New name for Adelaides Interstate passenger terminal

GN4472 · Posted: Sun Jun 15, 2008 11:28 pm

barossared · Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 2:41 am

Let's clear up a few misconceptions here.

$5 a head (was $4 for ages) for a bus service to take you to the FRONT DOOR of your accommodation in the CBD is not overpriced.

Those shuttle buses are at Keswick for the arrival of EVERY train - no matter what time they arrive - early, on time or late. Other airport/city Skylink shuttle buses and Sealink coaches call past to assist.

Most passengers that use the service have luggage and quite often too much for a taxi. Most passengers like the Cook's tour aspect of dropping people off around the city.

Don't get me started on cabbies - legally the lowest paid workers in Australia. You get what you pay for.

Taxi fares are too cheap - everywhere - and Adelaide is one of the cheapest places for cab fares in Australia. Ten bucks should be a minimum fare to ensure drivers earn a basic living.

With no country rail services and only one or two (or none) interstate trains arriving each day, you couldn't seriously expect cabbies to hang around waiting for a train could you?

A cabbie has every right to refuse a fare. When the ATO and the cab companies made all drivers independent business operators and forced them to register for GST and become tax collectors, they gave drivers the right to run their businesses how they want. And rather than take the guy's number and whinge to a public authority, that won't or can't do anything anyway, how about offering the guy a few bucks extra so you can get where you want to go instead of being left waiting on the footpath. Fortunately, most cabbies will take the short fares.

As a terminal it's fine. It's central, close to the city, plenty of parking, you can pick up and drop off next to the terminal building, it has decent facilities and it doesn't have ferals hanging around. Rather than wishing for the terminal to be in the CBD, maybe the area around or above the terminal could be developed (although it is hemmed in by tracks) and then maybe it could become viable for public transport to pass through.

As far as the name goes though, who cares. Keswick is fine; Adelaide Parklands is fine. As long as they don't name it after any of the long line of inept transport ministers from both sides of the fence.

Keep the last remaining operational Bluebird set in SA. It will run again, some day, somewhere.

Wilfy2007 · Posted: Sat Sep 27, 2008 10:29 am

Gidday,

In another thread I have suggested a walkway from the APT to the TA Keswick Station.

Further to this is it a possibility to extend one of the Keswick Platforms in a Northerly direction so that a walkway could be built from the APT main building to the extended platform.

There has been a lot of talk about transport from the APT to passengers destinations, but bus services have been the main ones mentioned, with walking from APT to the Bus services on Anzac Highway or Richmond road.

No matter how you look at it that is a long walk and passengers with luggage should not be forced into this situation.

Of course the other option would be a TA service from the APT into Adelaide, and if the SA Government and Lomax-Smith were at all interested this would have been done years ago.

Regards,

Wilfy 2007

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www.freewebs.com/saroeight/
"An Advocate for the return of Railcar Passenger services in Outer Suburban and Rural Australia"

Somebody in the WWW · Posted: Sat Sep 27, 2008 1:51 pm

kipioneer · Posted: Sat Sep 27, 2008 5:49 pm

And just to your right as you reach Richmond Road is a bus stop with a 20 minute service.

And there is another, with an even more frequent service, something like 5 or 10 minutes, just beyond the Anzac Highway end of the existing bridge.

Wilfy - there is No need nor demand for anything better.

Neil - the KIPioneer
Hawthorn SA

Wilfy2007 · Posted: Sat Sep 27, 2008 9:11 pm

SitWWW,

I am not ingnoring the facts.

The questions I am asking are valid if Rural Passenger services are re-introduced in South Australia.

And before you say it will never happen, consider the latest planning for New Windows for all the 3000 class Railcars.

There are a lot of people who are pushing for a Better service/system in Adelaide and it's outer suburbs as well as the re-introduction of country services.

Kipioneer,

Yes there is a bus on Richmond Road, Yes there is a bus on Anzac Highway but you all complain about the lousy services of the Adelaide PT system and yet you say there doesn't need to be better facilities and you say there doesn't need to be a Rail service for travellers from the APT to the CBD.

If you want more visitors to the City you have to supply better facilities and services. Better still if Country services were restarted where would they run to on the new SG system, APT or Adelaide Railway Station.

Regards,

Wilfy 2007

www.freewebs.com/neriau/index.htm
www.freewebs.com/saroeight/
"An Advocate for the return of Railcar Passenger services in Outer Suburban and Rural Australia"

Somebody in the WWW · Posted: Sat Sep 27, 2008 9:47 pm

fabricator · Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2008 3:12 am

Plus you'd find walking from Platform 1 to North Terrace would be just as far as from APT to Keswick Station anyway.

The only real solution is to build a hotel next to APT.
I've heard of people complaining that they can't get a Taxi from Adelaide Airport late at night as well.

kevin48 · Joined: Sep 10, 2008 Last Visited: Oct 5, 2008

We have decided to catch the Overland at Murray Bridge in lieu of APT for future trips. The benefits for us are:

(1) save approx $30 each on fares

(2) save 2 hours train time each way at cost of extra 30 mins car travel.

(3) easier to drive Murray Bridge - home than APT - home in peak evening traffic on return trip.

Avoids dreadful problem of milling around APT with no shuttle bus or taxi in sight and in pouring rain who wants to walk all the way lugging baggage to Keswick or bus stop.

We recently spent two months travelling by train in France. Case in point was Strasbourg to Reims.

TGV Strasbourg to Champagne-Ardenne 1hour 52mins

Regional Express Champagne-Ardenne to Reims 9 mins

Champagne-Ardenne is on the through route to Paris equivalent to our APT. The 9 minute Regional Express trip into Reims centre is equivalent to a Keswick to Adelaide run.

Big differences are:

(1) RE is waiting at the station when TGV arrives.

(2) Short under-cover walk across platforms to change trains.

Wilfy2007 · Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2008 11:56 am

Pressman · Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2008 2:13 pm

MarkWaller2 · Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 6:50 am

I'm afraid I have my own grumbles about Keswick Terminal, following my visit to Adelaide last year.

I arrived on the Overland on a Thursday evening, about 20-30 minutes late. There were no taxis; I have a feeling that one (!) of the shuttle minibuses mentioned by barossared was available, but it certainly wasn't clear where it was going, when or for how much. I hadn't researched local bus routes, but I had looked into the TA service from their Keswick station, and knew when the last into Adelaide would leave. After a certain amount of forlorn waiting in the taxi queue, I gave up, and dragged my 20kg of cumbersome wheeled luggage over the obstacle course I found between the two stations, arriving with about five minutes in hand before the last train. Then, of course, being unfamiliar with the system, I found no ticket machine on the platform, and the machine on the train wasn't set up to sell me the short-distance single that was all I later discovered I needed.

Reversing the journey on the following Sunday afternoon, I did contemplate taking a taxi, but decided that as I already had an Adelaide day ticket, I would take the TA train to Keswick, and walk to the terminal. Once again, I arrived hot, sweaty, and fuming about the inadequacy of public transport links to Keswick Terminal.

I will admit that a fair amount of my inconvenience and effort was due to my own stubbornness and bad decisions, but I still feel that the whole experience could be made a great deal easier.

GN4472 · Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 9:01 pm

Back in July, my wife and I arrived at the Rail Terminal on The Overland from Melbourne at about 5-30pm. After collecting our luggage I rang the company which was looking after my car - Airport Security, they were running late with their shuttle bus, so my wife and I decided go into the newly refurbished terminal to get something to eat as it was just on 6pm.

We were shocked to find that the new cafeterior was closing for the evening - So close to the train's arrival time! The staff, however, were good to us and prepared what was left of some food for us. Why can't the new cafeterior stay open a little longer? After all, a lot of money was spent on it.

Welcome back to Adelaide!

David Peters · Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2008 1:58 pm

The whole situation could be resolved by simply running a public transport bus to the terminal only when trains are in though, present your train ticket to the driver and get a free trip into the CBD, it is not far and the DTEI would not lose a great amount of money. The bus could leave Richmond road and go to the terminal and the proceed out the other end and resume its run again. It would only miss the section on Anzac Highway in the parklands and one or two stops on West Terrace, but there would not be many comutters at these stops anyway!

Surely it cannot be that hard to do, It would and could augument the existing bus and taxi situation! It only reqiures a stop at the terminal be made. If that is not an option then maybe a free bus on a dedicated route might be better, but only when trains arrive and depart, it could run from Adelaide station to the terminal and back in a loop! By PT bus I mean one of the smaller type that they use off peak on some runs one or two of these would be ideal! Cool

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