs a slap on the back of the head. They've combined all the routes into a single timetable, portraying the Ent Centre to RAH, Railway Station to Botanic Garden(s), and Rundle Mall to Festival Plaza all as spurs. It's a complete unreadable mess.

Thankfully we haven't heard more about the right hand turn. If that gets built, it will be even more confusing and services will be at a lower frequency.

[Patrick_27]

I'm a little unsure of why they've named the Gawler Place stop 'Art Gallery' considering it's directly outside the War Memorial/State Library and the Museum comes before the Art Gallery? Surely 'Gawler Place' would have been a much more neutral and suitable option for a stop name?

[Nathan]

I'm a little unsure of why they've named the Gawler Place stop 'Art Gallery' considering it's directly outside the War Memorial/State Library and the Museum comes before the Art Gallery? Surely 'Gawler Place' would have been a much more neutral and suitable option for a stop name?

Surprised they didn't go with "Cultural Precinct". This stop has some artwork on the glass doesn't it? Maybe there's a tie in with the AGSA to manage that.

[Westside]

So it would seem the showdown will be the first Adelaide Oval game to (hopefully) use the new Festival Centre station.

I wonder what that will do to the timetable? Simply more Glenelg-Festival Centre services or will all services just be Glenelg-FC and Ent Ctr-Botanic Gdns?

[claybro]

So it would seem the showdown will be the first Adelaide Oval game to (hopefully) use the new Festival Centre station.

I wonder what that will do to the timetable? Simply more Glenelg-Festival Centre services or will all services just be Glenelg-FC and Ent Ctr-Botanic Gdns?

Or, just leave it as it is. Trams that turn left, football fans can get off at the railway station and walk across the footbridge, trams that go straight to the Festival terminus, can get off there. Not much difference really.
What they probably should do is have extra shuttle trams for people wishing to travel within the CBD, as the incoming trams will be packed with football fans, making it very difficult to get on for stops in the CBD.
In fact, has this been a problem on game days so far? Not living there.. I haven't really kept up.

[Nathan]

If it ever gets extended to North Adelaide (or gasp Prospect), then I can see the blue line terminating at South Tce (although they'd probably want to upgrade the stop). That way, three distinct lines (no spurs) that have overlapping sections to enable transfers.

I've never had too much issue with trams being too packed when the football is on. They tend to run extra trams at high frequency, and even if it's standing room it tends to only be for a short distance until every piles off at the Railway Station. I have more of a problem when there's a sell out event at the Entertainment Centre.

[[Shuz]]

Why did they have to go and make the timetable so damn complex. Could have been so simple - East End to Entertainment Centre, Glenelg-Festival Centre. Two routes. Easy. None of this fandangled spur line bureaucracy.

[Nathan]

Why

DPTI

[[Shuz]]

Why

DPTI

YOU DON'T SAY?!

[Nathan]

Why

DPTI

YOU DON'T SAY?!

nicolascage.jpg

[adelaide transport]

waste of time sending tram to Elder Park on weekdays.
At least having both services combining from Adelaide Railway Station to RAH makes sense as it is a heavily trafficked and patronised route.
Also by allowing every 2nd tram in peaks to travel to and from Glenelg to the Entertainment Centre is very sensible as it basically maintains high frequency in the Peak Periods.
Actually quite a good timetable which will fully utilize the Tram fleet. 21 out of the total 24 trams will be used in both peaks.
Glenelg layover time is generally reduced from 10 to 5 minutes.

[Westside]

Why did they have to go and make the timetable so damn complex. Could have been so simple - East End to Entertainment Centre, Glenelg-Festival Centre. Two routes. Easy. None of this fandangled spur line bureaucracy.

Because the two routes have nowhere convenient to transfer. (And thus would make David Pisoni’s prediction true - and we can’t have that!)

This was one thing I didn’t like about the first tram extension. Yes, it had a transfer outside of the railway station, but transferring to the o-bahn was made uneccessarily long (Rundle Mall stop could have been between Rundle mall and Currie St with exits at both ends - then shuffle the stops down or god forbid combine Pirie and Vic sq). Simple, convenient transfers across the major trunk public transfer routes is key for any network and one we seem to do so poorly

[PeFe]

Adelaide Transport, thanks for your reply explaining the thinking behind the timetable.

I think for now we will just have to adjust our reality and accept the fact that the tram is no longer"one route".

Having said that yes I too agree that hopefully (in the near future) it will be two distinct routes ie Glenelg- North Adelaide and Entertainment Centre - East End.

I also think it is time to give the tram routes numbers ie T1 Glenelg - RAH and T2 Entertainment Centre - East End along with appropriate branding and electronic display boards at every city stop explains the "next tram and destination".

Sent from my TA-1020 using Tapatalk

[adelaide transport]

We have a lot of catching up as regards to "how long to next tram/s". Nearly every major City in the world has this digital informatio,be it tram or bus at key loations including City Centre stops.