A fair effort

A recent article on Adelaide Now lifted me a little. It was about the planned O-bahn extension into the city. It described plans for "bus transit zones" on Grenfell and Currie Streets. The Transport Minister says:

Buses account for 12 per cent of traffic on Grenfell and Currie streets but serve 75 per cent of the people using the precinct.

Well yes, but all this time motorists have had over 75% of the space.

I have been wondering for a while whether the new route would be properly separated in the centre of the streets or whether it will be bus lanes on each side. It is the latter as can be seen from this photo:

and this further down Grenfell Street:

I am still puzzled where the $61m is going though. The first tram extension was completed on time and within the budget of $35m. That involved substantial construction, track laying, overhead wires, four new stations with shelters and even moving a big tree on Victoria Square.

This is nearly twice the budget of that but seems to involve some new shelters and some paint. If you look closely, especially in the picture outside City Cross, the existing lanes are painted red. The buses still have to wait and pull out into other traffic which no doubt will be at a standstill at certain times of the day. The approach to bus lanes seems to be similar to the approach to bike lanes. As long as it does not require any earthworks or encroachment on road space, you can paint it. If there is a conflict, the road obviously wins.

The new bigger transit stops are exactly what is needed as are separate lanes but please Mr Conlon, could you finish them?