COM: Adelaide Airport Carpark & Pedestrian Plaza

[Patrick_27]

Get a grip Adelaide. You seriously don't know when you're on to a good thing. I've never know a city full of such lazy wingers. In these modern times flying involves two things. Walking and sitting on your backside doing nothing for x amount of hours on a flight. You have to walk from check in to your gate to the plane to your seat. What's an extra 50 odd meters? Same getting off. Surely stretching your legs after a flight is good for you? Have you seen the ad on TV about walking 20 mins a day?

I use the airport every week. As a very regular user I have got to speak with many staff from the airlines to the people that "try" to keep the traffic flowing in the pick up and drop off area. Is the new system 100% perfect? NO! What in life is? The new area is far larger (it extends outside the under cover bit after the traffic lights also you know!) than the old drop off up stairs (old system) and pick up down stairs. One of the guys was telling me with the old system people just left their cars abandoned right outside the terminal on a daily basis causing security issues whilst they just wondered into the terminal. People where forever going to the wrong level to get picked up or dropped off because of the over complicated road layout BEFORE. Hence lots of irate lost and irritated drivers/passengers. During busy periods in the old layout you had to fight to get your car in to get picked up and YES traffic went right back to Sir Donald Bradman Road then! Now one simple straight road in! How complicated is that Adelaide. Learn to read the signs and drive.

As my pick up isn't always available I have spent plenty of time watching what goes on. The traffic people are constantly getting flack from selfish drivers that think the rules don't apply to them. It's SO simple. To pick someone up your passenger needs to be on the path before you park and pick them up. Again speaking to the guys the problem is passengers ring their drivers too early when they are just coming off the plane or have still to get their bags. The driver is there looking for them because they have had a call to say "they are here" when in reality they are still somewhere in the main terminal. Also people panic! As they drive along the road under the drop off/pick up they all fight for the same 20 meters of kerb space thinking they can't pull in. In reality there is always plenty of room at the far end (past the lift area)! There are TWO lanes on the approach. USE BOTH! Simple!

The open area is still far from finished. The big fruit bowl screen thing (which I think looks great btw) will apparently light up and stuff can be shown on it some how. Coffee shops and other things are still to be built in the open Plaza area. I had to get a cab the other night and the taxi area is fine. It's far bigger than before. Like before the issue is at certain times of the day there isn't enough taxi's about to supply the demand. NOT THE AIRPORTS FAULT! The taxi driver said that now they know how the system works it's fine and it stops drivers pushing in who have not joint the queue.

I'm not from Adelaide originally and I have traveled extensively throughout Europe, Asia, Australia and the USA. Adelaide airport is great for an International Airport. It's so easy to navigate and get around. I pick up friends/family from both domestic and occasionally international and I can be in and out within 10 minutes and that is parking! By the way you get a good 10 minuets or so free car parking in the new car park before it charges you. I regularly tell people to use the bridge and pick them up on the second level and still get out for free. Avoiding all the idiots in the pick up area!

For once Adelaide, stop winging and be proud or your city... and airport!

I've got nothing more to say other than +1

Mr. Dog, I could hug you right now.

[claybro]

[rhino]

Well said, that Dog! Give him a cheroot!

[Maximus]

With all the discussion lately about the new pickup/dropoff arrangements at the Airport, I thought it was worth bring to everyone's attention the arrangements at the new Canberra Airport terminal.

Two notable things... They seem to have interpreted the security requirements WRT to cars a little differently than Adelaide Airport management. If you click on the above link, you'll see there's a U-shaped road that takes you to the terminal. Passengers have to be dropped off/picked up on the 'sides' of the U, so cars aren't allowed to stop at the 'bottom' of the U (i.e. directly in front of the terminal), but they still drive along this part. In other words, if you had a bomb in your car, you'd still be able to do major damage to the building.

Secondly, public transport buses stop in various parts of the airport precinct, but not anywhere near the terminal at all. So, if there's a bias towards private cars and taxis at Adelaide Airport, it's certainly not as pronounced as in the new Canberra design.

Overall, though, the two airports are pretty similar. I think the Canberra Airport fixtures and fittings are much nicer than in Adelaide, but that's probably to be expected given it's the newer building. Next step now is to see if they can attract some international services!

[5dme]

I haven't seen anything posted about the new control tower in a while, so here goes:

The new control tower at Adelaide Airport is now in operation (of sorts). Until the 24th of May the tower is in MIMIC mode with the current old tower. On the 25th of May the roles will be reversed and the old tower will ghost the new one. After all the checks are complete at a time to be determined by Airservices Australia, the old tower will be decommissioned. More info in the video.

[/quote]

[Maximus]

Unless my memory is failing me, we did previously have a thread for the new control tower, but I can't for the life of me find it right now. Merged somewhere into the Adelaide Airport thread...?

[Maximus]

Earlier in the week there was a Radvertiser article about taxi drivers. I noticed that one of the survey questions asked was "Are the current taxi queuing arrangements at Adelaide Airport working well?", to which only 35% responded "yes" as compared to 47% "no".

Does anyone know the details of what might be causing this level of consternation amongst the drivers?

[mattblack]

Earlier in the week there was a Radvertiser article about taxi drivers. I noticed that one of the survey questions asked was "Are the current taxi queuing arrangements at Adelaide Airport working well?", to which only 35% responded "yes" as compared to 47% "no".

Does anyone know the details of what might be causing this level of consternation amongst the drivers?

It was basically down to the fact that taxis dont have storage space near the terminal anymore. Taxis have to divert to a purpose built (very large) storage area near Sir Don (completely opposite direction than the terminal building) before being allowed to go group by group to the pick up area near the new plaza, passing though about 3 or 4 boom gates as they do so. This was done to alliviate congestion on taxis around the terminal. The coordination between these 2 points had a few bugs in it initially which caused a few issues and the fact that it was new and taxi drivers had little if no training of the new system, this doesnt help when most drivers have english as a second language.

Things seemed to have settled down a bit since then as people get used to the new measures.

[Maximus]

It was basically down to the fact that taxis dont have storage space near the terminal anymore. Taxis have to divert to a purpose built (very large) storage area near Sir Don (completely opposite direction than the terminal building) before being allowed to go group by group to the pick up area near the new plaza, passing though about 3 or 4 boom gates as they do so. This was done to alliviate congestion on taxis around the terminal. The coordination between these 2 points had a few bugs in it initially which caused a few issues and the fact that it was new and taxi drivers had little if no training of the new system, this doesnt help when most drivers have english as a second language.

Things seemed to have settled down a bit since then as people get used to the new measures.

Thanks for the explanation, mate. Much appreciated.

[Brazer]

Does anyone know if the huge structure is still going to be illuminated. Apologies if it's been mentioned but is there a timeframe for retail and food outlets in the plaza? Where are they going to put them?

[Waewick]

drove down there today.

a really great development, and makes the airport feel international.

looking forward to seeing it done.

[fifty]

With all the discussion lately about the new pickup/dropoff arrangements at the Airport, I thought it was worth bring to everyone's attention the arrangements at the new Canberra Airport terminal.

From the Canberra Airport Master Plan:

"The new terminal roads accessing both the terminal concourses and car parks will include both on-grade and elevated roadways allowing direct, separated, access to both the departures and arrivals levels of the new terminal and structured car parks. The new terminal roadway will be axial in alignment, providing a heightened sense of arrival, as well as preventing the need for passengers and other terminal users to cross the main terminal entry road on arrival or departure, including when accessing the car parks"

What's more, it will be 240m of drop off zone. But no, Adelaide's choice of compressing drop offs and pick ups in to LESS than this distance, is a much better idea.....

Plenty of other well thought out ideas... eg. passengers can access both the arrivals and departure levels of the terminal directly from the car parks without going near the dropoff and arrivals area. Someone above mentioned they couldn't see how this could work. Well, here it is. Not rocket science, just intelligent design and some knowledge of how airports work. Public transport includes more than just one lonely bus station, but rather a whole bloody interchange servicing the entire region. Exact location is not known, but they do say "most likely co-located with the terminal", so wouldn't be far. There's a grade separated connection to the main road in to town and out of Canberra, indoor taxi stand with air-con and TVs, etc... The list goes on.

Very depressing reading as an Adelaidean.

[Maximus]

Very depressing reading as an Adelaidean.

Fifty, out of interest, have you actually been to the new Canberra Airport terminal?

[Briggzy_03]

Very depressing reading as an Adelaidean.

Fifty, out of interest, have you actually been to the new Canberra Airport terminal?

I travel back and forth through both airports several times a year and I definitely prefer the design and location of Adelaide airport over Canberra's.

[Westside]

"The new terminal roads accessing both the terminal concourses and car parks will include both on-grade and elevated roadways allowing direct, separated, access to both the departures and arrivals levels of the new terminal and structured car parks. The new terminal roadway will be axial in alignment, providing a heightened sense of arrival, as well as preventing the need for passengers and other terminal users to cross the main terminal entry road on arrival or departure, including when accessing the car parks"

What's more, it will be 240m of drop off zone. But no, Adelaide's choice of compressing drop offs and pick ups in to LESS than this distance, is a much better idea.....

Plenty of other well thought out ideas... eg. passengers can access both the arrivals and departure levels of the terminal directly from the car parks without going near the dropoff and arrivals area. Someone above mentioned they couldn't see how this could work. Well, here it is. Not rocket science, just intelligent design and some knowledge of how airports work. Public transport includes more than just one lonely bus station, but rather a whole bloody interchange servicing the entire region. Exact location is not known, but they do say "most likely co-located with the terminal", so wouldn't be far. There's a grade separated connection to the main road in to town and out of Canberra, indoor taxi stand with air-con and TVs, etc... The list goes on.

A couple of points from an Adelaidean living in Canberra. Currently the only public transport to Canberra aiport is an $12 shuttle bus that runs 12 times a day, however it is located at the same distance from the terminal as the drop-off area. The 'whole bloody interchange servicing the entire region' is merely a pipedream and will only occurr if the High Speed Rail to Sydney terminates at the airport (so not going to happen). While there are two separate roadways to the arrival and departure levels, the arrival level is only for taxis and the lonley bus. Private passenger pick-ups are not permitted. Drivers must park in the outside carpark, walk to the terminal to meet their passengers and hope to exit the car park within the free 10 minute period. (Sydney domestic now has a similar set-up but is a nightmare when 80 cars all circle the same 40 spots!)

While Adelaide's pickup/drop off area is not ideal, at least you have the option of not having to park the car first. What really bugs me is why they have closed a perfectly fine elevated roadway. Surely having just one pedestrain crossing over this roadway would have been okay. Then the current roadway can be used just for pick-ups and the bus interchange moved much closer along this alignment. If complete separation of passengers and vehicles is required, then surely having the footbridge go over the elevated roadway and meet the car park at level 2 would have been a better option.