Map: Opposition says Government’s bus route cuts are targeting Labor held Adelaide seats

Suburban bus route cuts set to take effect on January 27 are “targeting” Labor voting seats, claims Opposition transport spokesman Tom Koutsantonis. SEE THE OPPOSITION’S MAP

Concerned Woodcroft mum Melissa Murray with her children Ella 12 and Noah 10. AAPIMAGE/Russell Millard

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• Scroll to the bottom of this story for a list of affected services

Suburban bus route cuts set to take effect on January 27 are “targeting” Labor voting seats, claims Opposition transport spokesman Tom Koutsantonis.

A map compiled by the Opposition of the 1170 services to be axed or shortened reveal they are concentrated in Labor-held seats in Adelaide’s northern and southern suburbs.

Transport Minister Stephan Knoll dismissed the claims as “scaremongering” and argued the routes were targeted only because they had low patronage or duplicated a train service.

Labor’s map calculates the most affected suburbs based on the bus stops that have had the most services pulled.

“It looks like someone sat and looked at an electoral map and targeted hard-working families in the northern and southern suburbs, who of course happen to be Labor voters,” Mr Koutsantonis said.

“Families in outer Adelaide suburbs rely even more heavily on bus services, given the great distances involved in getting to work, the city and local services.

“To slash these services at all shows the Government’s contempt for public transport users – but (Premier) Steven Marshall must also explain why his cuts are targeted at families in mostly Labor-held seats.”

The cuts to bus routes are set to save the Budget $3.5 million, a fraction of the $46 million of efficiencies Mr Knoll is required to find in the system by 2022.

Transport Minister Stephan Knoll

Opposition transport spokesman Tom Koutsantonis

Mr Knoll said the first round of cuts only affected 0.3 per cent of all public transport users and urged the Opposition to stop “playing politics”.

“Most of the changes are minor and often only affect the first and last bus on each route,” he said. “The bus routes identified either have extremely low patronage or run duplicate to a much more efficient, faster train line.

“By making efficiencies in parts of the network that are duplicated, we can invest more in the highly used areas of our system.”

Southern suburbs mother-of-four Melissa Murray said her two older sons would be left without a safe way to get home at night when the cuts were implemented.

She said her teenage son relied on a bus service to get him home to Woodcroft after late-night shifts at his job at a fast-food restaurant in Colonnades, while her 22-year-old son also used buses to get home after nights out.

“There is no safe way home for our kids anymore once they take away these late-night services,” Ms Murray said.

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