Tramline: Where should they go?

[Aidan]

The only real benefit of midi-buses is to get into narrow streets that can't take normal buses, and in that case, you have to wonder if these small streets are a good place for an efficient public transport corridor.

Rubbish! Have you seen the price of diesel fuel lately?

I admit minibuses generally don't last as long as the big ones, but they're cheaper, and there's more than one kind available - are none of them robust enough?

Otherwise there's few advantages - it's not economical to maintain one "off-peak" fleet of minibuses and full size buses for peak, or different fleets of buses for different routes & different rosters etc. Savings are small and not worth it.

But small buses can be used in the peak as well, to increase the service frequency on the less busy routes.

As for different fleets of buses for different routes, some British bus companies have come to the opposite conclusion. Don't underestimate the effect of branding! Having buses dedicated to a particular route enables route details to be painted onto the outside of the bus, resulting in a greater awareness of the route by potential passengers.

What are the disadvantages of having different kinds of buses? There's a very slight maintenance disadvantage of having a non uniform fleet, but that's it - and the Adelaide bus operators don't have uniform fleets anyway! If this were an issue, an easy solution would be to tender the route out on its own instead of as part of an area contract.

[Somebody]

Yawn - another dribler who combines foaming at the mouth with transport planning. Presume this is because you think MAN NL202s sound better than bigger 18.310s and you go and see them at Old Reynella.

Here's something for you, brain up. Read it all, let her go down:
http://www.busaustralia.com/forum/viewt ... =2&t=31565

[Somebody]

Perhaps Adelaide just needs these




Images by Nick Hiscock.

[Pat28]

Thai/Cambodian Buses? Hmm interesting, mind you they might be slightly cleaner than those found in Vietnam ( i have been on them Viet ones - there awful)

[Aidan]

Yawn - another dribler who combines foaming at the mouth with transport planning. Presume this is because you think MAN NL202s sound better than bigger 18.310s and you go and see them at Old Reynella.

No, the foaming was purely the result of your wild claims! At the time you wrote this, I didn't even know what NL202s and 18.310s were.

Here's something for you, brain up. Read it all, let her go down:
http://www.busaustralia.com/forum/viewt ... =2&t=31565

It does make the good point that minibuses can be less attractive to passengers. However, having lived in outer London for a few years, I know this isn't the case with all minibuses.

Aside from that, there's really nothing new. I'm well aware that the economic case for minibuses used to be quite weak. But with diesel fuel prices having risen so much recently, we can't assume that to still be true. Also, as it is down to specific reliability issues, it is likely that some minibus designs exist which do not suffer from this problem.

And none of these arguments apply against midibuses.

[Düsseldorfer]

*cough*

so...Tramline: where should they go?

[Shuz]

To Odgenville & North Haverbrook!

[SRW]

Magill Rd makeover
Emily Charrison
Eastern Courier, 23 September 2008

A FARMER’S market, people living above shops, brick road paving and trams - not Melbourne’s Brunswick St but a vision for Magill Rd in a decade.

Norwood, Payneham & St Peters Council has unveiled a bold plan to put Magill Rd on par with The Parade at Norwood, including:

Creating five precincts lifestyle, traditional, terminus, landscape and organic;

Extending the city tram line to Magill Rd and linking it to The Parade;

Brick paving between Osmond Tce and Portrush Rd;

Underground powerlines;

Mosaics on street corners decorated by local artists; and

European-style housing with residents living above shops.

The Magill Rd Streetscape Framework, developed by consultants GHD and the council’s Magill Rd Precinct Committee, was endorsed this month following public consultation.

Already it has received the thumbs-up from Magill Rd traders.

“We’ve always been the poor cousins of The Parade but now things are changing,” precinct committee chairman Nabeel Najjar said. “It’s about creating an identity for the street so that people will come we know it won’t happen overnight but it will happen.”

During the consultation, traders identified a number of problems with Magill Rd, including traffic, parking and aesthetics. Mr Nabeel, who owns a coffee shop on the strip, said those issues must be addressed in the framework.

“Now that the positives and negatives have been put forward it’s clear where Magill Rd could be in 10 or 20 years and what the expectations should be.”

Committee member and Magill Rd trader Janet Belchamber, of Belchamber Legal, said: “Magill Rd has been abandoned and neglected for years but this is like a breath of fresh air and it’s great to have something concrete on paper to work towards.”

NP&SP;Council’s business and economic development manager Skana Gallery said “detailed concept plans” for each precinct were now being developed to determine the total cost of the project.

She said the council had applied for $20,000 of State Government funds to develop plans for both the lifestyle and traditional precinct, and would also lobby for a tram extension to the eastern suburbs.

“The framework provides us with the parameters and the next step is really to drill down into the detail,” Ms Gallery said.

Transport Minister Patrick Conlon’s media spokesman Sam Ion said there were no plans to extend the tramline east, although the State Govt would provide a “coast-to-coast service” from Glenelg to Semaphore, announced in June’s budget.

[cruel_world00]

Magill Rd makeover
Emily Charrison
Eastern Courier, 23 September 2008

A FARMER’S market, people living above shops, brick road paving and trams - not Melbourne’s Brunswick St but a vision for Magill Rd in a decade.

Norwood, Payneham & St Peters Council has unveiled a bold plan to put Magill Rd on par with The Parade at Norwood, including:

Creating five precincts lifestyle, traditional, terminus, landscape and organic;

Extending the city tram line to Magill Rd and linking it to The Parade;

Brick paving between Osmond Tce and Portrush Rd;

Underground powerlines;

Mosaics on street corners decorated by local artists; and

European-style housing with residents living above shops.

The Magill Rd Streetscape Framework, developed by consultants GHD and the council’s Magill Rd Precinct Committee, was endorsed this month following public consultation.

Already it has received the thumbs-up from Magill Rd traders.

“We’ve always been the poor cousins of The Parade but now things are changing,” precinct committee chairman Nabeel Najjar said. “It’s about creating an identity for the street so that people will come we know it won’t happen overnight but it will happen.”

During the consultation, traders identified a number of problems with Magill Rd, including traffic, parking and aesthetics. Mr Nabeel, who owns a coffee shop on the strip, said those issues must be addressed in the framework.

“Now that the positives and negatives have been put forward it’s clear where Magill Rd could be in 10 or 20 years and what the expectations should be.”

Committee member and Magill Rd trader Janet Belchamber, of Belchamber Legal, said: “Magill Rd has been abandoned and neglected for years but this is like a breath of fresh air and it’s great to have something concrete on paper to work towards.”

NP&SP;Council’s business and economic development manager Skana Gallery said “detailed concept plans” for each precinct were now being developed to determine the total cost of the project.

She said the council had applied for $20,000 of State Government funds to develop plans for both the lifestyle and traditional precinct, and would also lobby for a tram extension to the eastern suburbs.

“The framework provides us with the parameters and the next step is really to drill down into the detail,” Ms Gallery said.

Transport Minister Patrick Conlon’s media spokesman Sam Ion said there were no plans to extend the tramline east, although the State Govt would provide a “coast-to-coast service” from Glenelg to Semaphore, announced in June’s budget.

schweeeeeeet

Although I hate that Conlon's spokesman has to comment by saying "no plans to extend east"