News & Discussion: Public Transport Contracts, Service & Policy

[monotonehell]

This is why I have always continued to support the idea of building a Modbury Freeway with designated bus lanes, would allow for a clear bus-route whilst taking pressure off Main North Road, and Lower-Main North Road, allowing them to put such bus-lanes in.

You're sending mixed messages here. Do you mean the North with Main North Road or the NorthEast with Main/Lower North East Roads? Or a roundabout route from the North via the North East?

[monotonehell]

Adelaide public transport changes announced, including cheaper Metrocard option for unlimited travel
Changes to public transport ticketing in Adelaide might save some commuters money. The South Australian Government said it would offer a 28-day pass for unlimited travel as part of its electronic ticketing system Metrocard. Premier Jay Weatherill promised some daily commuters might be $17.60 per month better off, or even 5 per cent more than that if their employer signed up to a new ticketing option for staff. "Adelaide commuters want flexibility and they want to be rewarded for frequent travelling," he said. Mr Weatherill said the new options would be progressively introduced from December.

The Government said the changes would help reward commuters who had put up with service disruptions during upgrade work. The Premier said the public would have to wait for the mid-year budget review to know how it was paying for the changes to the fare system. "We've made some estimates associated with that, but they're relatively modest costs because we're using existing capacity," he said. "And also we think that there are certain offsets about the way in which the system can run."

SA Government public transport policy
Changes will allow Metrocard holders an option to purchase a 28-day pass for unlimited travel on all Adelaide Metro services, saving daily commuters up to $17.60 per month. This is based on a 12 per cent discount on Monday to Friday return trips, with all additional peak, off-peak and weekend trips free.

Cheaper Sunday and public holiday fares - Sunday and public holiday trips on Adelaide Metro buses, rail or trams will be almost halved to match the existing inter-peak fare. The current $3.29 regular Metrocard weekend fare will be reduced to $1.80, saving a commuter $1.49 per trip.

Extended free travel for seniors for all times other than the morning and afternoon peak weekday periods. The current arrangement where seniors can travel for free in off-peak between 9.01am and 3pm on weekdays and all day on weekends and public holidays will be extended to include after 7pm and before
7am on weekdays.

Introduction of a Commuter Club - businesses joining the club can provide employees with the 28-day unlimited travel pass for an additional 5 per cent discount - saving daily commuters up to $23.30 per month. Commuter Club workplaces will also receive tailored route advice to promote public transport to and from work.

Visitor Pass - tourists will be able to buy a one-, three- or five-day pass with unlimited travel on Adelaide Metro services. The Metrocard will be badged with one of South Australia's tourist symbols so it can be retained as a keepsake.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-07/a ... -m/5002702

[Norman]

Fantastic news, and about time! Too bad I'm not currently living there

[Hooligan]

Another good way to get more people to use public transport is to offer more services. But i guess that's just crazy talk

[monotonehell]

Another good way to get more people to use public transport is to offer more services. But i guess that's just crazy talk

You mean like how the health insurance industry offers massages and aroma therapy?

[Torrens_5022]

I wonder if there is going to be any concession and student discounts as well. There's no information on the Adelaide metro site yet. Would the concession/student fares be half the full fare?
Could be like the half-arsed attempt at extra after midnight services - which the metro site just says an extra 20 services after the 3m lockout yet when you click on the timetables there's no new info. (https://www.adelaidemetro.com.au/Announ ... vice-trial)

[Norman]

I wonder if there is going to be any concession and student discounts as well. There's no information on the Adelaide metro site yet. Would the concession/student fares be half the full fare?
Could be like the half-arsed attempt at extra after midnight services - which the metro site just says an extra 20 services after the 3m lockout yet when you click on the timetables there's no new info. (https://www.adelaidemetro.com.au/Announ ... vice-trial)

The extra services are at the end of the timetable PDFs... Check the final page.

[Torrens_5022]

Thanks Norman, very odd spot to place the new times, I think they should extend the service and have after midnight services on Friday night (Sat morning)

[PeFe]

From The Advertiser

State Government announces cheaper bus, train and tram fares and multi-day passes for unlimited travel



PUBLIC transport users have been promised monthly discounts of up to $23.30 from December as part of a State Government shake-up of the bus, train and tram ticketing system.

Premier Jay Weatherill today announced five new options - including extended free travel periods for seniors and special passes for tourists - which will be rolled out from December.

However, he would not reveal how much the discounts would cost the State Budget or how many extra people the Government expected to use public transport due to the change.

The new ticket options are:

TWENTY-EIGHT day passes with unlimited travel. The Government estimates the $114 pass, to be launched in January, will save someone who travels twice every weekday $17.60.

BUSINESSES who join a new "commuter club" from April can offer the 28-day pass to their employees with an additional 5 per cent discount, taking the total estimated saving to $23.30.

CHEAPER public holiday and Sunday fares. From December, the current price of $3.29 will be cut to $1.80, saving commuters $1.49 per trip.

EXTENDED free travel for seniors. The new scheme expands existing arrangements that give seniors free travel between 9am and 3pm on weekdays or on weekends and public holidays. From December seniors will not be charged for travelling before 7am or after 7pm.

TOURIST passes will offer one, three and five days of travel. February launch.

Tell us: Does the fare relief go far enough? Will you take up the new 28-day pass?

Mr Weatherill said the recent implementation of the electronic Metrocard had given the Government capacity to roll out new ticketing options.

"These five new initiatives are the most substantial reform to our fares, in relation to public transport, that we've seen for many a decade," he said.

"They're about getting more people on our bus, train and tram network.

"They're about making sure that we take advantage of the capacity we do have."

Opposition Leader Steven Marshall said SA had the highest single trip fares in the nation, which were being cut "at five minutes to midnight, just before an election".

"We are expecting to see a substantial uplift in public transport usage," he said.

"They've got no credibility whatsoever in terms of cost of living," Mr Marshall said.

"I think it's good the Government has finally got around to doing something, but they're doing it with just over five months (until) the next state election."

He said the Opposition would announce its own transport policies before the election.

The policy is the Government's third in two weeks, as it gears up for the election in March. It has also released plans for a future fund and new job skills programs.

The Government has come under fire in the past year over its failure to ensure buses run on time and unexpected delays in the operation of new and upgraded rail lines.

Mr Weatherill said the cost to taxpayers of the new discount scheme would be accounted for in the midyear Budget review, expected to be released in December.

"We've made some estimates associated with that, but they're relatively modest costs," he said.


"We are expecting to see a substantial uplift in public transport usage."

The policy is the third in a series from the Government as it gears up for the election in March.

In the last two weeks it has released plans for a future fund and new job skills programs.

Opposition Leader Steven Marshall said SA had the highest single trip fares in the nation, which were being cut "at five minutes to midnight, just before an election".

"They've got no credibility what so ever in terms of cost of living," he said.

"I think it's good the Government has finally got around to doing something, but they're doing it with just over five months the next state election."

Mr Marshall said the Opposition would announce its own transport policies before the election.

"What people would get under a Liberal government is certainty," he said.

"When we say we are going to do something, that's precisely what we would do."


http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/sout ... 6734123455

[[Shuz]]

Big thumbs up of approval from me.

[Vee]

Big thumbs up of approval from me.

Ditto!
It's great to see incentives eg fare reductions to encourage greater use of public transport. The easy access to tourist passes is also very useful. Improvements to public transport, affordable fares, free WiFi , real-time information etc and increasing densities in hubs, TODs, along transit corridors should help to increase patronage and generate increased frequency of services.

It's a shame that Opposition Leader, Steven Marshall, is so negative and never seems to have any positive ideas or vision. I hope his 'closer to the election' does not mean a few days before, giving no time for proper scrutiny and comparison of policies and costings.

A new USPIRG.Org study, 'A New Way to Go' is worth a skim/read if interested in the impact of new communications technologies and changing preferences, habits of younger generations in particular.
This new US study shows how better communication technology is leading to less driving...
http://uspirg.org/sites/pirg/files/repo ... vUS1_1.pdf

On another matter, our state is more encouraging to our international students than Melbourne. A recent news item illustrated how international students in Melbourne were being forced to choose to pay for public transport (Myki trips) over meals. Without fare concessions, many have had to resort to one substandard meal a day.

Adelaide provides student concession fares to local and international students. Melbourne discriminates, although this may change if the Melbourne City Council is successfully in its lobbying of the State Govt.
The Age:

It costs no more than $12 a day, but for many of Melbourne's 30,000 international students, the beep of their myki card represents a meal they will not have.

Despite having incomes of less than $20,000 or even $10,000 a year, many foreign students in Victoria have to pay full public transport fares. To make ends meet, the students say they live on toast, cram into apartments two or three to a room...

Now Melbourne City Council is set to lobby on behalf of the huge resident population of foreign students by asking the state government to follow the path of all other Australian states and give them fare concessions.

Read more:
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/inter ... 2umib.html

[monotonehell]

...It's a shame that Opposition Leader, Steven Marshall, is so negative and never seems to have any positive ideas or vision. I hope his 'closer to the election' does not mean a few days before, giving no time for proper scrutiny and comparison of policies and costings....

Since it worked for Abbott, I'm sure Marshall will be emulating it.

[muzzamo]

The 12% discount is interesting.

If you consider that any additional offpeak/interpeak trips that someone might take using the monthly pass are "free" for the government to provide in the sense that the services are underutilized but will run regardless, then I wonder if the government has calculated the 12% discount based on the expected "waste" of peak trips that someone might do in a month.

On 40 peak trips a month, thats 2.4 return peak trips per month that one would need to "not" use before only breaking even on this pass. How many sick days, public holidays, leave days, rostered days off, etc per month would the average person take? Not to mention the times when people forget to cancel their monthly pass before going on annual leave.

Its a genius policy, imo. Encourage more people to use public transport in offpeak times, at possibly very little extra cost to the government.

For those workers in the city - it turns the hundreds of cross city bus services into a free tram/beeline service in order to get from one part of the cbd to another too.

[Torrens_5022]

Also with the the monthly pass there is no concession or student amount listed, the new Sunday/public holiday fares have a concession and student fare listed.

[mattblack]

New and improved Free Connector Bus service in Adelaide.

http://indaily.com.au/news/2013/10/10/f ... -frequent/