Adelaide Metro

History

The Adelaide Metro is a brand introduced in April 2000 following the second round of tenders privatisation of formerly government-operated bus services.

Previously, the public transport system in Adelaide has been known under several names. The State Transport Authority was formed in 1974, combining the metropolitan rail operations of the former South Australian Railways Commission, and the bus and tram operations of the former Municipal Tramways Trust. Adelaide removed all tramlines during the 1960s leaving only the Glenelg line. This tramline was extended in 2007 by the Department Of Transport, Energy & Infrastructure (DTEI), and again to the Adelaide Entertainment Centre in 2010. In July 1994, the STA was abolished and government public transport services were transferred to TransAdelaide, a publicly owned corporation.

In 1995-96, there was a partial tendering of the bus services. TransAdelaide retained three contract regions, Serco won two contract regions, and Hills Transit a joint venture between Australian Transit Enterprises and TransAdelaide, one. Services were run and marketed under each operator's name, presenting a disjointed network to the public.

The 2000 round of tenders saw the end of TransAdelaide's direct operation of bus services in its own right, although it retained the train and tram services. Serco won the North-South, Outer North, and Outer North-East contract areas, SouthLink the Outer South contract area, Torrens Transit the East-West contract area and City Free services and Transitplus, a joint venture between Australian Transit Enterprises and TransAdelaide, the Hills Contract area. The Adelaide Metro brand was applied across all transport operators, appearing to the public as a unified network, with common livery, timetable designs and a city Information Centre.

Environmental incentives

The State Government pledged that the Adelaide Metro would use cleaner fuels like biodiesel and natural gas in an effort to make Adelaide a carbon neutral city, however nearly 80 percent of the Adelaide Metro buses are still run on diesel, which is harmful for the environment due to the presence of sulfur.

Buses

The largest element of Adelaide's public transport system is a fleet of diesel and natural gas powered buses. The majority of services terminate in the Adelaide city centre, suburban railway stations or shopping centre interchanges. 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.

A major component of the Adelaide Metro bus service is the O-Bahn guided busway to Modbury carrying around 9 million passengers a year. From opening in 1986 until August 2011 it was the world's longest busway, with a length of 12 kilometres and remains the world's fastest busway with a maximum permitted speed of 100km/h. Away from the O-Bahn, whilst there have been dedicated bus lanes and bus only signal phases at some traffic lights provided for a number of years, a major improvement to bus priority and reliability arrived with the delivery in July 2012 of the CBD Bus Lane project.

Adelaide Metro buses are operated by:

Companies which had operated Adelaide Metro services in the past but which no longer operate in Adelaide are:

Commuter rail

The Adelaide suburban railway network consists of six lines operated by the Department of Planning, Transport & Infrastructure Public Transport Division. Until 2014, the suburban network was the only one in Australia to operate solely with diesel railcars. Since then, the full lengths of the Seaford and Tonsley lines have been electrified, as well as the segment of the Belair line from Goodwood to its terminus at Adelaide. Although the original plans were to electrify the remaining three lines, they were abandoned in 2012 with the potential for a Gawler line upgrade in 2017-18.

The current fleet consists of 70 3000/3100 class diesel railcars and 15 three-carriage 4000 class electric multiple units, with seven further units still on order from Bombardier Transportation. All remaining 2000/2100 class train cars were retired from service in August 2015, being replaced by 3000/3100 cars being available on other lines after the 4000 class trains started operating on the Seaford and Tonsley line..

The six rail lines all run into Adelaide Railway Station in the CBD. They are:

Light rail

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 Tarndanyangga 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 / Tarndanyangga down King William Street then along North Terrace opened in October 2007. A further extension to Port Road, Thebarton and then to a terminus at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre on Port Road (Hindmarsh) opened in December 2009. 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. 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 / Tarndanyangga has also been proposed. If this goes ahead, this could replace the City Loop and Connector free buses, which are currently in operation.

The line is operated by TransAdelaide from Glengowrie depot with 15 Flexity Classic trams built between 2005 and 2010 and six Alstom Citadis trams that were built for, but were surplus to their needs of Metro Ligero de Madrid in 2009. The latter were modified by Yarra Trams' Preston Workshops before entering service.

In October 2013 the Government of South Australia announced a proposal to create the AdeLINK network, this included:

Interchanges

Located in the southern suburbs at the Aberfoyle Hub Shopping Centre with connections to Chandlers Hill, the City and Old Reynella

Located in the north western suburbs at the Arndale Central Shopping Centre

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

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

Located at the bottom of Semaphore Road and provides bus and train transfers from the Outer Harbor line to Port Adelaide, and Osborne

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

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 and Salisbury

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

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

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

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

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

Located in the Outer North-East, may services from the O-Bahn continue to here and connect to Salisbury, Greenwith and Fairview Park

Located in the mid-southern suburbs, these two interchanges (located close together) connect to Marion Interchange, City, Glenelg and the Outer-South.

Located in the Mid-South, one of Adelaide's biggest interchanges, connections to City, Glenelg, the Outer-South and Blackwood Station

Located in the Adelaide Hills, connections available to Piccadilly, Stirling, Mount Barker and Blackwood

Located in the Adelaide Hills, connections are available to Strathalbyn (operated by non-metroticket service), Nairne, Murray Bridge (via non-metroticket service operated by Link SA) and Lobethal via Hahndorf

Ticketing

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. In September 1987 the Metroticket system developed by Crouzet was introduced. This used magnetic strip technology. In 2010 a contract to introduce the Metrocard smartcard ticketing system was awarded to Affiliated Computer Services. It was rolled out in November 2012.