News & Discussion: Adelaide Metro Buses

[Pat28]

One thing that stood out for me in that news report was all those people queuing politely to get on the bus. It’s something that doesn’t seem to happen in this side of the country. There’s more pushing and shoving here to get the best seat.

BTW, it's buses, not busses.

I catch a lot of buses to a lot of different places, and one thing I've noticed is the different queuing habits of people from different areas waiting for their bus in the CBD.
* People in lower economic suburbs tend to cluster around the stop randomly. When the bus arrives they all crowd on, dog eat dog style.
* People in the middle income areas tend to line up in an orderly way. When the bus arrives the people who want it take one step forward from the queue, and form a second queue and all file onto the bus, first come first on style.
* People in higher economic suburbs tend to cluster around the stop randomly. When the bus arrives they all crowd on, dog eat dog style.

I've always found this interesting.

And in the Hills, it doesnt really matter, because you will have to stand most of the way down to the City

[Shuz]

I could trust society to use most things with due respect, but toilets are an absolute no-go.

[muzzamo]

most of those (except toilets) are likely to come with new rollingstock, and we may even see them added to the 3000's when they refurbish/electrify them

[shiftaling]

I catch a lot of buses to a lot of different places, and one thing I've noticed is the different queuing habits of people from different areas waiting for their bus in the CBD.
* People in lower economic suburbs tend to cluster around the stop randomly. When the bus arrives they all crowd on, dog eat dog style.
* People in the middle income areas tend to line up in an orderly way. When the bus arrives the people who want it take one step forward from the queue, and form a second queue and all file onto the bus, first come first on style.
* People in higher economic suburbs tend to cluster around the stop randomly. When the bus arrives they all crowd on, dog eat dog style.

I've always found this interesting.

That's hilarious! AtD's comment was interesting too because I've always wondered if it's a purely Adelaide thing, especially when you see those huge O-Bahn queues in Grenfell Street. But then I figured, it must be just common sense, surely people would do it elsewhere.

I can't remember which thread but there were some fantastic pictures posted by a visitor from Perth in the photos forum. He (or she) managed to capture a few quirks as well as the streetsapes and skylines of Adelaide - things like billboards, the grass tram tracks in Vic Square, and that 'Traffic can be murder' tram etc. There was a picture of a massive O-Bahn queue, made me think 'gotta love Adelaide'. Maybe it's unusual enough that it was of interest to a sandgroper?

[jk1237]

most other cities dont have long queues for buses, because for busy public transport routes, they wait at undercover railway stations, with voice announcements, real time info etc. We built an o'bahn, so people get to wait in line at a pole in the open, next to the gutter, and its supposed to be a major transport corridor.

[monotonehell]

most other cities dont have long queues for buses, because for busy public transport routes, they wait at undercover railway stations, with voice announcements, real time info etc. We built an o'bahn, so people get to wait in line at a pole in the open, next to the gutter, and its supposed to be a major transport corridor.

Most other cities don't have long queues? You need to travel more.

You seem to underestimate how many people the OBahn shifts in peak period. Those queues aren't people waiting for long, they're constantly being picked up by a stream of buses every minute, and then more people join the queue. Most of the OBahn stops have shelter from the various buildings' verandas they are in front of, although there's three on peak only stops that could do with a little more shelter from rain (H2, D3, U2).

Peak period door to door service on around 20 routes each with frequencies of 5 to 15 minutes, orderly queues, whisked quickly through the inner suburbs past road congestion. It IS a major transport corridor.

[jk1237]

even you must admit then, that for a major transport system, the infrastructure for o'bahn passengers in the CBD is shocking, infact its non existent, which shouldn't be the case.
Up until 5 years ago, I lived all my life in Fairview Park and Banksia Park, and put up with the o'bahn almost daily. Its only when I travelled to perth and went on the northern line, I cringed and was embarrased by our o'bahn. It was like travelling in a Porsche in Perth, and coming back to a Datsun 180B in Adl.

and yes the queues are always very orderly, and buses are frequent, but it takes so long for everyone to get on the bus and validate, especially when when 5+ people have to pay the driver, and theres always 1 goose with the $50 note , and o'bahn buses keep to a very strict tradition of not opening their doors until the next bus moves on, whereas at my bus stop if 3 buses come at once, they all open their doors at once, and everyone gets on quickly, but maybe not orderly.

[Norman]

Peak period door to door service on around 20 routes each with frequencies of 5 to 15 minutes, orderly queues, whisked quickly through the inner suburbs past road congestion.

Well, once it passes the congestion on Grenfell Street, Frome Street and North Terrace.

[monotonehell]

even you must admit then, that for a major transport system, the infrastructure for o'bahn passengers in the CBD is shocking, infact its non existent, which shouldn't be the case.

Nope. The infrastructure is adequate. It could be a little better, but not much. What more do you need but a sheltered area to wait with some seats for those who need to sit? That's all you get in the Tube stations in London, that's more than you get in some of the Subway stations in Manhattan.

Up until 5 years ago, I lived all my life in Fairview Park and Banksia Park, and put up with the o'bahn almost daily. Its only when I travelled to perth and went on the northern line, I cringed and was embarrased by our o'bahn. It was like travelling in a Porsche in Perth, and coming back to a Datsun 180B in Adl.

...your reasons?

and yes the queues are always very orderly, and buses are frequent, but it takes so long for everyone to get on the bus and validate, especially when when 5+ people have to pay the driver, and theres always 1 goose with the $50 note , and o'bahn buses keep to a very strict tradition of not opening their doors until the next bus moves on, whereas at my bus stop if 3 buses come at once, they all open their doors at once, and everyone gets on quickly, but maybe not orderly.

None of what you say doesn't happen on other transport systems in the world (except where those options are taken away). There's always some unprepared individual upsetting the rhythm. Having cash payment options is good for tourists and casual users. Look at what happened on the trains when they took away the cash payment options in Adelaide and interstate.

The "tradition" of not opening the doors isn't a tradition, it's part of operations. Having only one bus visit a stop at once means a more orderly, equitable, safe and quick (yes quick) boarding overall. It was realised that the chaos caused by having more than one bus at a stop slowed the boarding process down, and aggravated passengers who needed to fight each other to board. So they nixed it.

It may seem quicker to have several clumps of people fight through each other to get on several buses, but it isn't.

[crawf]

Well, I was on a bus the other day that had a television installed in it, run by Channel 7. It was a normal AdelaideMetro bus!

I wish they would introduce that on the Hills services, some of the trips can easily be a hour long or more.

Or even joining up with one of the radio stations and turning the radio on or even just the 6pm news, the other day on the Mt Barker express they had Life FM playing, which was simulcasting 7 News Adelaide - very handy.

In Darwin, I noticed that every service I caught they had the radio playing.

[AtD]

I've always thought there should be ticket vendors (either man or machine) at the key city stops and interchanges, just to speed up the queues. Then buses could be pre-pay only at those selected stops.

With the older buses that have two queues to board, the granny with 5c pieces doesn’t hold up the works too bad. The newer ones seem to have more trouble though.

[Wayno]

...but it takes so long for everyone to get on the bus and validate, especially when when 5+ people have to pay the driver, and theres always 1 goose with the $50 note ...

what about hiting people who pay "on the bus" (instead of prepurchasing tickets) with a larger fee? maybe as much as a dollar or two. This would certainly help drive appropriate behaviour. Or would this just push away the occasional bus users?

[Wayno]

could internet access streamline the ticketing process? i'm thinking mainly about those "occasional bus users" who rarely prepurchase tickets, and delay everyone getting on the bus each day.

[AG]

...but it takes so long for everyone to get on the bus and validate, especially when when 5+ people have to pay the driver, and theres always 1 goose with the $50 note ...

what about hiting people who pay "on the bus" (instead of prepurchasing tickets) with a larger fee? maybe as much as a dollar or two. This would certainly help drive appropriate behaviour. Or would this just push away the occasional bus users?

That could work but would be a bit unfair on passengers such as tourists who are unfamiliar with the system. This already occurs to a lesser extent where you can only buy single trips on buses, and they cost more than an individual trip by the use of multitrips, which you can't buy on buses.

[AG]

could internet access streamline the ticketing process? i'm thinking mainly about those "occasional bus users" who rarely prepurchase tickets, and delay everyone getting on the bus each day.

It is already possible to buy lots of multitrip tickets over the Adelaide Metro website. I agree that it's annoying to have passengers who hold up the bus when boarding. It's a bit impractical having ticket machines or people selling tickets at every bus stop, but at major stops and interchanges it would be a good idea (I think AtD mentioned this in the other bus thread).