News & Discussion: Public Transport Contracts, Service & Policy

[adelaide transport]

I have read that Adelaide Metro and its 3 bus service providers will be changing many bus service timetables(including some school services) from Sunday January 25th.
New timetables are due to be released early in January.

[The Scooter Guy]

Unfortunately, the date for the new Adelaide Hills double-decker service has been moved to January 12.

[neoballmon]

Quick question about metrocard, as I don't use it very often.

I bought my card earlier last year, pre loaded with credit. I got on a bus, and found that I had insufficient balance on my card, so paid cash and recharged my card during the journey. I got a receipt email, saying the payment went through, but I just looked at my balance online now (weeks later), and it's still sitting at $3.32, no addition of the recharged amount. It is in the history on their site as "Contract Loading Request".

Am I going to get on a bus when I next need to, and find that my card's rejected due to low balance again, or will it be added when I validate.

I also recall seeing something when I recharged stating that I must use it/start using it before sometime in March, but I thought there was no expiry date on this credit.

[pushbutton]

There's no expiry date on the old magnetic strip tickets (besides when they remove the ability to validate them obviously, so it would be disappointing if there was an expiry date on smart card credit, especially such a short time.

[Archer]

From memory, the credit is loaded the next time you validate, the validator will actually show that happening, I think with an additional light and possibly a message on the screen. You have 3 months I think to validate and load the credit to the metro card, once it's on the metro card, I don't think there's an expiry.

Please do check this though, or someone else can confirm, due to my changed working conditions, it's been quite a while since I've used the metro cards.

[Hooligan]

Adelaide metros dealing with the crowds on NYE just before the cricket was totally deplorable. I had to wait 45 minutes for a train and almost missed the start. The train i eventually got on then went express from Salisbury to Adelaide which not only angered the passengers hoping to get off at North Adelaide for the Soccer but left passengers stranded the along the way. At least they didn't charge me for a ticket, I simply couldn't get to the machine to recharge my Metrocard because the train was so full and they let me through the gate at Adelaide. Why are there not any recharge machine at stations?

In my TL;DR version: Adelaide Metro, sort your shit out

[adelaide transport]

I have read that Adelaide Metro and its 3 bus service providers will be changing many bus service timetables(including some school services) from Sunday January 25th.
New timetables are due to be released early in January.

Full details of all the changes and new timetables are on the Adelaide Metro website.

[Nathan]

Thought this would be of interest to some here. A glimpse at what is beyond standard real time tracking, JR East's new app gives you additional information on Tokyo's Yamanote line - how crowded each individual car is and what the temperature is inside (plus which cars have wheelchair access and air-conditioning).

[Waewick]

Toykos train system is simply awesome.

[PeFe]

Its 4.20 pm and already the 11 car trains are shoulder to shoulder with passengers......Tokyo rush hour......mind boggling
And another smart way the Japanese incorporate technology into the public transport experience (like interoperability of different cities smart transport cards)

[Nathan]

Its 4.20 pm and already the 11 car trains are shoulder to shoulder with passengers......Tokyo rush hour......mind boggling
And another smart way the Japanese incorporate technology into the public transport experience (like interoperability of different cities smart transport cards)

The screenshot was actually from someone in Portland, so the time on the screen doesn't match up with Tokyo

At the moment, even the trains heading in and out of Shinjuku are reporting 'comfortable in the train' for pretty much all cars. That said, it's the Yamanote, and shoulder to shoulder is still pretty good, especially the stretches either side of Shinjuku to/from Ikebekuro or Shibuya

[Norman]

I found this video of public transport in Adelaide in 1990.



Good to know that we have very few single car trains now and how much KWS South has changed with the new trams and recent developments.

[EBG]

I just happen to get a picture of the Adelaide Hills double decker on Tue (31/3/2015) as it travelled to the city along Glen Osmond Rd at the corner of Greenhill Rd .

[PeFe]

From In Daily

Adelaide Metro to publish weekly performance data
Bension Siebert | 28 April 2015



ADELAIDE | South Australian public transport users will be able to access weekly performance statistics for Adelaide Metro services from today.

Historically, Adelaide Metro has only published quarterly statistics, and often published them late.

Transport Minister Stephen Mullighan said the change would make the public transport services more accountable.

“Until now it has been common practice to publish statistics quarterly, but by increasing the frequency we are aiming to be more open and accountable to our passengers,” he said.

“This is a good first step for giving people up-to-date information and performance of the public transport system, and over time we would hope that we could provide more detail for each of the modes of transport and service areas.

“The information provided will include the percentage of trains, trams and buses which run on time each week.”

The statistics will give weekly updates on the percentage of buses, trains and trams running on-time.

Train statistics will be further broken down into figures on the Outer Harbour, Seaford, Gawler and Belair train lines, while bus performance statistics will be broken down by operator, showing the respective performance of Southlink (outer south, outer north and hills services), Light City Bus (north-south and outer north east services) and Torrens Transit (east-west services).

Opposition transport spokesperson Corey Wingard told InDaily he had been calling for more frequent public transport performance data since he took on the role.

He said quarterly reporting on public transport performance was sometimes six months late.

“More information for the consumer is a very good thing,” he said.

“I’m very keen on this.

“And I’m glad that the government has heeded my advice.

“I can’t see why this move wasn’t done a whole lot earlier.”

Wingard called on the government to consult with other states and territories about public transport performance standards, which he said were measured inconsistently across the country.

“There’s no uniform measure to compare our on-time running to that of other states,” he said.

“They do it daily in Victoria, which I think it wonderful.”

He said inconsistent signalling systems were reducing the efficiency of Adelaide’s train network.

The first weekly statistics published on the Adelaide Metro website show the Belair train line has underperformed in on-time running compared to all other train lines.

It achieved an 85.5 per cent on-time running score, while the other lines ran on-time between 91 and 94 per cent of the time.

The definition of an on-time service, according to Adelaide Metro, is no more than four minutes and 59 seconds late for buses and no more than five minutes and 59 seconds late for tram and bus services.

Wingard said the government should look at how it measures on-time performance, but would not commit to changing the definition of ‘on-time’ should the Liberal Party win government.

The latest train, bus and tram service figures, released in February showed each mode of transport performed slightly better in 2014 than in 2013.

Feedback on services can be given Adelaide Metro’s online customer satisfaction survey.
http://indaily.com.au/news/2015/04/28/a ... ance-data/

[Vee]

I was pleased to see the news of the proposed tram extension along North Terrace and onto Norwood Parade, albeit some years off. We need a Federal Government to support public transport infrastructure by the states. Alas, Abbott only funds roads.

As mentioned in the trams thread, I hope the tram extension gets started before the next State election as the Opposition are not great proponents of PT. And continuing electrification of the rail lines needs Federal funding support.

In Victoria, Vic Roads has come out in support of alternatives to endless road building in Melbourne. And supported greater use of Public Transport and making city roads safer for cyclists and pedestrians. ACC please take note!

More roads not the answer to Melbourne's congestion woes

Nine of Melbourne's major thoroughfares are rapidly reaching capacity and the city cannot just "build its way out of congestion", VicRoads chief executive John Merritt says.

Mr Merritt advised motorists to use public transport, ride a bicycle or find a new job closer to home to deal with the city's growing traffic congestion.

He said traffic projections showed Melbourne's rapid population growth would continue to cause "a lot of pressure on all of our transport systems".
And while it was important to continue to expand the road network, that alone was simply not enough, he said.

"We can't just build our way out of congestion," he said.
"We need to invest heavily in public transport, which we are, through Melbourne Metro and we need to encourage people to cycle or to walk and make that feel as safe and as practical as we can."

Victoria's Public Transport Minister Jacinta Allan said the Government recognised the problem and was investing in a "range of transport projects" to address the current needs, with a view to building capacity into the future.

"That's why removing the 50 most dangerous level crossings for example is important in terms of addressing road congestion," she said.

"It also means we can run more trains once those levels crossings are removed."

The (Vic) State Opposition said the traffic figures showed there was a clear need for investment in building more roads.

....

Mr Merritt said there was no one solution to fixing the city's traffic woes.
"There are significant, large projects but there is no one big answer to this, it is a series of pieces of work," he said.

"Then there are those changes in behaviour - getting people to use public transport and encouraging more people to ride."

ABC News:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-06/m ... es/6597036