RAA calls for Metrocard bus services to Murray Bridge
Locals deserve more affordable and accessible public transport, South Australia’s biggest transport advocacy organisation says.
Adelaide’s public transport network should be extended to Murray Bridge, the state’s biggest transport advocacy organisation says.
On Sunday, the RAA issued a call for a more affordable and accessible public transport network for South Australia.
One of the easiest things the state government could do in the sort term, the RAA said, was give Murray Bridge commuters access to Metrocard services.
That would reduce the cost of a return trip to Adelaide by about 70 per cent for an adult passenger, from $42.90 to $12.50.
On-demand bus services were suitable for other growing areas like the Adelaide Hills, Victor Harbor and Goolwa, RAA chief executive officer Nick Reade said.
But Murray Bridge deserved better.
“RAA wants to see a public transport network that is convenient, affordable, accessible and easy to use,” Mr Reade said.
“A better public transport network that has more routes, frequency and options for commuters will encourage more people to catch a bus, train or tram.
“By getting more people onto a bus, train or tram you take more cars off the road, which reduces congestion on our roads, cuts travel times and prolongs the life of our road network.
“That is particularly important as we see the explosion of housing and population in our (outer) suburbs.”
South Australians used public transport less often than residents of any other mainland state, the RAA said: we made an average of 46 trips per person, per year.
An average Melburnian or Sydneysider used public transport twice as often.
Availability of services was the main reason people did or didn’t use public transport, a recent survey of the RAA’s 800,000 members found.
The RAA made the comments in a submission to the state Department for Infrastructure and Transport, part of a recent consultation about South Australia’s public transport network.
Locals also called for metro bus services to Murray Bridge at a forum in June, following on from years of campaigning by the Murray Bridge council and unfulfilled promises from all sides of politics.
Notably, a public transport feasibility study was a key election promise of Liberal MP Adrian Pederick in 2018, but the then-government ditched the idea in 2020.
Murray Bridge would be the outermost point on the Adelaide Metro network, which currently extends 50 kilometres to Gawler in the north, 51 to Sellicks Beach in the south and 70 to Langhorne Creek in the east.
