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19-10-2009 Adelaide's transport corridors Good grief .. If South Australia's transport department had a brain to share around, they wouldn't know what to do with it. Most traffic lights in Adelaide are synchronised to go RED just as you approach them (very eco-conscious). They are going to build a Billion dollar overpass for South Road to overcome heavy traffic congestion. What a great idea .. There is just one little problem with their scheme ..   THEY ARE PUTTING IT WHERE THE MAJOR CONGESTION DOES NOT OCCUR. They are putting it where the roads are already corrected to help heavy traffic travel North from Regency Road onto the main northern highway out of the city (Port Wakefield Road). Speaking of which, putting Grand Junction Road under South Road would be an intelligent idea. They most urgently and importantly need to build an overpass from Regency Road GOING SOUTH to at least Cross Road. You get the feeling they are not taking the problem seriously. This area of road is a mess and has been for at least 40 years.. Traffic is always cluttered and delayed by stupid traffic light arrangements (especially in peak periods). Drivers get angry and start taking stupid risks just to move a few hundred metres down narrow double laned roads. To make matters worse, some nitwits have made overpasses over South Road itself. This is ridiculous. South Road is one of the only major arterial roads that Adelaide has to move large and heavy equipment across town. There should never be bridges, overpasses or cables impeding this corridor. How could they get this so wrong ? Where do we turn to ? There doesn't seem to be any party in South Australia politics capable of handling the job. Ever since about 1970 there has never been a good decision about anything to do with our roads. We need a new set of people and ideas to lead us into the 21st century .. Adelaide Rex (ref : TFAA019T) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14-05-2009 Adelaide's O-Bahn Yes Mr Conlon ...  You are correct when you say the O-Bahn is a wasteful operation. It costs far too much to build the concrete track and supports. The buses use too much polluting fuel. The buses use tyres, which require too much energy to overcome the rolling resistance. The tyres themselves have to be continually retreaded or replaced creating even more greenhouse gases and creating a larger carbon footprint. The guide wheels at the front of the buses are quickly worn and need constant servicing. The buses are nearly useless at the city end of their journeys as there is no proper area for the buses to have right of way and hence to take advantage of the time gained on the track. It is and always has been a ridiculous idea for Adelaide.. It was originally developed in Germany as a way to stop buses from sliding off icy road surfaces in winter (a very dangerous situation) and to give them an unrestricted run from one point to another. Adelaide did not even need such an approach. It was the stupid idea of the conservative party that was in power in South Australia at the time. For some unknown reason, they did not want light rail transport in Adelaide and did everything in their power to stop it. At the time a good public transport artery was needed for the North Eastern suburbs. They forced the bus idea. (no matter the cost to everybody involved) We are now paying for it. The irony is, that the best way to get into the Adelaide UBD is to use an old tram route through the northern parkland area. Lets stop this nonsense now and think of introducing a light rail system to replace the O-Bahn system before we get bogged in too deeply. A light rail system would also marry up with the existing and expanding light rail system from the Western area. Adelaide Rex (ref : TFAA018T)

14-05-2009

Jury

Description :

A random group of ordinary citizens not intelligent or informed enough to make a life controlling decision on another citizen.
A ridiculously out-dated and thoughtless system of determining a person's guilt or innocence.

Should be replaced with a panel of three well educated judges, fully up-to-date on all the latest forensic sciences, and very aware of the common consensus of the population on the matter at trial.
The judges should be selected for "jury duty" by random, from all qualified judges and should have their decisions assessed at the end of every three years to see if they are worthy of staying in the roster system.
This assessment panel should be made up of prominent citizens but not involving any politicians, large business operators, or any person prominently associated with any religious organisation.

Bob Shepherd (ref : TFAA017T)

04-05-2009 (04-05-10009PH)

SA plastic bag free?

It was announced on the news that South Australia will be plastic bag free as of today!
A good move in theory but,,, will this mean that food and other manufacturer's will also stop using wasteful (and just as polluting) plastic packaging on everything they make?

In some cases, several layers of plastic have to be removed from an item before it can be used.
This plastic waste also ends up in landfill and in the environment.

I have always made a habit of reusing plastic bags wherever I can.
I find them useful for putting household rubbish into.
I figure many others do the same thing!
Now that there are none supplied in shops in SA... (Tassie will do the same thing soon), we will have to purchase more plastic bags sold in the form of garbage bags!
The situation still remains the same, only now you'll pay for your plastic bags!

Tassie Terror (ref : TFAA016T)

04-05-2009

SA shopping centres wasting power

Recently we had the world lights off day or something of that nature (I hate tokenism).
All very well and good but, the practices used by many supermarkets were not kept up.
Some only turned on half their lighting (which was only just less than adequate) to conserve power.
This showed up the bad lighting layouts that are in operation, and the distinct lack of natural lighting.
If the spacing on the existing lights had been slightly expanded, they would have given enough lighting for the customers to see very clearly and would have meant the stores could have cut their lighting carbon emissions by at least a third, PERMANENTLY.

Even better would have been the introduction of solar lighting tubes to reduce the electricity wastage even further.
The worst waste of electricity in supermarkets seems to be from this obsession to have open fridges.
They are usually very badly designed and allow far too much cold air to escape into the aisles.
One supermarket in particular has so many inefficient open style fridges that it used even more power to heat up the air around the aisles so the customers didn't freeze.
This practice didn't last long (probably because of the excessive electricity bills) and now customers walk around this store in a semi-frozen state.
What a ridiculous situation.

Bob Shepherd (ref : TFAA015T)

21-04-2009

Anzac Day trading farce

If ever there was a slap in the face for the forces who fought hard in the First World War, Adelaide's trading laws are it.
The Diggers were supposed to have fought for our freedom and would be sorely upset to see people trying to take it away from their citizens who want the right to trade whenever the public demands it.

RSL presidents and Employees Union representatives cannot defend their actions.
Why are we the exception to fairer trading hours.

Adelaide Rex (ref : TFAA014T)

21-04-2009

10 cents a litre !!

10 cents a litre to Australian Dairy farmers for their milk ??
What is happening to our primary producers ?
They should be getting at least $1 a litre ...
They are being totally abused by the major retail outlets ...
If the farmers had any sense, they would be forming co-operatives (as was once done) and selling direct to the public ..

It's about time the larger retail chains were put in their place, and farmers were paid what they are really worth ..
It's obvious nobody else is going to bat for the farmers ..

Adelaide Rex (ref : TFAA013T)

24-02-2009

Fernilee destruction

Some friends visiting Adelaide recently, wanted to view 'That magnificent and historic Fernilee Lodge'  in Burnside again.

We had to tell them that it had been ripped down.

They were very upset and wouldn't believe such unwarranted destruction would be allowed.
They kept asking how that could have happened.

What do you tell them ?
Greedy developers and unsympathetic (and possibly corrupt) politicians are to blame ?

Adelaide Rex (ref : TFAA012T)

17-02-2009

Adelaide ..   Adelaide ..  Adelaide ..

What the hell is going on in Adelaide ...

So many people with so little knowledge, this even seems to include professionals such as some doctors.
It is absolutely imperative that hospitals are repositioned after about every 50 to 80 years.
This is to ensure any fungi, bacteria and viruses that have managed to build up in cracks, crevices, pipes and vent systems are left behind.

Medical practices, medical equipment, and patient expectations of the hospital change with time, and the buildings have to change to meet these criteria.
Older hospital buildings have to be abandoned.
Some should then be torn down to remove any public health fears.
The Royal Adelaide Hospital is no exception to this set of rules, in fact, it is in a greater need of replacing than many other hospitals.

Its antiquated rooms and hotchpotch building layout is very bad.
It is not easily sterilized to combat "super bug" infestation.
Rooms are overcrowded and not private enough.
It is very difficult to quickly get around, especially if you need to get from one building to another.
It is very difficult to find specific departments, and distances to these departments are too far from major off road entrances.
Parking is appalling.
Because of the major intersection at the South West corner of the hospital (and this is the major access direction for most pedestrians coming to the hospital from the city centre), a very dangerous and frustrating situation is created here for visitors and outpatients alike.
We don't know what the asbestos situation is within these buildings.

The new "Marjorie Jackson Nelson Hospital" (for want of a better and shorter name like the "Adelaide Hospital") is a much needed hospital.
It will supply a better and much cleaner environment for the new facilities.
It is showing up some major flaws in our transport system.
By now, we should have a tram system that travels the full ring route of the city block.
This would give easy access to the new hospital site for most of the public, and link up some of the smaller private medical establishments with the hospital.
As the trams would travel along North Terrace, past the University grounds, it would also grant medical students important easy access to the new hospital.
(As a side note to improve Adelaide: North Terrace should become a park land from Frome Road to King William Street.)
For public health reasons, the buildings that were added during the 20th century should be torn down.
This old site could become an underground car park linked to the city (or North Terrace) by an underground travelator.
Parkland could be placed over the top of this structure. (An extension of the Botanic Gardens maybe?)

Why is there always so much hysterical opposition in Adelaide to anything that is a true improvement and something that makes so much sense ???

Adelaide Rex (ref : TFAA011T)

06-02-2009

Tram questions

What have we done to deserve the tram system we have been given here in Adelaide ?

The seats are uncomfortable.
The external colour scheme is weak and uninspiring.
The trams take off with a jerk instead of smoothly accelerating, and many passengers have fallen because of this. (electronic controls should prevent such bad take-offs)
The stretch of supporting power poles running down the northern end of King William street should have been of a less obtrusive design, (smooth curved shapes have existed for at least the last 100 years) and of a less depressing colour (white, silver or light blue would have been more appropriate for such a dark canyon of a street).

Why has the coachwork not been designed and built by South Australians ?

Adelaide Rex (ref : TFAA010T)

31-01-2009

Power profiteering

For years now, since privatisation, our electricity suppliers have been dragging their feet on maintenance and long term planning, so as to maximise profits.
This has been to the great detriment of many Australian citizens through financial hardship and through their health.
The governments and the supply companies have equally ignored the consumers.
The governments because they can't be bothered to be responsible for anything,
and the companies because the situation has created a cash cow for them.
If the power companies are not going to correct their ailing and aging systems, they could at least have the decency to provide details to the general public as to where and when they are going to black out certain suburbs so people could plan their own actions to survive such devastation in our dangerous heat.
Surely it is legally actionable to sue the parties concerned for withholding such important information in a time of crisis, especially where equipment failure, food spoilage, and more importantly, health damage (including death) has occurred.

From the pen of a very angry and disgusted South Australian.

Bob Shepherd (ref : TFAA008T)

30-01-2009

Expanding problem

Of course our train and tram rails are going to buckle in SA's heat ..
They have removed the most essential expansion gaps from the tracks,
to save a bit of money..

Adelaide Rex  (ref : TFAA007T)

03-03-2009

Safer roads

Maybe all "P" plate drivers should be road tested before they can rid themselves of their plates ..
This would ensure they know the road rules and can abide by them properly, before they are considered safe enough to join the general throng ..

Adelaide Rex (ref : TFAA009T)

01-01-2009

Shopping hours

It seems South Australia is one of the only states with unions and management not able to organise mutually advantageous hours for its shop workers so shops can stay open most of the year, and for any time of the day ..
It would still be imperative that NOBODY works longer than a 35 hour week ..

 (ref : TFAA006T)

01-01-2009

Wasteful

When will the Tea Tree Gully council end its half hearted attempt at household recycling and put out a full size bin for recyclables, and a smaller bin for non-recyclables ?

Adelaide Rex (ref : TFAA005T)

28-11-2008

Damn annoyance

When will the citizens of Modbury be rid of that annoying hum that pervades just about every building and skull ?

From reports that I have heard, it has been occurring for at least 10 years ..

Why has nobody complained or expected it to stop ?

Adelaide Rex (ref : TFAA004T)

24-11-2008

Adelaide Airport

Let's talk about the Adelaide Airport.
WHAT A MESS ..

When you first enter "the building", the first thing you notice is the lack of clocks ..
CLOCKS ARE ABSOLUTE ESSENTIALS FOR ANY AIRPORT ..

When you go upstairs to the main departure area, the first thing you should see are clocks ALL along the raised back wall (the first blank area you are greeted with), showing CLEARLY the times for ALL the Australian states or capitals ...   
Times for major world capitals would be appreciated also ..
Instead, you have to wander around to find ANY clocks at all, and then they only give you Adelaide time ..
Very helpful for interstate or overseas travellers, I don't think ..

Next is the large distances you have to walk to get to the appropriate gates ..

Not very helpful for the elderly, handicapped or injured passengers with lugguage, or passengers controlling small children ..
Oh yes ..  We DO have A travelator in the domestic flights area..  ONE ..  It doesn't go very far (somebody must have been having a joke when they organised that one), just between 2 gates ..
It's OK for the kids to play on, but that's about all ..
Talk about an insult ..     Adelaide, hang your head in shame ..

There are display screens at each gate but,  they are very dull and they do not show when the next plane is due to arrive or leave from that gate earlier than about 10 minutes before the scheduled boarding time ...   Absolutely useless ..
THEY SHOULD ALWAYS BE SHOWING WHAT THE NEXT FLIGHT IS FROM THAT GATE, WHETHER IT IS IN 10 MINUTES TIME OR NOT UNTIL THE NEXT DAY ..
They should also be of LED or FLUORESCENT construction to be clear and bright .. NOT CRT's ..

The seats have got to be the cheapest I have come across (I haven't ridden the new Adelaide trams yet though) ..
The passenger I was seeing off couldn't believe Adelaide could be so cheap as to skimp on the seats that way ..      I had no answer for him ..

WHERE ARE THE TOILETS ?..
If a passenger (adult or child) needs the toilet just before boarding the plane then he or she should be able to get to a toilet quickly and without fuss instead of having to run huge distances to find a hidden toilet or, waiting until the plane is the air ..

If the designers and government didn't want a properly functioning airport, why didn't they just come out and say so, or better yet, just not build this mess ..

Adelaide Rex (ref : TFAA003T)

17-11-2008

Water

Private investment in community water supply is a criminal act.

Response to article found in Adelaide Advertiser (15 November 2008)

Healthy drinking water is everybody's right ..   Not something to be used for profiteering .

Bob Shepherd (ref : TFAA002T)

12-11-2008

Where is the government pension ?

COMPULSORY SUPERANNUATION IN AUSTRALIA IS A FARCE.

Stop bleeding the workers to fund private management.

Adelaide Rex (ref : TFAA001T)

29-08-2008

Police  needs

When is the South Australian government going to rebuild the Police barracks at the top of Port Road ?
This site is a disgrace.
It may also be a health hazard.

How can anyone expect to keep their moral up working in such an eyesore, especially when the rest of the city is being revamped.

Surely the public &  politicians have seen the run down buildings, or have they been wearing blinkers all this time.

Adelaide Rex (ref : TFI0069T)

04-08-2008

Unorganised thinking

God forbid should Adelaide (South Australia) get synchronised traffic lights and synchronised traffic merging.

There seems to be no understanding by the traffic ministry that the continual stop/starting caused by badly unsynchronised lights causes most of the traffic pollution and congestion.
Adelaide drivers have to be the worst because of the build up of extreme frustration in these ridiculous situations.

Adelaide Rex (ref : TFI0068T)

11-03-2008

Shining Light

Opposition spokesman, Stephen Wade, has shone a light on the consequences of Mr. Rann’s tough on law and order policies: chronic overcrowding, increased risk of violence for inmates and officers, and increased recidivism.

South Australia’s recidivism rate is now one of the highest in Australia.

Implementing Mr. Wade’s policies could help us achieve Victoria’s much lower rate and considerably cut the cost of crime to our state.

Gadfly (ref : TFI0060T)

15-06-2007

Our scarred hill’s face

Why does Adelaide (South Australia) allow the disgusting, disfiguring, quarrying of our hill’s face (without so much as a whimper of opposition), but screams up a storm at the suggestion of a Mt. Lofty skycar to view the sites of our bushland and city.

Maybe somebody doesn’t want the tourists to see how badly we treat our environment.

Bob Shepherd (ref : TFI0045T)

15-05-2007

Dawn Rowan as an example

In Australia you must never legally take on the State.

You will always lose whether you are in the right or not, and you may be made bankrupt as a punishment.

Even if you win the first rounds (or trials),  you will always lose on the appeals.

You must learn this lesson : 

The State must never be found or shown to be wrong.

Adelaide Rex (ref : TFI0037T)

26-02-2007

Green fuel

Green fuels mean fuels which are renewable such as ethanol or methanol, that is, they are recyclable.
Once these fuels are burnt, the chemicals given off are reconstituted back into the biosphere and can be used again to create the same fuel from plants.
This does not apply to LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas).
This fuel may be cleaner than other fossil fuels but it is certainly NOT GREEN.
The buses running around Adelaide in South Australia have no right to advertise their LPG fuel usage as Green.

Adelaide Rex   (ref : TFI0016T)

20-02-2007

Adelaide banks, building societies and credit unions

When are banks, building societies and credit unions going to get it right ?
The front counters should always be for fast transactions only.
If a customer approaches a staff member at that counter, and it becomes obvious that person needs more time/help than is normally needed for a fast transaction, then that person should be directed/taken to another point where they will not slow down the front counters.
This will stop the feeling of ill will towards the staff, the feeling of ill will towards the customers in question, and towards the bank/building society or credit union in general.
There are very rarely enough front counters open to deal with the influx of customers.
A common sight is a line of ten or more people getting very frustrated at having to wait in a queue that may take as long as 20 minutes to move through.
Many people are so delayed that they have to leave the line during that long wait and hence miss out on their transaction.
The fault is usually with the managers who totally ignore the problem at the front counters.
This is a ridiculous situation to create, as the front counters are the main face to most financial institutions and by this action may be harming their own reputations.

Adelaide Rex   (ref : TFI0015T)

13-02-2007

Adelaide tram extension

It's good to see Adelaide is finally moving into the twentieth century. (The twenty first century will have to wait a little longer.)
The tram extension has begun down King William Street...  Hooray.
We are still getting complaints about trees being removed and "why don't we supply trolley buses".
First : The trees are due for removal by the city council at a later date, whether the tram extension is there or not.
Also..  Retention of the existing trees is a priority of the transport trust in any case.
Secondly : Trolley buses use pneumatic tyres which are much less efficient than steel wheels on steel tracks.
Pneumatic tyre rolling resistance consumes approx 15% of the supplied energy needed to move the bus, while steel wheels on light rail cars only consumes approx 1% or less of the required energy. (on new rails)
It is therefore more sensible to use light rail transport. (or trams if you prefer)
Isn't efficient use of our limited energy resources and trying to limit greenhouse gas emissions what it is all about?
Also...  To create the overhead power connection eyesore of a mess that would be needed to power the buses would put most people off.
And the traffic congestion of the buses alone would be horrendous.

Adelaide Rex   (ref : TFI0014T)

08-02-2007

SA Courts waste time and money

This is why South Australia can never get its court system functioning correctly.
We recently had the ridiculous case of a 56 year old man being ordered before a court because he took his rubbish bin out to the curb, while naked.
His neighbours saw fit to report him to the police.
This should NEVER have involved the police and should NEVER have been brought before a court.
A visiting arbitrator would have sufficed.
Many South Australians do not seem to understand that some cases are more important than others.
Dealing with murderers, those causing grievous bodily harm, rapists, and those threatening others should be the priority of the police and the courts until most of our bigger crimes are dealt with.

Adelaide Rex   (ref : TFI0011T)

29-01-2007

Fresh water shortage

The “fresh water shortage” may be a political farce.
There is more than seventy percent of the surface of this planet covered in water. 
Fresh drinking water can easily and cheaply be extracted from this source, especially in the warmer drier areas of the lower to middle latitudes where it is more desperately needed.
All that is needed is the will (which seems to be appallingly missing) and the money (which is available for such important projects).
From an early age, (if travelling in the outback of Australia for example) we are told to extract water from any moisture containing vegetation (and urine if necessary) by covering the moisture containing substances with a condensing surface to collect the evaporated water.
This idea can easily be scaled up to cover larger surfaces and, (as in Adelaide) we could use existing evaporation areas to implement this process.
There are large salt pans (near to our city as well) where sea water is allowed to enter under natural tidal flow and the water is then allowed to evaporate into the atmosphere as waste.    
The only part of this process that is collected is the remaining salts, to be used by industry and for food processing.
Each day, millions of litres of fresh water are lost to the atmosphere.
This water should be collected by large scale condensing surfaces which could be as simple as sea water cooled, glass sheeting.

Also. 
Storage of fresh water should always be under cover to prevent loss to evaporation.
This is another important point that always seems to be lost to the controlling bodies.
Large underground storage tanks or caverns are the only options.
Even ancient civilizations (such as the Romans) knew this to be true.
Why have our modern civilizations lost (or ignored) this simple knowledge ?
We squander our water by placing it in large evaporation ponds and lakes, which are also prone to excessive pollution from runoff.
We then spend millions of dollars a year removing the pollutants, both solid and chemical.

If politicians were pressured more to act more responsibly with our fresh water supplies, then maybe the "fresh water problem" would fade quickly into our past and would never again be repeated.
Here's hoping.

Adelaide Rex  (ref : TFI0003T)

25-01-2007

Electric tram issues

Here in Adelaide, South Australia.
We are having histrionics in our local paper about the incorrectness of having a 1KM extension to an electric tram line.
It seems every idiot has come out of the woodwork and feels compelled to add their objections, whether it is tram bell noise or changing the landscape of a very crowded eyesore of a road.
Little or no thought seems to be directed towards the obvious advantages of an efficient light rail system over the fuel hungry, smelly and tyre inefficient bus system, which has to service the existing tram system, to bring the passengers into the CBD and the suburban train station.
Suspicion for this strange behaviour could possible fall on to panicked fuel companies or bus companies who may see this as the thin edge of an ecological drive to clean up our transport system.    (There have been rumours of extending this tram line into other suburbs.     shock, horror..)

Adelaide Rex. (ref : TFI0001T)

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