Access to Public Transport

 It does not matter where you reside within South Australia, everyone is entitled to be able to access decent public transport services.  I am not advocating for 10 minute services for everyone as we have to obviously deal with reality.

Our wonderful state is littered with disused railway lines which were abandoned by the Government of the day decades ago as an easy cost saving measure.  A series of decisions that lacked a vision for the future of public transportation.  These decisions were made for the present not the future and sadly, this ideology is still the norm.

An example very poor planning for future transport requirements was in the late 1960's when the decision was made to cease passenger rail services on the Hallett Cove-Willunga railway.  This line serviced Reynella, Morphett Vale, Hackham, Old Noarlunga, Seaford & McLaren Vale all of which have been expanding exponentially for the past 45 years.  

The old line to Willunga was ripped up in 1972, then less than six years later the Hallett Cove line had been extended to Noarlunga Centre due to increasing development of the southern suburbs.  This extension opened in 1978.  Surely, in 1972 when the decision was made to finally rip up the Willunga line plans were afoot to expand the housing developments south of Darlington to Sellicks Beach.

Another example of very poor planning was again in the 1960's when the then Levels Campus (now Mawson Lakes Uni) was opened close to but not close enough to the Gawler railway. Planners seemed to focus on the development being adjacent Main North Road rather than a mass transit public transport service.  Decades later, development of Mawson Lakes suburb began (Gawler railway line has not moved in all this time) and again the town centre was located away from the railway line.  This then renders the mass transit system less effective and cumbersome to use for customers.  Bus services then become rather circuitous as they have to join a number of important nodes instead of focussing on just one or two.

Adelaide is peppered with examples of major community facilities being built away from long established mass transit routes.  Many of the decisions were made decades ago but unfortunately the mind set has not changed and these poor planning outcomes are still being made.

Some examples of what I mean:

• Marion Shopping Centre - Massive development should have taken development closer to Seaford Railway & Oaklands Station rather than focus on being close to Sturt Road.
• Flinders University / Medical Centre - built away from former Tonsley line 50 years later the railway had be extended to it.
• Proposed Buckland Park development is to be built away from existing rail infrastructure.
• Churchill Centre - Despite the Gawler railway running right behind it, there is no easy access as only stations are Islington & Kilburn which results in very long walks.

Adelaide planners seem adverse to have major transport interchanges directly beneath shopping centres or other large community facilites.  Our mind set is to have public transport over there somewhere and out of the way, even taxi ranks are often located in poor positions.

As we travel beyond the confines of Grand Junction Road, foothills and the Darlington escarpment public transport services begins to fall away and in some cases they fall away drastically to either a substandard level and quite unbelievably non existant in some cases.  If we travelled back in time to the 1960's and early 1970's Adelaide public transport was essentially operating within the aforementioned boundaries and was very City centric.  Despite huge developments since the 1970's beyond these boundaries, public transport services have largely not expanded accordingly.

In recent years many outer suburban services have seen their services cut back significantly despite the fact that they operate largely through low socio-economic areas.  Residents of these suburbs often rely 100% on public transport as their only means of travel yet they are provided with the least services.  To me this is a reverse economy.

Here are some basic facts about these suburbs:

• Low socio-economic
• High unemployment
• Majority of workers are shift workers
• High student numbers
• High levels of substance abuse
• High levels of single parents
• Low levels of car ownership
• High levels of people unable to drive for many reasons
• High levels of Mental Health issues

In these outer suburbs there are high incidents of:

• Drink / drug driving
• Driving unlicensed / disqualified
• Driving unroadworthy vehicles

Disturbing facts about public transport in the outer suburbs:

• First bus from Northern suburbs arrives in the City @ 6.39am
• No buses servicing Parafield Gardens, Paralowie, Burton, Virginia, Salisbury North, Davoren Park, Andrews Farm, Craigmore or Blakeview connect with either the first train in the morning or the last train at night.
• No direct access from Northern suburbs to Western or North Western suburbs, areas where many jobs are located.
• No buses form Aldinga, McLaren Vale, Old Noarlunga or Woodcroft connect with the first train in the morning or the last train at night.
• Most bus services operate hourly on weekends, others operate two hourly and some no service at all.  This level of frequency was common in 1983.
• No services operate after midnight.
• No direct bus services from Sheidow Park & Hallett Cove to Flinders Medical Centre the premier medical facility in the south.

In many instances bus routes traverse the same streets that they did when the services were introduced in the 1960's or 70's.  Nothing short of significant financial investment by the State Government will turn the fortunes of outer suburban public transport around.

My next article will focus on Adelaide Hills services & Regional services.