Bus Services On Demand

Mr DULUK (Waite) (14:13): My question is to the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government. Can the minister inform the house on the state government's tender for an operator to offer demand-responsive bus services?

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL (Schubert—Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Minister for Planning) (14:13): I would like to acknowledge the member for Waite as an avid public transport user.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: He may have caught the train in this morning. He is certainly an avid advocate for public transport, especially train services in his electorate. I was excited last year that we were able to make sure that we provide those extra Belair train services.

It's fair to say that the public transport network as it exists today in South Australia does not provide the best level of service to South Australians. We have basically the lowest level of public transport usage in the nation at about 8 per cent of traffic movements.

We also have the worst level of integrated services at only 3 per cent of services in the nation. We have also seen, over the past three years to the middle of last year, a decline of about half a million users per annum of our public transport network—the equivalent of 10 Adelaide Ovals worth of passengers. What we have currently is a public transport network that is stuck in the last century. What we have seen is an inability to drive any sort of innovation in public transport and a former government that was obviously too scared or too lazy to get on and improve this network.

What we have announced this morning is new money into public transport: up to $1 million on the table to provide a trial for a new type of service that is making good gains in other parts of the world. We are talking about recorded demand-responsive transport—it's much easier to explain as Uber for buses. Essentially, it's the idea that, instead of having a fixed-route service bayed to a fixed timetable, people can use an app to book live when they want to be picked up and then be dropped off where they need to go, in a way that helps to collect real-time data about the amount and frequency of service that's needed for the number of people who want to use that service.

It's something that, when I was over in Sydney last year, I was able to get along and have a look at, and it was getting huge success in the number of people willing to engage with the technology. It again showed me that this is something that could be brought here to South Australia. We are undertaking a trial because we want to understand how this can fit as part of our broader public transport network. Right now, as we are undertaking a tender into our bus services contract, this is the right time for us to undertake this trial.

We think, here in Adelaide especially, that this is an opportunity for people who are a bit further away from their closest train stop or bus stop or tram stop, or who don't have a high frequency of service in their area because there is low patronage. Here is an opportunity for us to provide a flexible service that will be able to get closer to people's doors and take them closer to where they need to go. I think very clearly here about people living with a disability or people who need modified access. The ability to get closer to their front door means that we can help get those people out of their houses and get them where they need to go.

We put this money on the table, and the trial will be awarded before the middle of this year. What I look forward to is being able to show South Australians that we can actually move forward and have new technology in our public transport network, that they have a government that isn't scared to trial new ideas, because we want to deliver a better, more customer-focused service. This is something that speaks very much to the policy document that we took to the election about improving the customer focus of our public transport network.

I look forward to this trial getting underway so that again we can show South Australians that there are new ways to deliver public transport. We can deliver a better service and we can shape our city in a way that makes it more mobile and more liveable for its citizens.