News & Discussion: Adelaide Metro Buses

[bay transit]

Unfortunately LCB are still having major problems maintaining "on time running" with many services running anywhere from 15-30 minutes late-unfortunately the worst appears to be the G10 which is subject to long delays on Prospect Road,due to roadworks.Even though there are "buddy drivers" trying to help new drivers famliarizing themselves with bus driving,routes etc this is not helping maintain schedules.Some services have been missed due to driver shortage-still!

[metro]

certainly Adelaide Metro/DTEI should have seen something like this coming, a simple notice on the Adelaide metro website would have made it a little easier to tollerate:

like: "from october 2, due to a change in bus operators, there will likely be delays and a less reliable and altered bus service on the routes listed below. We apologize in advance for any inconvenience, and hopefully normal reliability will be restored in the coming weeks"

and even after when they realized shit was seriously wrong they could have offered free rides: "due to severe unreliability of bus services across Adelaide, all buses will be free of charge for the next X number of weeks, our way of thanking you for your patronage during this difficult transition."

i dont expect we will see any notice or message of apology to the customers on their website, but we might see a nice rise in fares

[bay transit]

Channel 7 news tonight reported ongoing problems with this operator with buses constantly(and still) running late and being unreliable-nothing is improving-wonder how much longer before its resolved or Rod Hook head of PTSD intervenes?This is certainly not good for the travelling public and will only see Adelaide Metro bus passenger numbers drop.

[[Shuz]]

The shambles continues.

Last night I waited 25 minutes for my 251/252/253/254 route buses... only for two 251's and a 252 to show up all at once.

The 251 was piggybacking behind my 252 bus this morning, whilst the driver of the bus was asking passengers which streets to turn onto... I'm presuming also, that the driver of the 251 behind us didn't know where to do either.

[Punishment466]

Ahh you guy's are freaking me out. I'm moving to the city from the country to start my new job on Monday, now I'm stressing out about if my bus will arrive in time for my first day >_<.

Which part of the city are you relocating to?

Payneham. I was gonna take the 174 into the city.

[AG]

Ahh you guy's are freaking me out. I'm moving to the city from the country to start my new job on Monday, now I'm stressing out about if my bus will arrive in time for my first day >_<.

Which part of the city are you relocating to?

Payneham. I was gonna take the 174 into the city.

On one of the more interesting routes then... you could take 174 which runs along Grenfell Street, or you could take the 177 or 178 buses which run via North Terrace and King William Street. 177 runs citybound only during morning peak and vice versa for evening peak though. There's more along the latter corridor than the former depending on which part of the city you work. There's lot of buses along Payneham Road anyway (about 8 an hour during peak from memory).

[bay transit]

New Minister Chloe Fox was on Leon Byner's programme this morning and was inundated with complaints about Transfield's problems,even including drivers who haven't been paid for weeks.She admitted that some of the answers she had been receiving from some of the PTSD staff about the problems had been incorrect,especially after listening to some of the complaints.

[bay transit]

New Minister interviewed on Channel 10 news tonight about these problems-she has promised to look into them,but admitted there was "no quick fix".She will sit down with Transfield Services(Light-City Buses) to try and find a way to fix their problems.

[bay transit]

Apparently according to a caller on 5aa today some Transfield drivers haven't been paid for 2 weeks now,plus they are not only short of drivers,they are also short of buses to carry out some of their peak hour journeys-it seems to be getting worse,not better and this is week 4 ?

[Omicron]

What sort of contract exists with this organisation that doesn't seem to require the organisation be able to fulfil its duties in the first place? Furthermore, what sort of organisation takes on a bus route contract without knowing bus routes or having enough buses?

[bay transit]

From this morning's Advertiser (plus reader comments,some of whom are genuinely angry)-this is going to be quite a challenge to fix these problems and get Transfield doing the job they are contracted to do;-
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/anger-mou ... 6177733984

[rubberman]

At some point, those who think that in house knowledge is not needed ("all we need are managers - we can buy in the expertise" - hah) and that outsourcing provides the best solutions, will have to admit they were wrong.

However, I don't know how expensive or bad it will need to get before that realisation dawns. Not that I advocate bringing things back completely in house either, but there must be a happy medium.


Come back MTT - all is forgiven.

[bm7500]

My Mum often catches the O-Bahn from Banksia Park into the City for work. The other day she was waiting at a bus stop in Grenfell Street for the return trip when the 542 arrived. The bus driver opened the doors and yelled out that he would be taking North East Road as this bus was not fitted with guide wheels (as he pointed down toward the front of the bus) and could not go on the O-Bahn track! He said the next bus would be along in 15 minutes.

Mum waited for the next bus thinking that would be quicker, but their bus was caught on the track behind another that was doing only about 60Km/h most of the way to TTP.

This is only 1 example of how farcical this situation is. I dread to think how many other PT users are being inconvenienced on a daily basis.

[crawf]

For fuck sake, seriously when will something be done about this!

The situation seems to be getting much worse, than better

[Vee]

My Mum often catches the O-Bahn from Banksia Park into the City for work. The other day she was waiting at a bus stop in Grenfell Street for the return trip when the 542 arrived. The bus driver opened the doors and yelled out that he would be taking North East Road as this bus was not fitted with guide wheels (as he pointed down toward the front of the bus) and could not go on the O-Bahn track! He said the next bus would be along in 15 minutes.

This is only 1 example of how farcical this situation is.

This would be hilarious (Monty Pythonesque) if it wasn't so serious. Try the sheer inconvenience and frustration experienced by passengers and the damage being done to the reputation of public transport, plus loss of revenue to PT and increased traffic congestion as passengers lose confidence and patience and desert the system.

The serious problems completely overshadowed the trial of the new smartcard (rechargeable Metrocard) ticketing technology being trialled on some buses in the Hills/Mt. Barker area.

Hopefully, the worst of the problems can be fixed quickly.

Timetables need to be reviewed and revised in all areas to remove obvious blunders. I can't understand why the folk who used to catch one bus to travel on the Obahn now need to switch buses and endure longer travel times. Enough people have now complained and pointed out problems for some review and adjustments.

Can't GPS tracking technology be used more effectively for monitoring, scheduling by transport authorities (and making improvements) and communication/information for the long suffering passengers (and drivers?). The proliferation of smartphones and intelligent apps should be used to enhance the PT experience of passengers and provide greater certainty and information.