The Random Admet Question Thread

Adelaide / South Australia Transport Discussion
Merc1107
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Re: The Random Admet Question Thread

Post by Merc1107 »

Admet75 wrote: Thu Oct 15, 2020 12:18 pm In Perth there is three main ingredients that make there services fast, well patronized:
1. Stations are presented modern and clean
2. Successsful Bus Feeder services
3. The station spacing between stations is quite high especially on the Mandurah and Clarskon lines (North).
As a Perth resident, I do feel the need to jump in with my 2¢.

Stations are clean, yes. In saying this, in most cases they are extremely utilitarian, without much protection from the harsh elements (sun, wind, rain) which are endemic to any Australian city. They're certainly not nice places to wait for a service for any considerable amount of time. I'm not sure if this negatively affects patronage or not, but it doesn't help the passenger's perception of the service. It often seems to be the case that the minute two drops of rain fall on Perth, everyone finds a car and goes home that way, instead.

Yes, the feeders are generally good at this purpose alone. In many outer-suburban areas, they are the only bus service the residents can ever hope of having. In saying that, though, even much closer to the city, there's still this ludicrous idea of shoving everyone onto the train at the closest train station. This completely disregards all the other types of journeys people might use the bus for - shopping, travel across town and so on, and instead assumes everyone wants to go onto a train.
As an example, one of our newest train stations, Aubin Grove (on the Mandurah Line) resulted in the local feeder buses being split in two; with services from Aubin Grove to Hammond Park (or Wandi) now ridiculously short 5-10min runs. The next station north, Cockburn Central, is home to one of the south's largest shopping centres. For a resident in the aforementioned areas to reach the shops, they must take either two buses (with a 10-15min gap between runs), or a bus, train and another bus. Prior to the split, the journey would've taken 15mins at most, with no need for multiple mode-changes. Such an operational regime is hardly conducive to encouraging public transport use, and guess what? Outside of peak, those short feeders are seldom-used.

I should make it clear I am not against mode-changes or feeder buses (as they are a part of Perth's success in providing good public transport), but they are not the be-all and end-all of getting people to where they're going, as the above example illustrates.
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Re: The Random Admet Question Thread

Post by TA3001 »

Admet75 wrote: Thu Oct 15, 2020 12:18 pm Oh well the next line that will be improved is Gawler which they are proposing more frequent and faster services. Noting the only way they work out faster for Gawler services is that the EMU's have a much faster acceleration (metres/second) that the Diesel Electrics. As for improved frequencies this can only be done if they either close the inner northern stations (sort of near Go-Zone Churchill Road services and Suburban Connector- Islington Station- well Dry Creek did have a bus service the extension of the 235 or 236 from the Kilburn Churchill Road Terminus)

In Perth there is three main ingredients that make there services fast, well patronized:
1. Stations are presented modern and clean
2. Successsful Bus Feeder services
3. The station spacing between stations is quite high especially on the Mandurah and Clarskon lines (North).

These are my thoughts what do you think?
Have you not taken into account that there are no regular bus services to Dry Creek? It is absurd that the services run express from Dry Creek on weekends just to keep a few northerners happy. If there are feeder services to Dry Creek, then other services will be cut to pay for the kilometres.

What's cheaper? Paying a driver over $35 an hour at times to run a near empty shuttle service, or simply using common sense and having the trains stop at these stations? Driver safety may also be something to consider whilst waiting at a lonely stop in an industrial area at night.

Do you think that those who board or alight at Islington would like this?

Following this logic, all stations between Woodville and Adelaide on the Outer Harbor line, and also Mile End and the showgrounds station (really just Wayville) plus Goodwood would be closed due to the bus services along Port Rd.

It doesn't matter about those who wish to change trains at Goodwood, as by this logic, 100% of passengers go to the city, which wouldn't be the case. I am by no means having a go at you. But there are a lot of factors to consider before encouraging an already poor service to become even worse.
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Re: The Random Admet Question Thread

Post by Lt. Commander Data »

I’d be interested to see the patronage for Dry Creek station on weekends and nights considering it is in a primarily industrial area.

Kilburn station is not central to the suburb, unlike Churchill Rd - again I’d be interested to see patronage from both

Mile End station is a waste of time for southern trains - if you’re coming from anywhere in the city other than North Tce, it’s quicker to walk there than get a train. Mainly a few school kids use it and that’s it - would be beneficial for everyone if trains only stopped there at school times (much like they have done in the past)
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Re: The Random Admet Question Thread

Post by TA3001 »

Regarding Mile End, the infrastructure is intact and usable. Why let it rot away whilst being unused? The Overland is on borrowed time (when the border restrictions ease enough to enable it to be ran again). Even if there are just a tiny handful of commuters that use it, it is still not a waste of money to retain it.

It is also convenient for transfers to Henley Beach Rd bus services. Maybe you should take note of the actual numbers, and see for yourself. It obviously has high enough patronage levels to be retained. The main problem with it is that 4 platforms need to be kept in a passenger friendly state instead of just one island platform.
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Re: The Random Admet Question Thread

Post by aussiewirraway »

I was wondering that according to the link below Admet is supposed to get (Another?) Hybrid bus for trial. Is this still happening and will it just be a VST with some batteries or something?


https://www.australianmanufacturing.com ... line-in-sa
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Re: The Random Admet Question Thread

Post by jibb »

That still is the plan.
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Re: The Random Admet Question Thread

Post by Lieselta »

Has the so-called "SAPTA Wayfinding Handbook" as referenced in the new bus stop announcement actually been published anywhere?
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Re: The Random Admet Question Thread

Post by BusFan23 »

I've heard the terms "silver shifts" and "silver buses" thrown around. I believe these are referring to non-track (O-Bahn) shits and buses/vehicles, respectively. Is this correct, and if so, where does the term "silver" come from and what exactly does it mean?
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Re: The Random Admet Question Thread

Post by Merc1107 »

I too would love to know the origin of the term (maybe the colour of the paper the shift is printed on?). It tends to imply a shift type favoured by drivers.
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Re: The Random Admet Question Thread

Post by The Phonj »

The 'silver' term dates back to when the O-Bahn opened. As the St. Agnes depot had both O-Bahn and non O-Bahn shifts and buses, the term 'silver' came about as the non O-Bahn buses based at St. Agnes were painted in the classical silver livery of the MAN SL200 and Volvo B59. Thus a 'silver' bus was a non O-Bahn bus and a Silver shift was a non O-Bahn shift.
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Re: The Random Admet Question Thread

Post by gzhkr »

Does anyone know whether there has been any radical changes in Adelaide Metro fares in the past 20 years? Cheers
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Re: The Random Admet Question Thread

Post by Norman »

gzhkr wrote: Thu Apr 29, 2021 10:36 am Does anyone know whether there has been any radical changes in Adelaide Metro fares in the past 20 years? Cheers
The only things I can think of are the introduction of the MetroCard, which were cheaper than multitrips, the 14-day and 28-day passes, and the removal of 2-section tickets.
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Re: The Random Admet Question Thread

Post by The Phonj »

The Metrocard fare at the time of introduction was identical to the multitrip (per trip) fare; which was always cheaper (on a per trip basis) than the relevant singletrip ticket.
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Re: The Random Admet Question Thread

Post by Columbo »

A couple of random questions.

Now that single trip tickets are no longer available on the bus and there regularly seems to be people (often the same ones) who don't seem to have topped up their Metro cards or don't have one at all, I have been wondering if drivers are keeping track of this on each route?
I have noticed on a number of occasions that drivers often appear to tap on the ticket machine after people want to pay cash or their card doesn't work and they end up with a free ride, is that what they are up to or are they doing something else?

secondly, do new Torrens drivers do a dedicated shift for a set period when they first hit the road? I catch the same bus to work every day have had the same driver every morning for the last 5 or 6 weeks, before that seemed to be different most days.
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Re: The Random Admet Question Thread

Post by Lieselta »

Columbo wrote: Thu Jun 03, 2021 10:31 pm A couple of random questions.

Now that single trip tickets are no longer available on the bus and there regularly seems to be people (often the same ones) who don't seem to have topped up their Metro cards or don't have one at all, I have been wondering if drivers are keeping track of this on each route?
I have noticed on a number of occasions that drivers often appear to tap on the ticket machine after people want to pay cash or their card doesn't work and they end up with a free ride, is that what they are up to or are they doing something else?

secondly, do new Torrens drivers do a dedicated shift for a set period when they first hit the road? I catch the same bus to work every day have had the same driver every morning for the last 5 or 6 weeks, before that seemed to be different most days.
I notice drivers press some buttons on the BCU after letting someone through like that so I suspect there's a reporting method?
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Re: The Random Admet Question Thread

Post by Lt. Commander Data »

I believe there is a button on the BCU that records a passenger has boarded and not paid - maybe “special event” or something like that? I guess it keeps a more accurate log of loadings on a run
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Re: The Random Admet Question Thread

Post by Skexis »

Columbo wrote: Thu Jun 03, 2021 10:31 pm... there regularly seems to be people (often the same ones) who don't seem to have topped up their Metro cards or don't have one at all, I have been wondering if drivers are keeping track of this on each route?
Fare evaders are reported via the radio - trip, point of boarding and number of people involved. Supposed to be so as targeted fare evasion action can be taken. In reality however very little / nothing is done. The OSCA did a couple of mass ticket inspection activities one at Noarlunga and one at Old Reynella where everyone was checked but each lasted only for a couple of hours and from a drivers perspective was pretty disappointing. Seems like there's no real willingness to go after these people so many drivers don't even bother reporting them now and from what I've been told everyone caught in the first action just got a warning letter - no prosecutions. Waste of time in my view.
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Re: The Random Admet Question Thread

Post by BusFan23 »

What were/are the purposes of satellite depots (i.e. Seaford)?
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Re: The Random Admet Question Thread

Post by Former driver37 »

BusFan23 wrote: Sat Jun 05, 2021 12:41 pm What were/are the purposes of satellite depots (i.e. Seaford)?
Satellite depots are there to save on not in service running as company's are only paid on service Kms not running special ie Busways save money by running a bus special from Seaford to Aldinga instead of Lonsdale depot every KM adds up over time
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Re: The Random Admet Question Thread

Post by Lt. Commander Data »

They also add extra capacity - a lot more buses fit in two depots than one. I’m sure many drivers also enjoy working closer to home from a smaller satellite depot
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Re: The Random Admet Question Thread

Post by tonyp »

Why is Transit Systems claiming to have six electric buses in SA? I only know of one.

https://www.transitsystems.com.au/elect ... ogen-buses
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Re: The Random Admet Question Thread

Post by jibb »

tonyp wrote: Mon Jun 07, 2021 7:28 am Why is Transit Systems claiming to have six electric buses in SA? I only know of one.

https://www.transitsystems.com.au/elect ... ogen-buses
I believe they do (in conjunction with the SA Government)but we may not see any for a while.
There are another 7 Scania Hybrid buses under construction at Bustech.
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Re: The Random Admet Question Thread

Post by busrider »

They currently run two electric buses in Adelaide, the Bustech ZDi #1788 and Tindo, the Designline #1904.
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Re: The Random Admet Question Thread

Post by jibb »

busrider wrote: Mon Jun 07, 2021 11:11 am They currently run two electric buses in Adelaide, the Bustech ZDi #1788 and Tindo, the Designline #1904.
1788 has been off the road for nearly 2 months,back at Bustech.
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Re: The Random Admet Question Thread

Post by tonyp »

It sounds like they're including the hybrids in the total. Does that add up to six?
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