When I talk about the Northern suburbs I am not referring to Medindie, Broadview, Enfield, Sefton Park or Prospect which are to a large extent serviced really well. I am referring to those suburbs north of Grand Junction Road:
Mawson Lakes, Pooraka, Parafield Gardens, Paralowie, Burton
Para Hills, Ingle Farm, Brahma Lodge, Gulfview Heights
Gulfview Heights
Salisbury, Salisbury East, Salisbury North, Salisbury Park, Salisbury Heights, Hillbank
Virginia
Elizabeth, Elizabeth Park, Elizabeth North, Elizabeth Downs, Elizabeth South
Davoren Park, Craigmore, Blakeview, Andrews Farm, Munno Para, Edinburgh North
Angle Vale, Evanston Gardens, Smithfield
Gawler, Willaston, Gawler East, Hewett
Many of the bus services to these suburbs are sadly lacking and in many cases have gone backwards over the last 30 years despite huge increases in population over this time. The Northern suburbs are in the main, a low socio-economic area with high unemployment, single parents, substance abuse, crime, domestic violence and truancy. The vast majority of residents in the North rely very heavily on public transport, more so than those more fortunate in more affluent suburbs, yet the Government see's fit to treat this needy population with the utmost contempt.
Before I point out some of the flaws and then some improvements that I believe should be implemented, I would like to make a comparison with other parts of Adelaide, so I cannot be seen to be biased.
Services within the AdelaideMetro network operate to the South of Adelaide to Sellicks Beach. The terminus of Route 750 is roughly 55kms from the GPO. AdelaideMetro services also operate through McLaren Vale, Willunga and the very sparsely populated McLaren Flat, Routes 751 & 752.
Route 750 & 751 operate 7 days a week and roughly hourly, more frequent at peak times.
Route 752 is allocated 8 return trips Monday to Friday.
Both Routes 750 & 751 traverse large area's of rural land in order to reach the next township.
In the Adelaide Hills, AdelaideMetro services operate to Mount Barker & Nairne 35kms from the GPO. Mount Barker is serviced by numerous routes from the City and surrounds and even enjoys 1/2 hourly Saturday services and Transit Link services on Saturday and Sunday.
For comparison, here are the 2011 census data on populations for each area:
- McLaren Flat 1,310
- Willunga 2,416
- Sellicks Beach 2,339
- Mount Barker 14,452
Now, I turn my attention to the North. Populations for some area's of concern for me:
- Gawler District 22,219 (Includes Evanston, Willaston, Hewett & Gawler East)
- Virginia 2,800
- Two Wells 2,500
- Roseworthy 1,216
Route 900 operates from Salisbury out to Virginia then back across to Elizabeth. The service commenced in 1969 and was provided with two round trips per weekday. Today, over 47 years later the service still is provided with only two round trips per weekday. The service is largely useless to the population of Virginia which is only 30kms from the GPO. The population has grown significantly in the 47 years, Route 900 has been operating and the area continues to expand and there are more people living here than in some southern area's listed above which are afforded much better services.
A little further North of Virginia is the township of Two Wells, again itself has a higher population than some it's more serviced southern counterparts yet receives no services whatsoever. This is despite it only being 40kms from the GPO.
- Route 900 needs to be replaced by a service that commences from Mawson Lakes (connecting with trains) and runs up Port Wakefield Road through Virginia and onto Two Wells. This service needs to operate at least hourly 7 days per week.
At Elizabeth there is a rather pathetic 'night time' only service, Route 443 which is a throwback to 24 years ago when some night time services were amalgamated in order for the Government of the day to save some money. It is the sole survivor of this failed regimen. Route 443 services the huge area of Elizabeth North, Elizabeth Downs, Munno Para, Blakeview, Craigmore & Elizabeth Park. As a result of service cut backs (in order to provide a benefit elsewhere) the last bus on this route departs Elizabeth Station at 9.27pm. This means residents must catch the 8.50pm train from Adelaide as their last option. This renders the service useless to shift workers and night students and also people going out socialising. In 1983 the last buses to these area's connected with the last train from Adelaide, so you see it's gone backwards.
Gawler and it's immediate surrounding suburbs has a population almost 10,000 higher than that of Mount Barker yet the 4 bus services that operate within the township only operate Monday to Friday. There is no night or weekend services. Gawler is only serviced by the train. On Saturday night, After Midnight Route N224 operates to Gawler also. This is hardly acceptable when comparing with it's Adelaide Hills counterpart.
There are 22 dedicated rail feeder services in the Northern suburbs. There is only one service (451) that connects with the first train to Adelaide. However, quite staggeringly there is not a single feeder bus that connects with the last train from Adelaide. Some services connect with the 10.50pm train from Adelaide. For an area with a combined population in excess of 240,000 people, this is beyond unacceptable.
The Minister, Mr Stephen Mullighan needs to stop listening to his Department heads who only tell him what they think he wants to hear and go out and investigate this for himself. Rather than resorting to attacking myself for pointing out obvious flaws with our system, he needs to listen and act.
The residents of the Northern Suburbs deserve much more from this Government. If Mr Mullighan and company do not start paying serious attention to the North then their once SAFE political seats might not be so SAFE in the near future.
We have had enough.
Attention Minister, Stephen Mullighan, please feel free to jump onto the AdelaideMetro website or stroll into the InfoCentre and check these facts that I have mentioned for yourself. Your Department heads are seriously letting you down.
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