Beer Garden

[SRW]

I honestly don't have any problem with the Adelaide Metro livery. It makes sense to have the yellow front, it's easy to see the busses coming from a long way off, and yellow is an obvious safety colour. There are better liveries, and there are many worse. If you want to see something really bad, have a look at the Yarra Trams livery. What's more important, IMHO, is that the whole of Adelaide Metro shares the same livery, the same corporate identity.

+lots

[Omicron]

+1 more.

[crawf]

-1

It's time to drop the 1990s state colours and look at a whole new livery and new logo. This would coincide well with the changes that are currently happening in our public transport system at the moment.

http://www.busaustralia.com/forum/downl ... p?id=46136

Yuk

[Wayno]

Visited the SA Hospital Emergency Dept Dashboard yet?

Data delay is supposedly up to a maximum of ~30 minutes.

[The Scooter Guy]

The South Australian Visitor & Travel Centre has ceased trading when it doesn't really need to. Has it merged into another business?

[Pressman]

The South Australian Visitor & Travel Centre has ceased trading when it doesn't really need to. Has it merged into another business?

Not hard to find out, just did a quick google search
http://www.tourism.sa.gov.au/news/current.asp {go to the bottom of the page}

New SA Travel Hub in Adelaide CBD
15 June 2011

A new travel centre providing State-wide visitor information is set to open in Adelaide’s CBD.

The Grenfell Street premises will replace the current visitor centre on King William Street and will be managed by South Australian company, Holidays of Australia. The South Australian Tourism Commission’s (SATC) Chief Executive, Ian Darbyshire, says Holidays of Australia will provide a comprehensive service to visitors when the centre begins operations on July 1 2011.

[The Scooter Guy]

The South Australian Visitor & Travel Centre has ceased trading when it doesn't really need to. Has it merged into another business?

Not hard to find out, just did a quick google search
http://www.tourism.sa.gov.au/news/current.asp {go to the bottom of the page}

New SA Travel Hub in Adelaide CBD
15 June 2011

A new travel centre providing State-wide visitor information is set to open in Adelaide’s CBD.

The Grenfell Street premises will replace the current visitor centre on King William Street and will be managed by South Australian company, Holidays of Australia. The South Australian Tourism Commission’s (SATC) Chief Executive, Ian Darbyshire, says Holidays of Australia will provide a comprehensive service to visitors when the centre begins operations on July 1 2011.

Thanks for letting me know!

[iTouch]

My friend Zephyr made the paper today.

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/doctors-i ... 6086299914

But once again, AdelaideNOW got their facts wrong. None of her piercings and tattoo's were "backyard" but because she's an alternative style model the piercings and tat's were done by the modelling agency which has strict professional procedures in that matter to the point that if there is the slightest infection their whole company could possibly get shut down. How can one Newspaper be soo innacurate? Are other state newspapers this dodgy?

[iTouch]

I just found Maitland is Adelaide JR with it's own parkland belt

http://maps.google.com.au/maps?q=maitla ... gl=au&z=15

[rhino]

That was a pretty standard design for small South Australian towns designed by George W Goyder. Interestingly, a man who thought outside the square, except when it came to town design. He was our Surveyor General for quite a time. All South Australia's larger towns do not follow this pattern. The biggest, with patterns like this, are probably Bordertown and Moonta.

[SRW]

Remember 'Creature Features'. Here's an Adelaide-themed version:

http://vimeo.com/25640678

[stumpjumper]

I'd like to see a more adventurous colour scheme on the trams - something that indicates the gutsy, win at any cost style I think we can expect from SA under our bad-ass new leader - Big Jay 'Live it large' Weatherill. This gives some idea of what I'm talking about:



The trams could benefit from a good dose of chrome, too. I don't think the Spanish understatement of the original design says enough about our uncompromising, frontier culture.

[stumpjumper]

The South Australian Visitor & Travel Centre has ceased trading when it doesn't really need to. Has it merged into another business?

Scooterguy, did you miss the publicity about this? SA Tourism Commission had a new chairman to replace Bill Spurr - Bob Foord of Holidays of Australia, and a new CEO, Ian Darbyshire, formerly of Toop and Toop Real Estate.

Darbyshire is committed to online promotion, and the tender for face to face operations (to replace the closed tourist bureau on King William Street) was won by Ben Mead (also of Holidays of Australia) with the face to face operation being moved to the basement of the Holidays of Australia building in Grenfell Street.

The trouble is that Ben Mead is Bob Foord's son-in-law.

Here's a press report:

The Australian, June 16, 2011

South Australian Tourism Commission chairman Bob Foord has denied any wrongdoing after a family company won a lucrative commercial tender to operate the state's visitor and travel centre.

The commission is closing its flagship walk-in centre for statewide tourism information, the South Australian Visitor and Travel Centre, on July 1 and had offered its operations out to commercial tender.

Commission chief executive Ian Darbyshire, in a letter to tourism operators yesterday, said Holidays Of Australia had been awarded the contract "to be the SATC's commercial partner for the provision of visitor information and management of travel bookings generated by SATC's marketing activity".

The chief executive of Holidays Of Australia is Mr Foord's son-in-law Ben Mead.

Mr Darbyshire was recruited by Mr Foord to replace Andrew McEvoy, who left to head Tourism Australia.

The Australian understands that after announcing Mr Darbyshire's appointment, Mr Foord reorganised his family company and split it. Mr Mead, formerly chief executive of Mr Foord's Proud Australia company, became chief of Holidays Of Australia.

Mr Foord last night denied there was any special deal to benefit his family's companies.

"I am very relaxed about this," he told The Australian.

"It has been handled with great probity. I did not know as chairman that my son-in-law was even bidding . He won it, but I didn't even know about it until

I was advised this morning . . . He's won it in his own right. It has been handled completely appropriately. I am not associated with the business, but he happens to be my son-in-law."

Mr Foord said the matter would not even come before the board for discussion. "The board does not assess the tenders. There is a team of staff at the tourism commission that run all that and do the negotiations."

Mr Darbyshire said in a statement that the "strictest" procurement processes were followed. "The final contract and commercial terms were prepared in conjunction with the Crown Solicitor's Office and I am 100 per cent confident in the probity of the process. Not even the SATC Board was at any time privy to the details of the process or any of the tender submissions."

Declining visitor numbers were blamed for the tourism centre's closure. The commission plans to concentrate on online marketing.

And another one:

The Australian, July 27, 2011

SA Tourism Commission chairman has quit a month after an investigation began over his son-in-law's contract to run the privatised SA Travel Centre.

Bob Foord, who has been chairman for the past five years, tendered his resignation yesterday to Tourism Minister John Rau.

Mr Foord believes the successful outsourcing of the travel centre would be "hindered" if he remained chairman.

He told The Advertiser yesterday there had been nothing improper in the way Holidays of Australia, run by his son-in-law Ben Mead, had been selected by the SATC to take over the previously government-run travel centre - and run it from a Grenfell St, city building owned by Mr Foord.

"The selection process was conducted at arms-length from the board by the SATC management team, using a panel of experts including advice from an independent probity auditor," he said.

"The board at no time had any involvement in, or influence over, the decision."

Senior tourism industry figures told The Advertiser they did not believe there was any wrongdoing in the selection process but the outcome was "too close for comfort" when the contract went to Mr Mead.

Mr Rau told Parliament last month he had demanded the Commission provide him with details relating to the deal, including probity controls used during the selection process.

Mr Foord acknowledges controversy erupted over the Holidays of Australia selection, even though he had no knowledge of it until it was announced.

"It will be difficult for Holidays of Australia to be successful and may leave Ben open to criticism and unfair innuendo that he is receiving preferential treatment because of my role," he said.

"Ben is a young man with a great deal of enthusiasm. He is just the sort of person that the tourism industry needs."

Mr Foord's current term was to have ended next year.

He is stepping out 12 months early but confident the SA tourism industry is in good shape and enjoying rising visitor numbers.

Under his guidance, the commission had cut overheads, including reducing staff from nearly 200 to 107, to allow more funding for marketing.

Mr Foord is staying on as chairman of the Adelaide Entertainment Centre.

[The Scooter Guy]

The South Australian Visitor & Travel Centre has ceased trading when it doesn't really need to. Has it merged into another business?

Scooterguy, did you miss the publicity about this? SA Tourism Commission had a new chairman to replace Bill Spurr - Bob Foord of Holidays of Australia, and a new CEO, Ian Darbyshire, formerly of Toop and Toop Real Estate.

Darbyshire is committed to online promotion, and the tender for face to face operations (to replace the closed tourist bureau on King William Street) was won by Ben Mead (also of Holidays of Australia) with the face to face operation being moved to the basement of the Holidays of Australia building in Grenfell Street.

The trouble is that Ben Mead is Bob Foord's son-in-law.

Here's a press report:

The Australian, June 16, 2011

South Australian Tourism Commission chairman Bob Foord has denied any wrongdoing after a family company won a lucrative commercial tender to operate the state's visitor and travel centre.

The commission is closing its flagship walk-in centre for statewide tourism information, the South Australian Visitor and Travel Centre, on July 1 and had offered its operations out to commercial tender.

Commission chief executive Ian Darbyshire, in a letter to tourism operators yesterday, said Holidays Of Australia had been awarded the contract "to be the SATC's commercial partner for the provision of visitor information and management of travel bookings generated by SATC's marketing activity".

The chief executive of Holidays Of Australia is Mr Foord's son-in-law Ben Mead.

Mr Darbyshire was recruited by Mr Foord to replace Andrew McEvoy, who left to head Tourism Australia.

The Australian understands that after announcing Mr Darbyshire's appointment, Mr Foord reorganised his family company and split it. Mr Mead, formerly chief executive of Mr Foord's Proud Australia company, became chief of Holidays Of Australia.

Mr Foord last night denied there was any special deal to benefit his family's companies.

"I am very relaxed about this," he told The Australian.

"It has been handled with great probity. I did not know as chairman that my son-in-law was even bidding . He won it, but I didn't even know about it until

I was advised this morning . . . He's won it in his own right. It has been handled completely appropriately. I am not associated with the business, but he happens to be my son-in-law."

Mr Foord said the matter would not even come before the board for discussion. "The board does not assess the tenders. There is a team of staff at the tourism commission that run all that and do the negotiations."

Mr Darbyshire said in a statement that the "strictest" procurement processes were followed. "The final contract and commercial terms were prepared in conjunction with the Crown Solicitor's Office and I am 100 per cent confident in the probity of the process. Not even the SATC Board was at any time privy to the details of the process or any of the tender submissions."

Declining visitor numbers were blamed for the tourism centre's closure. The commission plans to concentrate on online marketing.

And another one:

The Australian, July 27, 2011

SA Tourism Commission chairman has quit a month after an investigation began over his son-in-law's contract to run the privatised SA Travel Centre.

Bob Foord, who has been chairman for the past five years, tendered his resignation yesterday to Tourism Minister John Rau.

Mr Foord believes the successful outsourcing of the travel centre would be "hindered" if he remained chairman.

He told The Advertiser yesterday there had been nothing improper in the way Holidays of Australia, run by his son-in-law Ben Mead, had been selected by the SATC to take over the previously government-run travel centre - and run it from a Grenfell St, city building owned by Mr Foord.

"The selection process was conducted at arms-length from the board by the SATC management team, using a panel of experts including advice from an independent probity auditor," he said.

"The board at no time had any involvement in, or influence over, the decision."

Senior tourism industry figures told The Advertiser they did not believe there was any wrongdoing in the selection process but the outcome was "too close for comfort" when the contract went to Mr Mead.

Mr Rau told Parliament last month he had demanded the Commission provide him with details relating to the deal, including probity controls used during the selection process.

Mr Foord acknowledges controversy erupted over the Holidays of Australia selection, even though he had no knowledge of it until it was announced.

"It will be difficult for Holidays of Australia to be successful and may leave Ben open to criticism and unfair innuendo that he is receiving preferential treatment because of my role," he said.

"Ben is a young man with a great deal of enthusiasm. He is just the sort of person that the tourism industry needs."

Mr Foord's current term was to have ended next year.

He is stepping out 12 months early but confident the SA tourism industry is in good shape and enjoying rising visitor numbers.

Under his guidance, the commission had cut overheads, including reducing staff from nearly 200 to 107, to allow more funding for marketing.

Mr Foord is staying on as chairman of the Adelaide Entertainment Centre.

Yet again, thanks for letting me know!

[iTouch]

Scooter Guy I can't believe you didn't know this but you should've known that the SA Tourism Commission appointed a new chairman in place of Bill Spurr (who was Bob Ford of Holidays of Australia)

There were a couple of press reports such as this one:

The Australian, June 16, 2011

South Australian Tourism Commission chairman Bob Foord has denied any wrongdoing after a family company won a lucrative commercial tender to operate the state's visitor and travel centre.

The commission is closing its flagship walk-in centre for statewide tourism information, the South Australian Visitor and Travel Centre, on July 1 and had offered its operations out to commercial tender.

Commission chief executive Ian Darbyshire, in a letter to tourism operators yesterday, said Holidays Of Australia had been awarded the contract "to be the SATC's commercial partner for the provision of visitor information and management of travel bookings generated by SATC's marketing activity".

The chief executive of Holidays Of Australia is Mr Foord's son-in-law Ben Mead.

Mr Darbyshire was recruited by Mr Foord to replace Andrew McEvoy, who left to head Tourism Australia.

The Australian understands that after announcing Mr Darbyshire's appointment, Mr Foord reorganised his family company and split it. Mr Mead, formerly chief executive of Mr Foord's Proud Australia company, became chief of Holidays Of Australia.

Mr Foord last night denied there was any special deal to benefit his family's companies.

"I am very relaxed about this," he told The Australian.

"It has been handled with great probity. I did not know as chairman that my son-in-law was even bidding . He won it, but I didn't even know about it until

I was advised this morning . . . He's won it in his own right. It has been handled completely appropriately. I am not associated with the business, but he happens to be my son-in-law."

Mr Foord said the matter would not even come before the board for discussion. "The board does not assess the tenders. There is a team of staff at the tourism commission that run all that and do the negotiations."

Mr Darbyshire said in a statement that the "strictest" procurement processes were followed. "The final contract and commercial terms were prepared in conjunction with the Crown Solicitor's Office and I am 100 per cent confident in the probity of the process. Not even the SATC Board was at any time privy to the details of the process or any of the tender submissions."

Declining visitor numbers were blamed for the tourism centre's closure. The commission plans to concentrate on online marketing.

Shame on you