News & Discussion: O-Bahn

[AtD]

I wouldn't call it slums, but Modbury is sprawl. It could do with some apartment blocks. The demand is there, the facilities are there. TTG council says no.

[fabricator]

The Busway was intended to be a tram line. But when the Liberals got in on the promise of cancelling the tram, they settled on a busway instead, and for good measure made all the overhead bridges too low for trams/trains to fit under.

[monotonehell]

12kms, slums, suburban sprawl....You for real. You seriously think 12kms is suburban sprawl and slum land is Modbury..?

12Kms is the length of the busway. And yes I live in Modbury so I know it's slums. I was being sarcastic, comparing sprawl with slums, they are both undesirable in social contexts. There's been a bit of infill in the last few years (half blocking and so on) but for the most part, the entire area that feeds into the OBahn is a terrible sprawl. There's very little medium density and no high density that would be needed to make a tram line function efficiently out here. Outside of peak periods there's not enough pax to run a rail line -- it would cost too much to run.

That's why the OBahn is good for out this way. During the off peak it can still run a high frequency service with a single articulated bus where a train would cost too much to run. And during peak the OBahn still carries more passengers than any of the Adelaide rail lines per day -- with a door to door service for most of them.

People seem to look at the OBahn and think, "it has tracks therefore it's a train." And they treat it like a train. It's not. It's a bus system, with a shortcut.

[Wayno]

And during peak the OBahn still carries more passengers than any of the Adelaide rail lines per day -- with a door to door service for most of them.

People seem to look at the OBahn and think, "it has tracks therefore it's a train." And they treat it like a train. It's not. It's a bus system, with a shortcut.

$61m invested in dedicated bus lanes is fantastic - the 'door to door service' aspect (as mono points out) is critical here, esp when dealing with sprawl. Trams don't function so well when they leave their narrow track.

Who would have thought that steel wheels -vs- rubber wheels would trigger so much conversation!

[AtD]

One huge positive from this project that hasn't been pointed out yet (because it's too obvious?) is by saving 15 minutes on an hour route*, a rejig of the timetables will allow for 25% more services for the same number of drivers and vehicles.

* numbers made up because it makes the maths easy

[rhino]

One huge positive from this project that hasn't been pointed out yet (because it's too obvious?) is by saving 15 minutes on an hour route*, a rejig of the timetables will allow for 25% more services for the same number of drivers and vehicles.

* numbers made up because it makes the maths easy

And then there are the new users who will use the system because it is 15 minutes faster than it used to be, and those who will use it because of the more frequent services. It's all good from that point of view.

[DM8]

I wouldn't call it slums, but Modbury is sprawl. It could do with some apartment blocks. The demand is there, the facilities are there. TTG council says no.

TTG council have actually been pushing for nearly two decades to increase the housing density in the Modbury area, particularly those areas in close proximity to Tea Tree Plaza and the bus interchange. It's the residents of Modbury who have said no (and often times, the new zonings are designed to have no impact on concillors properties).

I'm not sure whether the rezoning to increase density has gone through or not (I have a feeling council might have pushed through a couple of changes). They hold planning and development reviews every so often. But the money and development interest seems to be lacking. There is a vacant block of land on North East Road, Ridgehaven, only a few properties up from the Pelican Plaza (which for those who don't know is on the corner of North East Road and Golden Grove Road, diagonally opposite Tea Tree Plaza). This vacant block, and the house next to it, were both up for redevelopment in to a block of half a dozen townhouse-style dwellings. This fell through because they couldn't sell them, and the block has been vacant for years ever since. Perhaps ahead of its time, I don't know.

[peas_and_corn]

I wouldn't call it slums, but Modbury is sprawl. It could do with some apartment blocks. The demand is there, the facilities are there. TTG council says no.

TTG council have actually been pushing for nearly two decades to increase the housing density in the Modbury area, particularly those areas in close proximity to Tea Tree Plaza and the bus interchange. It's the residents of Modbury who have said no (and often times, the new zonings are designed to have no impact on concillors properties).

I'm not sure whether the rezoning to increase density has gone through or not (I have a feeling council might have pushed through a couple of changes). They hold planning and development reviews every so often. But the money and development interest seems to be lacking. There is a vacant block of land on North East Road, Ridgehaven, only a few properties up from the Pelican Plaza (which for those who don't know is on the corner of North East Road and Golden Grove Road, diagonally opposite Tea Tree Plaza). This vacant block, and the house next to it, were both up for redevelopment in to a block of half a dozen townhouse-style dwellings. This fell through because they couldn't sell them, and the block has been vacant for years ever since. Perhaps ahead of its time, I don't know.

From what I've seen and read, it's mainly the residents that stand in the way. There is some high density- the student accommodation next to the hospital, but that's because the building already was there. I would certainly like to see some apartment buildings in the area near TTP, since it has the advantages of having some of the best public transport in the state and TTP for a good shopping centre (plus TTPlus, Pelican and Triangle!)

[AtD]

There's also a reasonable level of community facilities around Modbury (library, Tafe, Centrelink ). Oh well, given time I'm sure.

[Somebody]

It's the residents of Modbury who have said no

Said morons need to die.

How tall is that student accommodation block presently in Modbury? Surely it'd be >10 levels, have seen it once ages ago. Tea Tree Plaza is a fairly bogan shopping centre, and the bus interchange is best avoided at night, or at after school times. I would know

[AtD]

I count 9 stories.
http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&sour ... 9,,0,-7.97

Notice how the entire suburb is one giant car park. So much wasted potential.

[duke]

There is a vacant block of land on North East Road, Ridgehaven, only a few properties up from the Pelican Plaza (which for those who don't know is on the corner of North East Road and Golden Grove Road, diagonally opposite Tea Tree Plaza). This vacant block, and the house next to it, were both up for redevelopment in to a block of half a dozen townhouse-style dwellings. This fell through because they couldn't sell them, and the block has been vacant for years ever since. Perhaps ahead of its time, I don't know.

Is that the one where there is only a single toilet block standing where a house used to be?

Tea Tree Plaza is a fairly bogan shopping centre, and the bus interchange is best avoided at night, or at after school times. I would know

Its so much better than any other Westfield in SA. The only problem comes on Thurs nights when the kids seem to come out. Lucky for the police and security presence.

As for at night. Its not bad in the early hours of the night. There are plenty of people around.
I would love to see it enclosed and expanded though. A building more like the train station with a number of platforms, chairs, tv's, and a always there security presence.
Then have a 2nd level with a food court, and on top of that a multi level apartment/hotel complex.
Now that would be to-your-door bus service.

Lift down stairs to food court and connected shopping. Goto ground level to catch a bus to work and/or Uni/TAFE.
Walk through TTP to watch a movie.
Would be ultimate living

[Somebody]

^ You reckon? It seemed fairly ordinary to me. West Lakes seemed clean and modern, and Marion was nice and big although parts of it like the Statue of Liberty are tack-o-rama :wank:

I remember I caught a bus from Golden Grove to the City at 9pm on a Sunday night. Not many people around, but arriving at TTP was a bit surprising. There was a total of one passenger in the whole interchange, who was catching my bus.

Not saying it's dangerous, but when you have a relatively isolated facility and bugger all people around (no staffing), there's a recipe for potential trouble. I did use it on a weeknight and didn't find it dangerous though, although Adelaide bus drivers at night often seem to assume nobody is waiting for the bus, like one driver at Paradise on rt 273 at 10pm who almost drove straight past me in the interchange.

[RayRichards]

They should extend the current concrete O-Bahn track from the East end of Grote street to the existing enterence at St.Peters?. Don't bother about the poxy bus lanes in the middle of the road, like those ones for Football Park. And try to find some way to extend it to Golden Grove and maybe beyond. What was STA's excuse back then, not to do it?

Cheers.
Ray.

[monotonehell]

They should extend the current concrete O-Bahn track from the East end of Grote street to the existing enterence at St.Peters?. Don't bother about the poxy bus lanes in the middle of the road, like those ones for Football Park. And try to find some way to extend it to Golden Grove and maybe beyond. What was STA's excuse back then, not to do it?

Cheers.
Ray.

What does Grote Street have to do with it? Running tracks through the city would be unnecessarily disruptive. The thing a lot of people fail to understand about the OBahn is that it is NOT a train. It's a high speed corridor to get buses from one place to another more quickly than via the main roads. Buses can enter and exit at various points to continue their journeys to places not on the OBahn corridor. The current issue is with congestion during peak period, the government hopes that their plans for buslanes will help separate the buses from the regular congestion. Whether they can come up with a workable plan is another matter.

As to the extension out the other end to Golden Grove, back in the mid 1980s Golden Grove was not the huge sprawling set of suburbs that it is now, so there wasn't the great population there is now to support it. We almost missed out on the second stage from Paradise to Modbury due to the government at the time (Bannon was it?). Also the transport corridor that was set aside back mid last century ended at TTP. There would have been a lot of properties to acquire to extend it. Even more today.

Welcome to the forums by the way.