News & Discussion: Public Transport Contracts, Service & Policy

[SBD]

Someone mentioned hearing on the radio about researchers working out a new algorithm to figure out origin/destination data from our metro card. The ABC has done a write up on the study and the government's intentions. Basically more buses, more park-and-rides (and likely thereby more congestion): https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-13/ ... s_adelaide

You make it sound like a bad thing to have buses that go from where people are to where they want to be, without having to go somewhere they don't want to be to change bus.

Park-n-ride is a solution for people who recognise that public mass transit is the right solution for the majority of their journey, but the tail is unsuitable. Maybe self-driving personal transport system will change that, but I imagine that a lot of people would feel silly taking a taxi (by whatever branding) to a bus stop or train station.

No, I mostly agree with your first point in terms of transfers, which is why I'm sceptical of park-and-rides (at least when then they're implemented within 15-kms of the city). They might be an acceptable solution for the system we have, but I don't think we should pretend they don't still put people in cars on main roads.

I know several people who drive to a railway station rather than walk several streets then try to catch a bus that doesn't operate as frequently as the trains. One of those people works and studies at a number of different places through the week. She uses park'n'ride if her destinations for the day are only in the CBD or in a suburb where the shortest path would be through the CBD and she can use either train or tram for the far end of the journey. She drives if the destination if public transport would require transfer from Adelaide Railway Station to Currie Street, has more than two destinations, the destination requires either walking uphill from a train station with no bus service or needs transfer to a bus at a different suburban station or if the day will end later in the evening.

I only work in one place, and 20 minutes drive across suburbs is better than 80 minutes with two transfers by public transport (plus walks both ends).

[metro]

Trains and Trams will be shut down during the Off-Peak to do some urgently needed maintenance on the train and tram network... or not:

These service disruptions will enable a large proportion of employees to participate in information briefings held by the Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure with respect to modernising rail services.

https://www.adelaidemetro.com.au/Announ ... isruptions

What a fkn joke

[SRW]

Is 'modernising rail services' political spin for privatisation?

[NTRabbit]

Is 'modernising rail services' political spin for privatisation?

That is exactly what it is

[Hooligan]

Does anyone know where you can get printed timetables these days? I just find keeping one handy helpful when i dont feel like mucking around on the Adelaide Metro website.

[Norman]

Does anyone know where you can get printed timetables these days? I just find keeping one handy helpful when i dont feel like mucking around on the Adelaide Metro website.

At the Adelaide Train Station

[OlympusAnt]

Visitor Centre in James St has some, but not many

[ChillyPhilly]

Is 'modernising rail services' political spin for privatisation?

That is exactly what it is

Political spin for telling 60% of all public transport workers that their jobs will probably be cut.

Does anyone know where you can get printed timetables these days? I just find keeping one handy helpful when i dont feel like mucking around on the Adelaide Metro website.

Google Maps is even better than the Adelaide Metro site (itself not bad) for journey planning.

[PeFe]

MetroMate is pretty good.

[Llessur2002]

MetroMate is pretty good.

The functionality is quite good but I find on my Android device it's painfully slow to load. It restarts every time I open the app, as opposed to continuing to run in the background like most other apps do and even once the app's loaded it seems to take another eternity to load data for the chosen stop. It probably takes a good 20-30 seconds to get it to a usable state. Once it's up and running through I can't fault it.

Not sure if my issues are related to my device or Android version, or if this is common for all users.

[PeFe]

It works pretty well on my Android phone.

Try deleting it and re-installing it.

[SRW]

Adelaide bus patronage down 231,000 trips as critics blame Government policy
4 November 2019, ABC Radio Adelaide

Public transport policies are discouraging patronage in Adelaide, lobbyists say, after Freedom of Information (FOI) figures uncovered a significant decline in bus patronage in the first six months of the year.

Key points:

• Bus patronage is significantly lower in the first half of 2019
• A public transport lobby group blames bus infrequency and fare increases for the drop-off in patronage
• The Transport Minister says the statistics have been cherrypicked

State Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas said FOI figures showed people took 231,287 fewer bus journeys in the first six months of this year compared to the same period in 2018 (or 25,145,642 trips compared to 25,376,929).

He said it proved the Government's "cuts to public transport were starting to bite", claiming $46 million was taken from public transport in the state budget and that more than 1,200 bus routes had been cut or shortened since January 27.

"It's not a set of numbers that are open to interpretation. It's a statement of fact," Mr Malinauskas told ABC Radio Adelaide.

"That's why we're so concerned about these bus cuts, but what we're particularly concerned about is this Government's public transport policy generally."

In last year's state budget the Government announced it would save $15 million by rationalising under-patronised bus routes, a move the union said would result in the reduction of 1,170 bus routes.

Transport Minister Stephan Knoll has since abolished two-section fares, put on hold plans to lay a much-anticipated railway spur into the heart of Port Adelaide, and announced plans to privatise Adelaide's train and tram services.

January bus trips down '190,000'

Mr Knoll told ABC Radio Adelaide that 190,000 fewer trips were recorded in January alone, pointing out the lion's share of 231,000 reductions occurred before the Government's changes to bus routes from January 27.

"There are fluctuations and movements across the different modes across the different networks," he said.

"Public transport is higher on weekdays verses the weekend so if months have more weekdays verses the weekend, they'll have higher patronage from year to year.

"You have to look at trainline closures, bus substitutes that run when train lines are being upgraded and how that impacts on figures, overall trends and hot weather.

"You can't cherrypick small sample-sized statistics."

But Mr Malinauskas said the Government also made a different and "peculiar" round of cuts to the bus network in January by "dramatically extending the Christmas timetable period into January".

"As a consequence it was also affected," he said.

Read full article...

[1NEEDS2POST]

That's terrible news. The other thing responsible for fewer trips is unemployment. With fewer people working, fewer people need to take public transport.

[ChillyPhilly]

It's forever a pipe dream with a Liberal government, but I'd love to see the benefits of public transport in Adelaide promoted - on TV, on the radio, in media in general. Let the service actually be marketed.

I'm tired of us being the worst drive-to-work city in the country. Our culture in this regard is terrible.

[Waewick]

It's forever a pipe dream with a Liberal government, but I'd love to see the benefits of public transport in Adelaide promoted - on TV, on the radio, in media in general. Let the service actually be marketed.

I'm tired of us being the worst drive-to-work city in the country. Our culture in this regard is terrible.

I agree, the kicker being our complaints about traffic, if we'd just get people on buses and trains that don't need to be in a car.

I'll add we are as a city such terrible drivers we should be happy to get someone else to do.