PUBLIC TRANSPORT
20/09/2012
The Hon. K.L. VINCENT (14:43): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the minister representing the Minister for Transport Services a question about the accessibility and safety of public transport in Adelaide.
Leave granted.
The Hon. K.L. VINCENT: I have raised issues regarding public transport services in this chamber many times now but I am yet to receive a response from the minister. This week I have again been reminded of the inadequacy of Adelaide’s public transport system by an incident that occurred on the B10 bus route on Monday afternoon. The bus was heading from the city up Magill Road. This bus looked to be something we purchased second-hand from interstate. I can assure you that it was not myself but my staff who were on this bus on their way to a meeting, as there was no way I could have accessed that bus because it had no centre doors, no ramps and a very narrow corridor. On a positive note, however, it did have seatbelts.
The bus was driven in a very spasmodic fashion by the driver, both in accelerating and braking phases. After stop 10, the bus driver accelerated, then braked suddenly and then accelerated again. In the course of this, a middle-aged, able-bodied passenger lost his footing and flew through the air, landing on a woman and accidentally striking her on the head. The woman was distressed and crying but would not say much as she had either sustained a concussion and was confused or was not confident expressing herself in English. The man who had fallen onto her apologised and kept trying to check if she was alright. The driver eventually realised that she had been injured and went to check the situation also. There was a significant discussion amongst passengers as to the poor driving skills of the driver.
One of my staff members asked two passengers if they were okay and needed assistance as they exited the bus. The second staff member asked the driver if something in particular was causing him to drive in this manner. The driver said it was very difficult to drive the bus because both the accelerator and the brake were very stiff and hard to operate. My questions are:
1.Does the minister concede that the incident that occurred on Monday was brought about by her department allowing the purchase of old buses that are, quite frankly, past their use-by date?
2.Is the minister concerned about both the safety and accessibility of her public buses and the risk that these ageing buses sold off by other jurisdictions pose to commuters?
3.Does the minister think it is good enough to only have 84 per cent of public buses accessible to wheelchair users and other people with mobility needs and leave many commuters with disabilities, prams and so on stranded by the side of the road?
4.When the minister closes down the Adelaide Railway Station in January, will commuters with disabilities be provided with an accessible bus as a replacement vehicle to travel into the city?
The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for State/Local Government Relations) (14:46): I would like to thank the honourable member for her very important questions and I will refer them to the minister in another place and seek to have a response as soon as possible.
