Adelaide Metro

File:Adelaidemetro Logo.png

Adelaide Metro is the public transport system of the South Australian capital of Adelaide and the brand name of the Public Transport Division of the Department for Transport, Energy and Infrastructure. It is an intermodal system with services provided by bus, tram or commuter rail throughout the metropolitan area. The services, although contracted to four separate operators, are fully integrated under Adelaide Metro and share a universal ticketing system, marketing, and common livery and signage.

History

The Adelaide Metro is a brand introduced in 2000 following the tender privatisation of bus services. Previously, the public transport system in Adelaide has been known under several names. From 1994 until well into 2002 the name for this South Australian State Government department was the Passenger Transport Board. Before 1994, the system was operated by the State Transport Authority. Closer to the middle of the twentieth century, the Municipal Tramways Trust was the public transport authority in Adelaide, South Australia. Adelaide removed all tramlines during the 1960s leaving only the Glenelg line. This tramline has been since extended during 2007 by the Department Of Transport, Energy & Infrastructure (DTEI). The new tram extension operates under the "Adelaide Metro" brand, but the service provider is TransAdelaide. Please see http://www.adelaidemetro.com.au for further historical information regarding the Glenelg tramline extension during 2007.

Services

Buses

See also: Buses in Adelaide

Buses ready for peak hour on Grenfell Street.

The largest element of Adelaide's public transport system is a fleet of diesel and natural gas powered buses. The majority of services terminate at the city-centre or at a suburban rail station or shopping centre interchange. As contracts are revised for privatised bus operations, more cross suburban routes are added to the network, whereas in the past bus routes were largely focused on moving passengers from the suburbs to the CBD. Although on most cross-suburban routes that pass through the CBD, including those using main north and main south roads, do not indicate that they are going beyond the CBD (it is not shown at stops, on timetables or on the buses themselves), the driver changes the bus number and route before entering the city centre without informing passengers, and often results in confusion when people get off of a bus, especially if the altered bus route is the one they needed to transfer to. Adelaide Metro buses get priority on many roads and intersections, with dedicated bus lanes and bus only signal phases at many traffic lights.

The Adelaide Metro buses are 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
• Transfield Services - Will be operating the inner North, inner South & North East (O-Bahn) Services from October 2011. It will trade under the name 'Light City Buses'. http://www.transfieldservices.com/page/News_Centre/News/2011/Transfield_Services_awarded_567_million_Adelaide_metropolitan_bus_contract

Commuter rail

See also: Railways in Adelaide

Two sets of 3100 class railcars at the Woodville railway station.

The Adelaide suburban railway network is operated by TransAdelaide and consists of six lines. It is the only suburban network in Australia that still operates solely with diesel railcars. The fleet consists of 70 diesel-electric 3000/3100 railcars and 29 2000/2100 diesel hydraulic railcars.

There are six rail lines, all terminating at Adelaide Railway Station in the CBD. They are:

• Gawler Central: proceeds north from the Adelaide Railway Station for 42 km, terminating at Gawler Central station, Gawler. This is the most frequent and heavily patronised line on the network. On weekdays some services terminate at Gawler Station.
• Noarlunga Centre: proceeds south from the Adelaide Railway Station for 30 km and terminates at Noarlunga Centre. On weekdays some services terminate at Brighton.
  • Tonsley: a 4-km spur from the Noarlunga line to Tonsley Station.
• Outer Habor: proceeds north-west from the Adelaide Railway Station for 22 km and terminates at Outer Harbor Station. On weekdays some services terminate at Glanville.
  • Grange: a 6 km spur from the Outer Harbor line to Grange Station.
• Belair: proceeds south-east from the Adelaide Railway Station for 22 km, winding though the Adelaide hills to terminate at Belair.

Light rail

See also: Trams in Adelaide

See also: Glenelg Tram

Adelaide Flexity tram 101 in service on Glenelg Tram line, circa March 2006.

Adelaide's once extensive tram network was dismantled in the middle of the 20th century leaving only the Glenelg Tram running 12 kilometres between Victoria Square in the city-centre and Moseley Square on the beachfront at Glenelg. The majority of the line is on a dedicated corridor though the western suburbs, but travels on roadway in the city from the terminus to South Terrace and along Jetty Road in Glenelg.

An extension of the line from Victoria Square down King William Street and along North Terrace to a terminus near Morphett Street bridge opened to the public on 14 October 2007. The extended line now has stops adjacent to key city points, including Rundle Mall, the Adelaide Railway Station and the City West campus of the University of South Australia. Plans to build new lines from the City to AAMI Stadium at West Lakes, Port Adelaide and Semaphore have been proposed. A plan to create a city loop by extending the line through either Morphett or Gray streets, Currie Street, and Grote Street to rejoin the line in Victoria Square has also been proposed. As of November 2009 there is a great amount of work occurring with Light-Rail in Adelaide; the 2.8 km extension of track from the existing City West stop to the Adelaide Entertainment Centre, the south road tram bridge will be in operation by December 2009, a complete replacement of the line's overhead wiring is already underway, and 6 new trams (imported from Spain) have already started to arrive and will be in operation by 2010.

The line is operated by TransAdelaide from Glengowrie depot, using 11 Flexity Classic trams on weekdays, by 2010 the extended line will use 16 trams and 5 heritage H-Class trams on weekends, public holidays and special occasions. It is inevitable that the heritage H-class trams will be withdrawn from the city's light-rail network in the near future.

Interchanges

A map of Adelaide’s railway and tram network

• Aberfoyle Park Interchange

Located in the southern suburbs at the Aberfoyle Hub Shopping Centre.

• Arndale Interchange

Located in the north western suburbs at the Centro Arndale Shopping Centre.

• Blackwood Interchange

Located in the south eastern suburbs in the Adelaide Hills and provides train transfers from the Belair line with bus connections to the Stirling, Crafers and Aldgate.

• Glanville Station

Located at the bottom of Semaphore road and provides bus and train transfers from the Outer Harbour line to West Lakes, Port Adelaide, and Osborne.

• Salisbury Interchange

Located in Adelaide's northern suburbs and interconnects train services on the Gawler Central line with bus servics to areas around metropolitan Adelaide including Salisbury North, Paralowie, Burton, Virginia, Greenwith, Elizabeth, Hillbank, Greenfields, Mawson Lakes and Parafield Gardens.

• Elizabeth Interchange

Located in Adelaide's northern suburbs and interconnects train services on the Gawler Central line with bus services to areas around metropolitan Adelaide including Salisbury North, Salisbury, Munno Para, and Smithfield.

• Old Reynella Bus Interchange
• Noarlunga Centre Interchange

Located in Adelaide's southern suburbs and interconnects trains services on the Noarlunga Centre line with bus services to the outer southern suburbs including Aldinga, Seaford and Moana.

• Smithfield Interchange

Located in Adelaide's northern suburbs and interconnects train services on the Gawler Central line with bus services to areas around metropolitan Adelaide including Munno Para, Craigmore and Andrew's Farm.

• Tea Tree Plaza Interchange

Located in the north-eastern suburbs at the Westfield Tea Tree Plaza and the Tea Tree Plus Shopping Centres. It is the terminus of the O-Bahn Busway.

• Paradise Interchange

Located in the north-eastern suburbs with bus connections to Para Hills, Athelstone, Newton and Campbelltown. Intermediate station on the O-Bahn Busway.

• Klemzig Station

Located in the inner north-eastern suburbs with bus connections to Oakden and the Circle Line. Intermediate station on the O-Bahn Busway.

• Mawson Interchange

Located in Adelaide's northern suburbs and interconnects train services on the Gawler Central line and bus services to areas around metropolitan Adelaide including Adelaide, Mawson Lakes Central and Salisbury.

Ticketing

A regular singletrip (top), regular multitrip (centre), and a replacement concession interpeak ticket(bottom).

The Adelaide Metro ticketing system is multi-modal, meaning that one ticket can be used to transfer between trains, trams and buses, regardless of the service provider. The system brand is Metroticket. It is an automated system which uses magnetic stripe tickets to encode conditions of ticket validity. The system was developed by Crouzet-SA (France). It was introduced on 27 September 1987. In 2010 a contract to introduce a smartcard ticketing system in 2013 was awarded to Affiliated Computer Services using technology used in, among others, Montreal, Houston and Toulouse.

Passengers are required to insert their ticket into a validating machine upon each boarding, including when transferring to another vehicle. The machine reads the ticket to check that it is valid and then magnetically encodes and prints the initial validation time and ticket type details onto the ticket. This information is only printed on the ticket the first time it is validated.

Metrotickets are available in three fare types: Regular fare, Concession fare, and Student fare. The latter two are discount fares that are only available to those who present a valid entitlement card.

Metrotickets are then further broken down by journey type:

• Singletrip 2 Section - a one way journey within 2 sections (about 3 km.). No transfers allowed.
• Singletrip Zone - unlimited transfers within two hours of initial validation.
• Multitrip ticket - ten journeys on one ticket. Available in 2 Section or Zone varieties.
• Daytrip ticket - allows unlimited transfers from initial validation until 4:30 am the following day.

Singletrip and Multitrip tickets are available as all-times and interpeak tickets. 'All-times' allows travel at any time. 'Interpeak' allows travel between 9.01am and 3.00pm on weekdays (excluding public holidays), for a lower price than an 'all-times' ticket.

Daytrip tickets allow free travel for two children aged under 15 on weekends, public holidays and during school holidays when accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Future development

Through the South Australian 2008 budget and as part of the Federal Government's nation building investment, over A$2 billion is being invested into transport over the next decade to revitalise the public transport network. Which includes:

Light rail

• The Tramline network will be extended coast-to-coast providing a service running through Glenelg to the City, to West Lakes and Semaphore through Port Adelaide. The light-rail network will transport commuters and tourists alike from Glenelg, through the city to historic Port Adelaide and, along a new light rail connection to Semaphore. A new connection will also be established from Woodville, via a branch line to AAMI Stadium and the West Lakes retail area.
• The Tramline is being extended further along North Terrace onto Port Road, where it will travel to the Adelaide Entertainment Centre.
• In the 2008 South Australian budget it was proposed that New dual voltage trams would operate alongside electric trains and use the existing Outer Harbor line and then travel to AAMI Stadium and West Lakes on a new track built from the Grange line. Another extension will be built from Semaphore, linking back through the heart of Port Adelaide from Rosewater.

Commuter rail

• Upgrading and conversion of the suburban rail network from broad gauge to standard gauge.
• 25 kV AC electrification of the lines to Noarlunga, Grange/Outer Harbor and Gawler.
• The purchase of over 60 new electric railcars.
• 58 of the 70 existing 3000-class railcars will be converted to electric operation after refurbishment. The other 12 3000-class railcars will be used on the upgraded Belair line, which may not be electrified but is under a 3 million study from the federal government as to wheather or not to electrify the belair line.the electrification decision will be made in 2012 as to electrify or not electrify the belair line. also adelaide metro may reopen millswood, hawthorn and clapham railway stations in this line. the government is also considering reopening the northfield line. this is not likley but the government may convert the adelaide o-bahn to a trainline
• By 2018 or sooner, when all the new trains are planned to be in service, the 30 older 2000-class trains from the early 1980s will be retired.
• By 2013, thanks to Federal funding, the electrified Noarlunga line will be extended to a new terminus at Seaford, the upgrading/electrifying of the Gawler line has also been brought forward to 2013.

Buses

• An extra 20 new buses a year for the next four years. The older buses that were introduced in the 1980s will also be retired in the next 5–7 years.
• The O-Bahn will also be upgraded with planned station redevelopments at key interchanges. A new ticketing system, "gated interchanges" where tickets are validated before the bus arrives.
• The Federal Government have also provided funding to improve bus access to and from the city for O-bahn buses with either an extension of the guided busway track or bus lanes.

Timeline

Year	Description
2008	Service improvements across train/tram/bus. Order new trams
2009	Tramline extension construction begins. Track upgrading of Noarlunga line begins, including station upgrades at Hallet Cove. Belair Line Renewal Work on the Port Adelaide Viaduct begins. Refurbishment of 3000/3100 trains begins.
2010	Tramline extension complete. New trams arrive. Resleepering of Noarlunga line continues. Resleepering of the Gawler line begins. Order New Train sets. Order New Ticketing System.
2011	Electrification of Noarlunga and Gawler Lines Begins. Electrification of Outer Harbor/Grange lines Begins. Construction of the rail extension to Seaford Begins.
2012	New trains arrive.
2013	Electrification of all lines completed. Seaford Rail Line completed. West Lakes rail link construction begins.
2015	3000-Class train electric conversion complete. Port Adelaide to Semaphore rail link construction begins. West Lakes rail link complete.
2017	Station upgrades including O-Bahn complete.
2018	Port Adelaide to Semaphore rail link complete. All 2000 trains withdrawn from service.

See also

• Transperth
• Metlink

External links

• Adelaide Metro
• Office of Public Transport