South Australia

Marshall Government to privatise Adelaide metro services

THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN LIBERAL Government has officially announced plans to privatise the state’s train and tram networks.

Minister for transport, infrastructure and local government Stephan Knoll said that the new model would help to provide more efficient and customer-focused services for commuters. The transition will follow the model already employed by South Australia’s outsourced bus services, which were privatised in the year 2000. “There is no doubt that we can and must provide better and more customerfocussed public transport services for South Australians,” said Knoll.

“We know that public transport patronage growth has stalled, and customers want a better level of service than is currently provided – and the Marshall Government agrees with our customers.

“Under this model, we will be able to deliver more efficient services, so we can reinvest back into the network to provide better services.”

The state government will continue to own the network’s assets, control fares and set service level requirements following

transition to the new private system.

The Adelaide Metro has one of the lowest levels of patronage of any metro system in Australia, with roughly half of users believing they don’t get good value for money from the service, according to the government. South Australia is also the only remaining state in Australia that does not outsource its tram and train services.

Knoll cited the Melbourne Metro as a positive example of how outsourcing tram operation can deliver “sustained, improved efficiency” for its users.

“If we are going to provide better and more customer focussed public transport services, we need to keep pace with the rest of the nation and benefit from their learnings,” he said.

A ‘good decision’, says IPA Infrastructure Partnerships Australia praised the South Australian Government’s decision. The policy-focused think tank has “consistently recommended” bus and train services be franchised, according to chief executive Adrian Dwyer.

“Infrastructure Partnerships Australia, Infrastructure Australia, and many others have consistently recommended that state

and territory governments pursue the franchising of their bus and train services and its good to see that SA has listened,” he said.

South Australia is the only remaining state or territory in Australia to maintain a publicly-funded metro system. The state’s bus system was first privatised in the year 2000, and is set to be re-tendered under the incumbent Marshall Government.

SA Minister for Transport Stephan Knoll stated that SA needed to “keep pace with the rest of the nation” in order to deliver a more customer-focussed public transport solution for Adelaide, which is subject to some of the lowest levels of patronage in Australia.

Dwyer stressed that the SA Government’s decision to franchise the metro was different to privatising it, and that it was unhelpful to conflate the two. “Customers don’t care about who operates their bus or tram, they care that it’s clean and on time,” he said. “Train and tram customers right around the country are already enjoying the benefits of having the best private providers operating their service and South Australian customers should too.”

The state government thinks a private operator can help boost patronage on the Adelaide Metro.