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 operated by:
- Torrens Transit - East-West contract area (includes City Free)
- Australian Transit Enterprises, trading as SouthLink - Outer South, Outer North and Hills contract areas.
- Light City Buses - North-South and Outer North East contract areas (includes the 300 suburban connecter and O-Bahn services).
Transitplus does not now operate any services in Adelaide. 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.
Read more about this topic: Transport In Adelaide
Famous quotes containing the word bus:
“If Rosa Parks had taken a poll before she sat down in that bus in Montgomery, she’d still be standing.”
—Mary Frances Berry (b. 1938)
“There was an old man from Darjeeling
Who got on a bus bound for Ealing.
It said at the door,
“Please don’t spit on the floor,”
So he carefully spat on the ceiling.”
—Anonymous.
“Literature transforms and intensifies ordinary language, deviates systematically from everyday speech. If you approach me at a bus stop and murmur “Thou still unravished bride of quietness,” then I am instantly aware that I am in the presence of the literary.”
—Terry Eagleton (b. 1943)