New priority bus lanes open in Adelaide
New bus lanes came into operation in Adelaide this morning, and many motorists have been struggling with the latest changes.
The priority bus lanes will operate between 7am and 7pm from Monday to Friday on Anzac Hwy between Greenhill Rd and South Tce, and on West Tce between South Tce and Gouger St.
While drivers this morning were finding it hard to comprehend, the State Government says it is right on track.
Motorists speaking to 7News this morning said the changes were confusing and causing delays.
“People are just crossing over each other, it’s like snakes and ladders, people just going everywhere,” one driver said.
“I think once they know (how the bus lanes work), it will flow better, but it is definitely not working this morning.”
Another driver said he couldn’t see how the changes were helping at all.
“Yeah, I don’t really see it’s improved anything, it has actually just reduced it to two lanes so I think it’s probably been a complete waste of money,” the driver said.
The Transport Department says it is happy with the progress.
“This is day one, there are some operation issues we are monitoring as aprt of intoruding a new initiative like this, but all appears to be going well,” Paul Gelston from the Transport Department said.
“On a full bus, there is 30 to 40 passengers who need to have some priority over vehicles that might only have one or two passengers.”
The Royal Automobile Association (RAA) said it is still unclear whether similar bus lanes in Grenfell St actually had the desired effect of attracting more people to public transport.
“We still haven’t seen what the patronage data is, whether people - more people - are hopping on the buses, then to roll this one out when you still haven’t got the data is a leap of faith,” Mark Borlace from the RAA said.
A three-month education period will be in effect to allow road users to get accustomed with the new lanes.
