News & Discussion: Public Transport Contracts, Service & Policy

[Vee]

New and improved Free Connector Bus service in Adelaide.
http://indaily.com.au/news/2013/10/10/f ... -frequent/

Good news, Matt!

Some more details here. Read/download PDFs and register to have your say.
Feedback closes Nov 8.

New free City connector bus service

ACC and the DPTI are working together to improve free public transport services within the City and North Adelaide.
We would like to know what you think of the proposed integrated bus service, the proposed bus route and bus stops.

This proposal aims to create a new and convenient free public transport service, linking key destinations within the City and North Adelaide to meet the needs of commuters, residents, students, tourists and visitors.

The new free City connector service will maintain use of existing Adelaide Connector or Adelaide Metro bus stops to minimise the loss of on-street parking spaces.

However, many of the existing Adelaide Connector bus stops have not been designed for the larger buses and will need to be extended and upgraded.

It's important to read through the Project Information before you provide your feedback.

Details.
http://yoursay.adelaidecitycouncil.com/ ... nector-bus

Map of Proposed Bus Route and On-Street Parking:
http://cdn.thinglink.me/api/image/44218 ... 1043138249

[jk1237]

Fantastic idea, hooray. Will use this much more, being in the city. Usually avoid the city council connector bus because its so infrequent, crappy little mini buses, and its so awkward to have to yell out to the driver for the next stop.

Bring it on

[monotonehell]

Seems like a good idea, my only question is what is to become of the internationally acclaimed Tindo solar bus?

[Nathan]

Seems like a good idea, my only question is what is to become of the internationally acclaimed Tindo solar bus?

It'll continue to be used on the new service, according to the fact sheet.

[mattblack]

Seems like a good idea, my only question is what is to become of the internationally acclaimed Tindo solar bus?

It'll continue to be used on the new service, according to the fact sheet.

Being world first technology it's also pretty crap. The high amount of maintenance needed will be taken over by DPTI instead of the Council and the battery packs that need to be replaced every few years will still remain a Council responsibility. On the previous route the battery charge was not enough to last for the whole day causing scheduling issues. I believe that Torrens Transit have said that they can make it work with the new route. Time will tell I guess. Looks good for the tourists though.

[Vee]

Some initial thoughts after perusing the Free Connector Bus information.
http://yoursay.adelaidecitycouncil.com/ ... t/show/736

It's great to have one free integrated service with more frequent intervals (15 mins for city, 30 mins for North Adelaide) and with some larger, 'modern, low floor, wheelchair accessible and air conditioned' buses. The extended hours, including Fri evenings late night shopping and public holidays, are a bonus.

The information mentions...

a new attractive, distinct and convenient free public transport service, linking key destinations within the City and North Adelaide

I hope attractive, distinct buses means they will be readily distinguishable from other Adelaide Metro buses. A dedicated fleet, with a high visibility colour/branding etc, is a plus for users (especially where dedicated bus stops are unavailable) and raises general awareness of the service.

I can't see why this service will be excluded from real-time information as this would be really useful for locals, students, visitors. Hopefully, this can be added in the near future?

The route maps and stops have obviously been thoroughly planned. I understand that the number of bus stops along the route need to be limited to reduce the overall travelling time. However, given the number of visitors/tourists, including regional, interstate and O/S, who will make use of the service, surely an Adelaide Oval stop would be a good inclusion.

The AO is a significant tourist attraction, even more so with the high profile redevelopment, and includes the Bradman Museum and Old Scoreboard, which are significant parts of the AO tour. Is it a deliberate omission?

Kudos to the ACC and DPTI for the planning and funding that has gone into this free, integrated public transport connector service and the opportunity for community feedback. Yet another improvement to public transport and our city, making facilities and services much more accessible for a wide range of people.

[rubberman]

The Adelaide Oval stop idea would definitely be good on those days where there is some event on. One would think it to be a relatively simple exercise to add a temporary stop on those days and times for the various events without disrupting schedules too much.

Whether it would be worth while to have a stop at the Oval other times is a bit more questionable. Still, it could hardly hurt to have a trial stop there for a while to test the market.

[Nathan]

I hope attractive, distinct buses means they will be readily distinguishable from other Adelaide Metro buses. A dedicated fleet, with a high visibility colour/branding etc, is a plus for users (especially where dedicated bus stops are unavailable) and raises general awareness of the service.

I agree. The City Free buses already have their own livery, but it's undermined by being heavily based on the same yellow as the rest of the fleet (so not a lot of distinction), and that they often use the city free branded buses for other routes, while using normal buses on the free loop.

[Aidan]

I'm very unimpressed with the proposal. Two concurrent bus routes are a poor substitute for a frequent bus service, especially when one of them only runs twice per hour.

A better alternative would be to run the 99C via Sturt and Halifax Streets (without the detour to Victoria Square) and the North Adelaide Loop via Grote and Wakefield Streets.

[Norman]

Both services run every 30 minutes as far as I understand it, but they combine on part of the route to form a 15 minute frequency.

[Vee]

The new/revised and integrated Connector service has much improved extended hours of operation, including public holidays. This is a big improvement on the existing services (see link below).

Although the timetable is not yet available until after the consultation/feedback, it mentions 15 minute intervals for the city section (weekdays) with 30 minutes on Friday evenings, weekends and public holidays.
The North Adelaide connector operates on half hour intervals.
http://yoursay.adelaidecitycouncil.com/ ... t/show/732

[rubberman]

I prefer the Victoria Square stops myself. I guess it depends on how they selected the route. If it were done properly, in conjunction with potential users, and Victoria Square was a preference expressed by those users, then it is valid. So, the question would first be whether or not the route selection process was valid in respect of the Vic Square routing. It seems to me though, that people in North Adelaide would like the Vic Square route because of the Central Market and Gouger St cafe proximity. But that's just a sample of one.

[mattblack]

I prefer the Victoria Square stops myself. I guess it depends on how they selected the route. If it were done properly, in conjunction with potential users, and Victoria Square was a preference expressed by those users, then it is valid. So, the question would first be whether or not the route selection process was valid in respect of the Vic Square routing. It seems to me though, that people in North Adelaide would like the Vic Square route because of the Central Market and Gouger St cafe proximity. But that's just a sample of one.

there is already a stop at the Central Bus Station to cater for those people.

Apparently 12 different routes were developed with 34 different timetables before the final two were selected. Passenger data that has been collected this year was also used. I would say that is pretty rigorous.

[rubberman]

.

Apparently 12 different routes were developed with 34 different timetables before the final two were selected. Passenger data that has been collected this year was also used. I would say that is pretty rigorous.

That's good enough for me.

[Aidan]

I prefer the Victoria Square stops myself. I guess it depends on how they selected the route. If it were done properly, in conjunction with potential users, and Victoria Square was a preference expressed by those users, then it is valid. So, the question would first be whether or not the route selection process was valid in respect of the Vic Square routing. It seems to me though, that people in North Adelaide would like the Vic Square route because of the Central Market and Gouger St cafe proximity. But that's just a sample of one.

there is already a stop at the Central Bus Station to cater for those people.

Buses stopping at the Central Bus Station run to Victoria Square anyway.

Apparently 12 different routes were developed with 34 different timetables before the final two were selected. Passenger data that has been collected this year was also used. I would say that is pretty rigorous.

Garbage in, garbage out!

Passenger data this year has been skewed by the absence of trains on the Noarlunga Line - 'tis unlikely those bus routes would both avoid the station if the trains were running. And two overlapping bus routes are unlikely to be as useful as a frequent one on the concurrent portion unless the schedules are very slack.

But the biggest problem is the refusal to fund anything better than a mediocre bus service! I'd hoped when the 99B service was replaced by trams the buses could be redeployed onto the 99C. Instead they were put onto suburban routes, meaning the 99C continued to be too infrequent to be attractive. And other bus routes were diverted away from North Terrace. Meanwhile the North Adelaide Loop is so unreliable that it's never worth waiting for - though it can still be quite useful if you see it coming.

A reorganization of City Loop buses is long overdue, but this plan scarcely improves things, and in many ways makes them worse.