rubberman wrote: ↑Fri Aug 16, 2024 12:10 pm
Trolleybuses can be used on up to three laned roads. Further, they can run on sections without overhead wiring when combined with battery technology. So, in the urban transport setting, they can go anywhere that a diesel bus can go. Since they are 100% electric, they can use renewables. They also run mostly during the day, with night service being less frequent, so solar is a bigger share of the electricity mix.
Is there any advantage of trolley buses over pure battery electric buses these days? Quite a few places in China have switched their entire fleets across to battery electric, and even Adelaide is trialing one now:
https://www.adelaidemetro.com.au/about- ... ectric-bus . If the ones you are suggesting have got batteries anyway, why not just use the batteries the whole time?
And if you are going to go to the expense of putting up overhead wiring, why not just spend a bit more to add the tracks and build a proper tram line?
rubberman wrote: ↑Fri Aug 16, 2024 11:10 am
Given that the airport is so close to the CBD,
and to North-South arterial corridors, it's hard to see a rail connection with the CBD as anything more than a vanity project.
Now that would be ok if every other aspect of the public transport system was top notch. However, that's far from the case. There are plenty of higher priority projects for trams, trains, O-Bahn.
Agreed that heavy rail would probably be overkill at this stage, but a light rail line via Henley Beach and Airport Rds, as envisioned in Adelink, would be very useful and not insanely expensive. This was actually government policy during the Wetherill years, and was only shelved because of Marshall and Koutsantonis' politicking.
In the distant future, when the population has increased a lot and the city has densified, it might be worth linking the airport with heavy rail. But if they were going to do this, we wouldn't get the maximum benefits by building it as just a stub line to the airport. It would have far greater benefits if it formed part of a bigger interconnector line linking the key activity centres in the south-western suburbs. City > Airport > Glenelg > Marion > Flinders.
1NEEDS2POST wrote: ↑Thu Aug 15, 2024 10:42 pm
Trams on Henley Beach Road or Sir Donald Bradman Drive wouldn't be an improvement on existing bus routes. They would get stuck in traffic and cost more to build than a one track O-Bahn.
Trams would likely have dedicated lanes, so they wouldn't get stuck in traffic. That said, we could give buses dedicated lanes right now.
ChillyPhilly wrote: ↑Wed Aug 07, 2024 10:07 am
Agree with all of this. The median of Airport Road is clearly a reserved corridor, and there is sufficient width in the Bakewell Underpass for a light rail corridor. There also seems to be some reserved space on the eastern side of James Congdon Drive north of Henley Beach Road, presumably for road widening but this can include light rail.
Ideally, I think an airport light rail link would meet a restored light rail corridor along a narrowed West Terrace. Unsure about sending light rail down Currie/Grenfell as this is better suited to being a semi-transit mall for the O-Bahn corridor in future, but the more, the merrier.
Originally, Adelink recommended the Airport Link tram running along Grenfell/Currie, with through running to the East Link line via the old tram embankment in Rymill Park. The preliminary works for the Rymil Park connection was going to be done along with the O-Bahn tunnel, but after the usual complaints about reduced on-street parking (Rundle Rd was going to be closed through the parklands) the O-Bahn city access project was reconfigured to what it is now.
I'm not sure what they were planning to do about finding space for trams as well as buses on Grenfell/Currie. I suppose King William St and North Tce already have to deal with this problem, to a slightly lesser as Grenfell/Currie has more buses that anywhere else.
Personally, I think the O-Bahn tunnel should be extended under the length of Grenfell/Currie, with platforms below street level like they have in Brisbane. That would free up a lot of space to narrow the above-ground streets and make them much more pleasant places to be in. As you suggest, the street could even be semi-pedestrianised as a transit mall similar to what George St in Sydney is like now, with trams and bikes allowed but the rest of the space allocated to pedestrians.
We really need to do something about Grenfell/Currie at some point. Its such a grotty, ugly environment to be in, despite arguably being Adelaide's main street. As it currently stands, and despite its excellent location, it is a place people only visit because they have to (to catch a bus or go to the office). The street is currently a real stain on the image of the city. It could be so much more than it is, and the main thing stopping it becoming that is the presence of large numbers of fast, noisy and unpredictably moving heavy vehicles (principally buses). Putting them below the surface would solve all of this.