CROSS SUBURBAN SERVICES

There remains a need in Adelaide for a more concerted effort from Government and service providers to introduce more cross suburban services.  One only has to look at the huge volumes of traffic in the AM peak, say from 5.30am until 10am, coming from North East Road and Stephens Terrace then heading down Nottage Tce, Main North Rd Rd then right onto Fitzroy Tce then disperse along Park Terrace to Port Road then onto South Road or turn right onto Torrens Road.

Looking at the occupants of these vehicles, they are a mixture of suit wearing people, parents taking children to school and people wearing hi-viz clothing such as factory workers.  I can only summise that majority of the thousands of vehicles making this journey head to either inner southern and western suburbs.  The reverse traffic flow is evident in the PM peak from about 2.30pm through 7pm.  There are also significant traffic on the contraflows too.

One then asks themselves where is public transport for these people? Non-existent that's where!  There is no bus services that cater for this enormous amount of traffic.  I am sure that if a service were to be introduced say operating from Modbury to Edwardstown without going through the City, over time it would become quite successful.

There are other areas of Adelaide that have similar cross suburban traffic flows but for the purpose of this blog I have just focussed on the inner Northern suburbs.

There is also huge volumes of traffic that use cross link Osmond Terrace at Kensington, Nelson Street & Stephens Terrace, in both directions and pretty much all day.  At Osmond Tce/Kensington Rd traffic disperses or comes from either East or West and at the other end it disperses either onto the Park Terrace ring route mentioned above or traffic turns right onto Main North Road and heads north.  Where this traffic ultimately ends up or originates from is anyones guess, but has anyone ever tried to find out?  Again, I ask where does public transport fit into all of this?  It's nowhere to be seen.

Back in the early 1990's I was lucky enough to be selected to work with a Transport Consultant who is now a Professor of Public Transport at Monash University.  His name is Professor Graham Currie.  I was selected to work with him and others on a transport modelling system called APTRANS where information was collected from the public via questionnaires.  They were asked where did their journey begin and where did it conclude.  This was done across all routes, trains and trams also.  The data collected was collated and then processed in a computer.  Models of proposed routes could then be added to the model and it would project potential passenger loadings based on the origin-destination data collected.

One such option I ran at the time was a service from Marion SC to Port Adelaide via South Road direct.  It would not run through the City just run along South Road from Sturt Road through to Grand Junction Road then into Port Adelaide.  The model suggested that such a service would be quite well patronised.  Today, if this service was to get off the ground it could be sent to Mawson Lakes.  Anyone who has traversed South Road from Anzac Highway to Grand Junction Road would agree that it has an enormous amount North-South traffic and again public transport has gone missing.

I understand that the City is vitally important to our transport network, but there are in 2015 huge amounts of potential customers that simply do not wish to go through the City.  This is evident in the couple of examples mentioned above.

Following is a couple of proposals I have for some cross suburban services that I believe would be quite successful if marketed correctly:

Route 390 - Modbury to Edwardstown
From Tea Tree Plaza via Smart Rd, Reservoir Rd, Grand Junction Rd, Awoonga Rd, Lower NE Rd, Payneham Rd, O.G Rd, NE Rd, Nottage Tce, Main North Rd, Fitzroy Tce, Park Tce, Port Rd, James Congdon Dr, Deacon Rd, Richmond Rd, Marion Rd, Sixth Ave, South Rd to the terminus at Castle Plaza.

Route 391 - Paradise to Adelaide Airport
From Paradise Interchange via Darley Rd, Sudholz Rd, NE Rd, Mullers Rd, Regency Rd, Main North Rd, Fitzroy Tce, Park Tce, Adam St, Manton St, Grange Rd, Rowells Rd, May Tce, Burbridge Rd to Adelaide Airport.

Route 399 - Kurralta Park to Sefton Park
From Stop 7 Anzac Hwy via Anzac Hwy, Leader St, Goodwood Rd, Greenhill Rd, Unley Rd, Wattle St, Glen Osmond Rd, Conyngham Rd, Cator St, Sydney St, Greenhill Rd, Stuart Rd, Swaine Ave, Prescott Tce, Osmond Tce, Nelson St, Stephen Tce, Nottage Tce, Main North Rd to the terminus at Stop 17.

Route 395 - Mawson Lakes to Marion SC
From Main Street via Mawson Interchange, Elder Smith Rd, Salisbury Hwy, Port Wakefield Rd, Churchill Rd Nth, Cormack Rd, Davis St, Grand Junction Rd, South Rd, Sturt Rd to the terminus at Marion SC.

Cross suburban rail services could also take up some of the load.  In a recent post I mentioned the re-introduction of rail services through Wingfield from Salisbury to Osborne.  There could also be a service operating from Salisbury or Elizabeth through to Tonsley utilising the gaol loop.

Many years ago there was a cross suburban rail service that used the gaol loop.  Some industrial trains operated from Mitcham to Islington Works, so it can be done.

Just my opinion.  Interested in your feedback.

BUILDING THIS STATE

This state urgently requires a huge public and private investment into our transport infrastructure to generate employment and stimulate growth.

A huge focus on this spending should be on rail which has (in this state) been let go to such a condition that South Australia is now the only main land state without a regional railway network for passengers and even some freight lines are in danger of permanently being closed.  All this at a time when other states and other countries are spending billions on their railways to move both freight and passengers.  In many countries rail travel is in direct competition with airlines for passengers, like the link from Paris to London with their high speed TGV.  Alas, Australia and in particular SA have nothing even close in comparison.

Lets look at freight lines.  Why on Earth would we even consider closing freight lines into the Mallee to places like Pinnaroo and Tookeyerta, near Loxton and thus place thousands of extra truck movements to negotiate the SE Freeway and the treacherous down hill run.  Why?  Railways are safer in this regard and reduce the amount of trucks required on the roads.  Don't get me wrong, trucking plays a vital role in moving freight as rail cannot cover everything, but for long haul, one cannot beat rail.  If it is operated properly.

We need the freight connector railway to be built from Port Adelaide to Virginia.  We also require new freight lines to be opened or re-opened in the mid north and Copper Coast.

As for country passenger services, they need to be re-instated to Whyalla, Wallaroo, Victor Harbor, Mount Gambier, Renmark and Broken Hill.  These services should use new or existing rail corridors and they will open up the area's served to tourism and commuters.  The use of high speed 'Sprinter' railcars like those used in Victoria would be ideal.

Suburban rail services to Nuriootpa should be commenced as soon as possible.  The line is already there, however, it would require an overhaul.  A passenger service as part of the existing suburban network would provide huge benefits for the Barossa Valley.  Intermediate stations could be located at Sandy Creek, Lyndoch and Tanunda.

Re-instating a passenger service from Gawler to Osborne should also be considered as there is a huge amount of traffic using the Port Expressway and Salisbury Highway.  Public transport does not cater for this market since the former GMH-Outer Harbor services were removed nearly 30 years ago.  The line is still there and just sits there rusting away.  To service the area's intermediate stations would be constructed at Wingfield (South Rd), Wingfield West (Hanson Rd), Rosewater (Grand Junction Rd).

The Northern Connector should be fast tracked for construction and be constructed in conjunction with the adjacent new railway.  There is also a huge number of road improvements required around the metro area and in the country as well as the continual maintenance which sadly has not been kept up with over the past decade or more.

The time is now to spend money to re-invigorate our economy in this state.  Partnerships with private sector should be considered to get these projects off the ground.  One sometimes has to spend money to make money.  Our wonderful state has so much potential but it is sadly going to waste.

Well, that's my opinion.

BUS STOPS / TAXI RANKS

Here in Adelaide we have the distinction of being one (if not the first) City in Australia and perhaps the world to systematically number it's bus stops radiating out from the CBD.  It has been a feature of our system for over 70 years.

The Muncipal Tramways Trust commenced operating bus services in 1925 from City to Firle to supplement nearby tram services.  As suburbia grew into area's not serviced by trams, so did the Trust's bus services.  One popular service the trust operated was that to Glenelg, Somerton and Graymore (now Glenelg North) via Anzac Highway.

The MTT was extremely conscious of providing a first class service, not only to the passengers but also for it's valuable employee's.  They commenced a programme of numbering bus stops radiating out from the City so passengers could identify landmarks and businesses by the bus stop number.  Numbers increased with the very sparse use of A's or B's after the number.  This usually occurred if there was a large gap between existing bus stops and development had taken place requiring an additional stop to be installed.

Furthermore, the MTT provided route direction arrows (pot hooks) for it's bus drivers to navigate through the back streets of suburbia.  To this day, there are many bus systems that do not have this system and drivers soley rely on their knowledge.

Up till now bus stops have been reflective yellow with black lettering and has stood the test of time.  However, I think we need to breath some life back into this important little system by redesigning the bus stops across Adelaide.

I really do like the new stop at the Adelaide Airport, as shown below:

The entire set up here is a perfect template for other bus stops across Adelaide, especially in high traffic areas.  The words 'BUS STOP' painted on the roadway, decent shelters and of course the new style bus stop.  All the information is there.  The stop number can easily be instated in the green area at top.  These are very smart looking stops and are easy to install.

This style of stop could also be adopted City wide to identify Taxi ranks and also be installed on railway stations for information.

Well that's my opinion.

GETTING BACK TO BASICS

The recent public backlash over the proposed extension of the O-Bahn into Grenfell Street by constructing a tunnel and running through Rymill Park highlights a serious problem that South Australia has had for the past 60 years. 

A distinct lack of transport vision.

Ever since the flawed decision to replace our once popular tramway network with buses was made in the mid 1950's, Adelaide has suffered greatly from a disjointed transport network that struggles not only with it's own hurdles but more importantly with the ever popular motor car.  Developers, town planners, councils and Governments have paid little or no attention to public transport for decades, until now when it is virtually impossible to get any serious development or satisfactory development off the ground without stirring up a hornets nest of opposition.

Just cast your minds back to the tram extension.  It was slammed almost on a daily basis from the opposition in Parliament, the media and the public.  It was tagged as the tram to nowhere, with many people saying it will cause traffic chaos and it will be ugly with the overhead wires etc.  Now, 8 years on the tram is more popular than ever.  Try taking it away!  Where are the people who said it would fail?  Where is the media singing it's praise?

Lets go back even further in history to about 1979 / 1980 when there were discussions about the construction of the Northeast Busway (O-Bahn) or light rail from the City to Modbury.  There was a huge public outcry over the expenditure for public transport from the above mentioned critics.  History will show that the O-Bahn option was selected and construction was underway in 1982.  The system opened for service on 9th March 1986 and almost immediately there was an enormous increase in bus patronage from the North Eastern suburbs and beyond.  It was, and still is a huge success.  I ask again what ever happened to the critics?  What have they got to say for themselves now?

Over the past 60 years since the demise of the trams in Adelaide, there have been a handful of major transport initiatives as those mentioned above, but they are very few in comparison to other Cities or to the growth of our City.  In 2015, we only have one electrified railway line with arguments over the electrifying the other one and ultimately leaving two others running on diesel.

With the exception of Saturday nights our public transport ceases operation just before or just after midnight.  Some suburbs and much of the Northern suburbs have no services after 9.30pm.  In this day and age its disgraceful.  We still have a public transport system that operates as if it were in 1950 when the street lights were switched off at 1am and nothing was open.

Our transport systems need to get with the times.  There should be some bus services and rail services, along with the tram that operate 24/7.  On street car parking in high traffic areas in the CBD and in suburbia removed to assist with traffic flow.  Public transport to be given priority at all major intersections thus making bus and tram travel a more appealing option.  Parking a car in the CBD should be a hindrance, but only if the public transport is up to the challenge.  Sadly, at present it is not.

Well that's my opinion.