Rachel Snowball lives in South Australia’s Adelaide Hills region, but if there is no improvement to public transport in the area, she fears she might have to move.
“If public transport is the way it is, and housing is as expensive as it is, I wouldn’t be able to stay here,” she said.
The 28-year-old has epilepsy and cannot currently drive.
“Ever since I moved up here, it’s been very challenging,” she said.
The Adelaide Hills is serviced by public buses, and she uses taxis too, but those services can be time-consuming and expensive.
Ms Snowball is among many residents who would like to see the return of passenger rail in the area, which ceased in 1987 due to a lack of patronage.
The ABC’s pre-election platform, Your Say, has heard from other people with similar concerns.
Alice from Mount Barker told the ABC that “a fast rail link to Adelaide should also be prioritised”.
While Robert from Littlehampton said, “the freeway is [a] … disgrace” and wants to see light rail from Adelaide to Mount Barker and to Murray Bridge.
John Hill is chair of the SA Transport Action Group, and said that as the population grows in the hills, more transport options are needed to improve safety and accessibility.
“The incidents you’ve got now, they’re not just going to double, they’ll be four-fold,”
he said.
“The safety issues associated with that are enormous, especially with that freeway.”
He wants all the state’s railways converted to a standard gauge, as the Adelaide Metro system currently operates on a broad gauge, and to utilise regional freight lines for passengers.
“We’re not talking about necessarily new railway lines, we’re talking existing ones that exist at a standard gauge,” he said.
“It would bring them into some more useful purpose, increase the capacity on them now.”
Mr Hill said it could offer a more affordable way to make passenger rail possible in the region, compared to the cost of improving the freeway.
“It wouldn’t be a very costly exercise in terms of what the comparison is,” he said.
“We’re not talking billions of dollars up front.”
What’s being offered?
Neither of the major parties has committed to an extension of rails to the hills, while the Greens say they would expand the infrastructure to the area.
Both of the major parties have committed to an expansion of public buses in the Murray Bridge area, while the SA Liberals say that would extend to other regional areas like Port Pirie and the Barossa.
Transport Minister Emily Bourke said while the Adelaide Hills rail expansion has been spoken about “many a time”, it had not been deemed the best mode of travel for passengers due to the fact it could only reach maximum speeds of 40 kilometres per hour.
“It is not at all an expressway to get to work and the fact of the matter is, it’s faster to drive,” she said.
“It is not as easy as some people may suggest. It is a dedicated freight line, one that is there to make sure we can get the products we need into our city.”
She said the government had invested in public transport throughout the Adelaide Hills with an expansion of bus services into and from Mount Barker.
Meanwhile, the Liberals have committed to introducing a flat 50-cent public transport fare if elected, a pledge backed by the Greens.
Liberal leader Ashton Hurn said the promise was a “hugely popular policy”.
“Not only is it good to drive patronage to public transport, but it’s a super practical cost-of-living measure that will impact so many people across our state,” she said
Transport top of mind
Beyond the Adelaide Hills, increased transport is something on people’s minds, in both the regions and the city.
Here is some of the feedback the ABC has heard from Your Say.
Lochlan from Aldinga Beach said he wants the train and tram network extended.
“Roads encourage more cars. We need more public transport.”
Mark of Hawthorndene wants more cycling infrastructure and bike safety on roads.
“The government appears to do so very little for those of us who choose to commute by bike or ride our bike for leisure.”
Lynda from Goodwood wants to see more policies to encourage many more people to use public transport.
For Jon in Henley Beach, active transport is the priority, while Les in Willunga supports the extension of metropolitan rail to Aldinga, Roseworthy and Tanunda.
“I also support the reintroduction of regional passenger rail services to Whyalla [including Two Wells] and Tailem Bend [including Mount Barker],” they said.
“Consideration should be given to the reopening of the rail link to Mount Gambier for both passenger and freight services.”
Network needed
Jennifer Bonham is from the Transport Action Network and said that as population and congestion increased, more transport options were needed.
“You can’t kind of build your way out of it with more roads; you have to think about the diversity of transport options,” she said.
“That’s public transport.”
Dr Bonham said she would like to see an ambitious long-term plan for public transport in South Australia — but accepted it would not happen overnight.
“It needs to, over a period of time … take a staged approach to extending the rail network … and even into the regions,” she said.
“We need to be thinking about the tram network, reinstating a tram network … that serves the middle and inner suburbs.”
“Then we need to think about bus priority and extending our bus priority services.”
Dr Bonham said a suburban network should be created, rather than a system which goes solely into the city.
“We need to think about how people can hop on and hop off a particular service, so you can have cross-suburban connections,” she said.
ABC News
