The Marshall Government’s public transport reform agenda is stepping up a gear as it looks to drive patronage and deliver more customer focussed public transport services.
Proposals are being sought through a selected market approach to undertake trials to investigate the potential for demand responsive transport services to operate as part of an integrated transport solution.
The overarching objective is to improve our understanding of new flexible, demand responsive mobility and other emerging transport models which could improve customer outcomes.
“The Marshall Government is continuing to reform our public transport network to drive patronage and make public transport services more customer focussed,” said Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government Stephan Knoll.
“We know that overall public transport patronage has been declining over the last three years.
“Adelaide also has one of the worst levels of integration across our public transport network – our reforms will look to turn this around.
“The Marshall Government reforms will deliver better services and encourage more people to use public transport.
“The future of transport will look very different and people are continually wanting greater flexibility and mobility to get them where they need to go.
“We’ve seen that through the emergence of ride sharing services and recently with the injection of electric scooters in our CBD.
“Demand responsive transport trials provide an opportunity to better integrate our different modes of public transport.
“Demand responsive services are more flexible and could pick up passengers from locations that may not be well serviced by the existing network – effectively like Uber for buses.
“These services can help to increase patronage on the existing public transport network by helping people access our train, tram and key bus routes like the O-Bahn.
“Demand responsive services also provide passengers with a faster and more personalised service.
“These trials will look at managing the real time movement of vehicles and passengers, in a similar way to ridesharing services.”
To encourage innovation DPTI will consider contributing funding utilising the South Australian Government’s Future Mobility Lab (FML) Fund.
