Sensational-Adelaide.com

Norman wrote:Apparently the old 340 is coming back in the next set of changes. Not sure how accurate that is though.

Where did you hear that?

Considering how indirect it was, I'm surprised. Though the current 640 service is pathetic - I hope the next set of changes restore the old 340 frequency and southern terminus. The ATSB recommended articulated buses should be banned from using the Jervois Terrace crossing, but contrary to what the public were told, had no objection to normal buses.

adam73837 wrote:You have quite a good point Cruise, but unfortunately that's the thing about Adelaide. If it weren't for the Circle Line Bus service, you'd have to go into the city to go out of the city. But that only really caters for people around that route, everyone else that needs to commute to places other than the CBD suffer. However because the numbers don't measure up, these people are constantly overlooked. Hence, a major revamp would be needed to cater for all Adelaidians.

Actually that's not true at all. For instance, yesterday my mother wanted to go to Malvern, and the most convenient route there didn't involve the City or the Circle Line - instead she went by train to Woodlands Park and then after a 3 minute walk caught the 190 bus (which is far more useful for cross suburban journeys than its purely cross suburban predecessor).

Adelaide could probably do with a few more cross suburban routes, but not a major revamp - the most effective way of catering for all Adelaidians is improving the frequency of the routes we already have.

Aidan wrote:The ATSB recommended articulated buses should be banned from using the Jervois Terrace crossing, but contrary to what the public were told, had no objection to normal buses.

What happened at Jervois Terrace? Google finds nothing, except that it's still on the Noarlunga line replacement bus route.

Marino isn't much of a terminus for a major bus corridor anyway.

Somebody wrote:

Aidan wrote:The ATSB recommended articulated buses should be banned from using the Jervois Terrace crossing, but contrary to what the public were told, had no objection to normal buses.

What happened at Jervois Terrace? Google finds nothing, except that it's still on the Noarlunga line replacement bus route.

After a level crossing smash on the Gawler line, there was a safety review of all of Adelaide's level crossings. The ATSB recommended that articulated buses should not use the crossing (I know that was the recommendation because I have talked to the man who made it). The claim made publicly was that it wasn't safe for any buses to use. The parts of Kingston Park and Marino W of the railway lost their bus service, and initially it was diverted up the streets E of Marino Rocks station before being cut back to Marino station.

Marino isn't much of a terminus for a major bus corridor anyway.

That depends what exactly you mean by major bus corridor but since the Oaklands interchange opened, passengers aren't going to change from the train at Marino unless they're going somewhere local like Seacombe Road. So IMO it's best to either keep it as the local 640 route or possibly divert it to Bellevue Heights via Flinders - though without a station to connect with at Bellevue Heights the latter option is unlikely to attract many passengers.

not that i care a hell of a lot about cross city bus routes, Perth has an effective circle route system, that goes beyond the CBD

raulduke wrote:not that i care a hell of a lot about cross city bus routes, Perth has an effective circle route system, that goes beyond the CBD

I think that Perth's circle route was based on our circle line 100 route. I remember reading something about it, that the whole concept was to copy our circle line. Dont know if the 100 route is that successful anymore. I remember it used to be painfully slow as every bus was too early so they crawled along at 10km/h to make up time. Anyone been on it lately?

If your defintion of "lately" was over a month ago, then yes it is still painfully slow - it has so much potential if it was a little faster and more often, so then most people would not have to go into the city and out again.

Last time I was on the 100, the bus had to wait 15 minutes at Glen Osmond. Absolutely redicolous I say.

Why would anybody go near the 100 without a large pole - it only runs every 30 minutes, and doesn't run at all on night or Sundays FFS. Absolute rubbish.

Do they still run a lot of the old MAN SL200 buses on it? When I used it, most people were making various trips along the 100 itself rather than connecting to other services - not surprising given frequency :wank:

The point is long bus routes generally have problems with on time running.

"The 600-601 bus for example which is an east west route, Blackwood station to Tonsley via Flinders Uni and Hospital. Slow enough but then continues to Oaklands (Noarlunga train), Glenelg (tram) and then all the way to West Beach."

I think that Blackwood to Tonsley and on to Oaklands would be enough, and include the Flinders Uni and Hospital as well. This means it can be increased in frequency without needing multiple additional buses.

The J1 bus is another example, Glenelg to Elizabeth via Adelaide Airport, Adelaide, Obahn, Modbury, Golden Grove. A complete mess and never runs of time, nor meets with the train at Elizabeth.

If it were simply a transit link from Elizabeth to Modbury via Golden Grove, they would not need to use an articulated or O-Bahn bus nor have such useless infrequent running. The J1a which terminates at Golden Grove which makes the other 50% of the buses run, can also be done away with.

Run a separate bus for the airport bus, which terminates at Golden Grove as the J1a does now. There is quite a lot of passenger traffic between Modbury and Golden Grove anyway, usually things like the C1x etc which have the same express route.

fabricator wrote:The point is long bus routes generally have problems with on time running.

But that's only one point. Another point that's even more important than that one is that long bus routes can attract a lot more passengers.

"The 600-601 bus for example which is an east west route, Blackwood station to Tonsley via Flinders Uni and Hospital. Slow enough but then continues to Oaklands (Noarlunga train), Glenelg (tram) and then all the way to West Beach."

If you ranked all the stops on the route according to how many passengers got on or off, I doubt Tonsley would be in the top twenty. Marion Shopping Centre is where most of the passengers go.

I think that Blackwood to Tonsley and on to Oaklands would be enough, and include the Flinders Uni and Hospital as well. This means it can be increased in frequency without needing multiple additional buses.

To justify increasing the frequency, it helps to have strong demand. Cutting it as you suggest would mean people along that route would lose their direct access to places such as Glenelg, Harbour Town and West Beach - and people from those places would lose direct access to Marion, Flinders and Blackwood - so it would attract fewer passengers.

The J1 bus is another example, Glenelg to Elizabeth via Adelaide Airport, Adelaide, Obahn, Modbury, Golden Grove. A complete mess and never runs of time, nor meets with the train at Elizabeth.

Long routes are indeed often bad for scheduled connections. IMO the best solution is to increase the frequency so that unscheduled connections can be made.

As for the reliability issue, I think a big part of the problem is that it stops at every stop west of the City. If it were limited stop between the airport and the City, running times would be far more predictable.

If it were simply a transit link from Elizabeth to Modbury via Golden Grove, they would not need to use an articulated or O-Bahn bus nor have such useless infrequent running.

If they need to use an articulated bus then do they really need to have such useless infrequent running??

The J1a which terminates at Golden Grove which makes the other 50% of the buses run, can also be done away with. Run a separate bus for the airport bus, which terminates at Golden Grove as the J1a does now.

???
In one sentence you suggest doing away with it, then in the next sentence you suggest running it!

There is quite a lot of passenger traffic between Modbury and Golden Grove anyway, usually things like the C1x etc which have the same express route.

How do passenger loadings between Modbury and Golden Grove compare with those on the O-bahn itself?

Think about it like This.Prior to the M44 and I live out at Payneham by the way I would have needed a car to go to Marion Centre and It would take 20 Minutes on a good day unless I use the Pizza Hut Restaurant Car Park to get Parking.Now I just drive to Klemzig Park the Car and Take a Bus.It is a longer Journey but sure saves petrol high stress and mileage

google maps makes it easier to deal with the cross suburban issue. Just enter the source and destination, click get directions, and make sure that "via public transport" or whatever it was is selected.

I've used it a couple of times now for cross suburban stuff that I would have almost certainly used a car for if I didn't have the tool to tell me how to do it.

The J1/J2/J3 is the actual replacement for the former 274 to 278 buses which explains all the stops on Sir Donald Bradman Drive AND part of South Road and Henley Beach Road.
If You wanted a faster service pay the extra for taxi or chauffeur driven car or the skybus.

cookiemonster10 wrote:The J1/J2/J3 is the actual replacement for the former 274 to 278 buses which explains all the stops on Sir Donald Bradman Drive AND part of South Road and Henley Beach Road.
If You wanted a faster service pay the extra for taxi or chauffeur driven car or the skybus.

It's not about speed, it's about reliability. More stops = more journey time variability.