All aboard: SA Govt on announcement train after Libs 50c promise
On the back of the Liberal party’s election promise of 50c fares for all public transport rides, the state government has countered with a time-saving train travel move. And the government washes its hands of traders suffering in Glenelg despite their tramline being shut until 2026.
Premier Peter Malinauskas today called a press conference to tell how bringing the state’s tram and train networks back into public hands meant it could now “improve the service”.
He announced the state government could now update the timetable for the Gawler line, which the Premier said tens of thousands of South Australians “rely on”.
The government said the changes would save 20 minutes of passenger time for those who use the recently electrified Galwer line to travel to the city five times a week.
This new timetable would see travel times on 76 per cent of all trips between Adelaide and Gawler shortened, the government claimed.
“When you add that up, that’s actually quite meaningful,” Malinauskas said.
It’s the first change to a train timetable in seven years, according to recently appointed Transport Minister Emily Bourke.
“This has come about because we have brought our public transport into public hands,” she said.
Brayden Doherty – a Craigmore resident – was at the press conference to say the change was a “good thing for the Gawler line”.
Also announced, was an extension of the Riverlea Park bus service to be rolled out in October to service the estimated 30,000 additional residents expected in that region over the next 25 years.
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It’s the state government’s first public transport announcement since the Liberal Party unveiled its election promise to make all public transport rides a flat 50-cent fare on September 21.
Opposition Leader Vincent Tarzia claimed the reduced fares would give a family of two parents and two students savings up to $100 per week for daily travel.
“This is an action that will make a genuine, practical difference to people working hard to get ahead,” he said.
Today, the Premier said the “pursuit of cheaper fares is not a bad thing… but you can’t do it at the expense of the quality of the service”.
“Price matters… which is why we should have an eye on it.
“But we’ll announce our public transport policy that we’ve been working on for some time in the lead-up to the election. We don’t feel as though we have to do that now. We’ve already got other things that we’ll be delivering and we’ll announce another policy in the lead up to the election.”
Speaking to InDaily before this month’s Cabinet reshuffle – triggered by the resignation of former Deputy Premier Susan Close and former Treasurer Stephen Mullighan – former Transport Minister Tom Koutsantonis said public transport was an “essential service”. Koutantonis is now Treasurer.
He said the government moved fast to bring the services back into public hands because “we still had the capability internally to bring these things back and operate them ourselves”.
“We still had the personnel, the know-how,” he said.
“If we had left it any later, it might have been gone forever. If you don’t control your public transport network, it’s very hard to coordinate growth throughout the city and keep an eye on costs.
“There’s no profit margin the state seeks out of its public transport network when we operate it. When a private operator runs it, they seek a profit margin.”
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He said the former Marshall government’s move to privatise the network was a “stupid move”.
“It didn’t save us any money and… it was purely ideological.”
But the decision to bring the tram network back into public hands cost the state about $36 million – the now-Treasurer said this was money well spent.
“It gives me the ability to invest in more public transport. I’m not trying to pay for that margin of profit, and over the next 10-20 years whoever the Transport Minister is going forward you’re going to find that they’re going to have more levers to pull, more control over the timetable, more control over the staff, the ability to hire more people, the ability to buy more trains, the ability to put more money into the infrastructure,” he said.
It potentially also opens the door for the state government to expand the network.
Tram extension to North Adelaide
Asked whether the state government would deliver an extension across Adelaide Bridge and up to O’Connell Street in North Adelaide, Koutsantonis said, “whatever we have to remedy to get the tram over the bridge we will do”.
As reported by InDaily in 2023, the heritage listed Adelaide Bridge spanning the River Torrens could deteriorate to an “unsafe level” if not upgraded or repaired within five years.
The cost of undertaking a “significant asset renewal” of the bridge was estimated at $63 million by the City of Adelaide.
Koutsantonis said his understanding was that “only minor improvements” would be needed to allow the tram extension.
Glenelg tramline shut until 2026
Meanwhile, tram services to Glenelg are offline as the government progresses its Tram Grade Separation project.
Three tram level crossings are being removed, and new overpasses at Plympton and Morphettville are being built – meaning the tram line between South Terrace in the city and the beachside suburb of Glenelg was closed until early 2026.
The closure coincides with main street upgrades at Jetty Road, reports showing this was causing headaches for local traders too.
The former Transport Minister said if there were problems for traders it was the fault of Holdfast Bay Council’s “vanity project on Jetty Road”.
“People are actually confusing the tram grade separations with the works that are being done on Jetty Road, and the entire responsibility for what’s going on in Glenelg is the council’s problem and the council have to wear this,” he said.
“The council can’t hide behind the tram grade separations. We are providing adequate public transport to get people to and from Glenelg.
“Maybe the council should have a look at this and ask themselves, did we time this correctly?”
