Adelaide Public Transport

Transport in Adelaide

"The city of Adelaide, South Australia is served by a wide variety of transport, being centrally located on the Australian mainland and forms a hub for east-west and north-south routes. The road network includes the Southern Expressway, a reversible one way freeway. The city also has a public transport system managed by Adelaide Metro, consisting of a contracted bus system including the O-Bahn Busway (a guided busway), metropolitan railways, and the historic Adelaide to Glenelg Tram.

Roads

Road transport in Adelaide has historically been comparatively easier than many of the other Australian cities, with a well-defined city layout and wide multiple-lane roads from the beginning of its development. Historically, Adelaide was known as a "twenty-minute city", with commuters having been able to travel from metropolitan outskirts to the city proper in roughly twenty minutes. However, these roads are now inadequate to cope with Adelaide's growing road traffic.

In 1964 the 'M.A.T.S.' plan (Metropolitan Adelaide Transport Study) was commissioned by the S.A. Government. It examined establishing a large network of highways along Adelaide's main urban transport corridors. The plan went as far as the State Government of the day purchasing land along Adelaide's major roads, in preparation for highway construction. However, later State Governments abandoned the plan during the 1970s. The consequences of the political rejection of this plan are now being realised as increased traffic has seen travel times increase, and congestion on main thoroughfares such as South Road has become a daily reality.

Adelaide is connected to Port Wakefield Road and the Sturt Highway in the north, and the South Eastern Freeway in the South East. The Southern Expressway acts as a bypass for congested South Road in the southern suburbs of Adelaide. The expressway is unique for changing direction according to peak flow.

Bus

The focus of Adelaide's public transport system is the large fleet of diesel and natural gas powered buses. The majority of services terminate at the city-centre or at a suburban interchange. Buses get priority on many roads and intersections, with dedicated bus lanes and 'B'-light bus-only phases at many traffic lights. The Adelaide Metro buses are owned and operated by:

* Torrens Transit - north-eastern, inner north, inner south, eastern, western and north-western suburban bus network.
* Australian Transit Enterprises, trading as SouthLink – the far south and far north
* Transitplus - regional bus services and the Adelaide Hills

The O-Bahn Busway is one of a few guided busways in the world. With large growth in the North-eastern Suburbs of Adelaide in the 1970s and 1980s, Adelaide was faced with a transport dilemma. The Adelaide O-Bahn was constructed in 1986 in response, after beating competing proposals of expanded rail and road networks. (One of the competing proposals was to build an Adelaide underground, but proved to be cost-ineffective in comparison).

Interstate bus routes to and from all the major Australian towns and cities connect to Adelaide. The main terminus for intra and interstate coach-liners is the Franklin Street Coach Terminal at Franklin and Bowen Streets in the city-centre. Beginning in 2005, the terminal is to undergo a complete $25 million reconstruction, in conjunction with the much larger $375 million former Balfours site redevelopment – the end-product being a new multistorey bus station and various residential and commercial towers.

Rail

While Adelaide's suburban passenger-rail network does not suffer the chronic delays of its inter-state counterparts, it is comparatively under-developed; Adelaide is the last mainland capital with a non-electric network, with a 10-year $2 billion transport program commencing in 2008-09 to rebuild the network. Adelaide is also the midpoint of the long distance Indian Pacific service between Perth and Sydney, as well as the terminus of The Overland to Melbourne and The Ghan to Alice Springs and Darwin.

In late 2005 the State Government released a State Infrastructure Plan. This saw a AU$56 million upgrade of the Adelaide’s sole remaining tramway, from Victoria Square in the CBD to the historic beachside resort of Glenelg, where new trams now operate with the existing historic H-type’s of 1929."