My Board

I've had major issues with the new timetables since they ever came into being.

The first incident occured when I went to catch my normal 442 bus which used to go up Adams Road from Blair Park Drive to Smithfield station. I saw a sign attached to the pole that said something like "No buses servicing this route". I read it again and saw that it was just one week away from the new changes. Being a year 12 student I have very little time to spend plotting my trips to and from school and it infuriated me when I was told my bus, which got me to the station five minutes before the train,PERFECT EVERY TIME, would no longer be coming.

Then I looked for a new bus. Yeah, a new one, 'cause the old one now went up in the hills or down past Craigmore High and in both directions I was not a fan of walking through those areas due to such things as territorial birds and rival schools. Then I found the 441 and thought you guys were genious. The 441 goes along Jacaranda Drive and there is even a stop on Uley Road just over the fence I can see as I type this message. Then, and only then, did I realise my assumption about your intelligent was incorrect. The 441 arrives at Smithfield station, judging by your handy PDF documentation, at 10:13. The "connecting" train to "Gawler Central" (which is in correct, it's actually the connecting train to GAWLER), leaves at 10:16. My school is closest to Tambelin station. As you can see (if you even glanced at the Gawler line timetable), the 10:16 train zooms right through that station and both stations either side. Here (at Smithfield station) there's a 22-25 minute wait.

Alright, so maybe I can't catch the 10:16 train. That does not bother me at all. Now lets say theoretically (meaning I probably would never do it) I was to catch the 441 going the other way (to Elizabeth as opposed to Smithfield), then I would have to catch the 9:11 (california avenue) bus which, lo and behold, gets me there (Elizabeth in case you're confused) at 10:03. This means a 24 minute wait for the 10:27 train to come through which would get me there (tambelin) at 10:43 on a Monday. A TWENTY FOUR MINUTE WAIT FOR A TRAIN AGAIN.

Now, getting to my point, if you were to move the timetables even fifteen minutes forward that means it's a less infuriating wait of just TEN MINUTES on both ends. Logic is a wonderful thing when it gets used.

Another thing I would like to bring up is the seemingly overexaggerated blindness of a bus driver. Today, the 1st of November (Tuesday), the 441 bus that usually comes at 15:47 (3:47pm) pulled away from its stop at close enough to 3:47. You might now be thinking, "we should reward that driver for being on time", well here's the catch. The train I was on was pulling up to the station, the doors had just opened. As the train doors opened the bus doors closed. If you are reading this letter past today, let me remind you that it was 31-33 celcius IN THE SHADE, making it about 36-38 in the sun. My question is: "Why did the bus driver pull away when he should have known full well the possibility of people getting off that train and on to that bus was similar or equal to the possibility of the sun rising tomorrow?" The bus driver should have waited for all the passengers to get off the train and kept on waiting until everyone who needed to get on to that bus to go to their nice air-conditioned homes, was actually on it (the bus). Instead this gaggle of Gawler High and Trinity College students had to wait around for the other bus to come around or walk in their uncomfortable uniforms home. Unfortunately I did not get the number of the bus (I was too busy running after it with an 8kg bag on my back) but I'm sure you are capable enough to know which driver was driving that bus and even more capable of disciplining this driver for lack of consideration for other passengers.

On the plus side, I did end up catching the 4:14 bus at Munno Para station, still fuming about the incident with the 3:47 bus. When it was near our stop the bus driver was a regular and he let us off basically at the T-junction of our street so we didn't have to walk all the way home. I did get his number, 2450. Commend him on his efforts and thank him on behalf of myself.

Ryan Bigg
Year 12
Trinity College

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If you read block 6 it's about a driver who pulled away whilst people were getting off the train and one person (me) was running at the bus as soon as the train doors opened.

How stupid can people get?

lol, very nice...you would hope that they would think before doing things <img src=\'http://www.killanet.net/forum3/public/s ... >/blum.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\':P\' />

Living in a city with alot of people, I suppose I can relate to this in some manner or another. There have been times whereas I've been kicked off of a bus due to it being overcrowded. That's right, they kicked the whole front end of the bus off (because it was one of those buses that were wobbly/connected with a front and back). There have been times whereas buses have simply left without letting people on (either skipping the stop entirely, or just closing the doors on the remaining people after allowing 2-3 people on [and no, the buses weren't even close to being overcrowded in the cases this happened to me]). This was the primary reason as to why I took the tube to GDCE instead of trying to ride a bus. It's a 15 minute wait for either a bus or the tube; so it doesn't matter much at all. Except, the tube costs more and is about 20 minutes faster.

As for trying to make a "workaround" schedule, I doubt they'll bother messing with it. Why? Because they've already adjusted their timetables once; and I'm sure this isn't in a "testing phase" if all of their buses are running at this adjusted schedule. I do hope they listen; but I'm not very optimistic unless there's another couple thousand or two willing to complain about the same things. ;p

adelaide = hole. almost ranks up there with geelong.