A CAR CRY: Hammond fighting for better transport options

Frustrated locals are demanding answers as to why rideshare services such as Uber remain absent from the region two years on from a major boundary expansion.

As previously reported in The Southern Argus, the metropolitan boundary for rideshare services was officially expanded in December 2021 to include the Adelaide Hills and Mount Barker Council regions, however, places like Strathalbyn, Langhorne Creek, Goolwa and Murray Bridge narrowly missed out.

The decision was met with backlash by community members who deemed it ‘unfair’ and called on the State Government to extend the boundary further.

But two years on, rideshare services are still missing from Alexandrina and Murray Bridge Council regions, continuing to detrimentally impact local businesses and residents’ safety.

One of many in town pushing to have rideshare services brought to the region is Gasworks Cottages owner Graham Dean, who has seen the fallout its absence is having on local tourism.

Using the experience of recent guests at his Strathalbyn accommodation, he explained the lack of affordable and reliable transport options was hitting visitors’ pockets hard, deterring them from returning.

“A few weeks before, (these guests) rang (a local taxi service)… and were quoted $250 to go from Gasworks Strathalbyn to Langhorne Creek, with $350 return!” Mr Dean claimed.

“We have some of the best wedding venues and cellar doors in the state, and we have great accommodation, but no one is rushing back to... pay that.”

In the end, the guests were left with no option but to split the costs of a mini bus between a group of friends, a local service believed to be unable to keep up with increasing demand.

“We have people who say they’ll be back, but if they’re the sort who have that city expectation, it’s just not being met, and there’s no doubt it’s impacting business,” Mr Dean said.

“In town, you have Hammer ‘N’ Tongs that will stay open on Friday or Saturday night, but their ability to get people to stay for the evening is down to whether people can get home.”

In addition to impacting tourism, the rideshare absence is reportedly putting lives in jeopardy.

Not only does it limit transport options for the elderly and people with disabilities needing access to crucial services such as appointments at Mount Barker Hospital, it’s forcing people to contemplate risky decisions after a night out.   

“You’ve got the roads people saying two out of three people killed on country roads are country people, but if you’ve got no other choice but to drive, it’s going to drive up those numbers,” Mr Dean said.

“At the moment you can say to people they shouldn’t drink, but if you don’t give a second option for the driving part of that, their only option is to not come out and that doesn’t help the businesses (either).

“(I understand) nothing moves quickly in government, but you could ride-share on the back of a glacier down the hill to Adelaide in the time it’s taken so far to get any meaningful response on the subject of rideshare for Strathalbyn and our region.”

Frustrated with the lack of progress in this space, Mr Dean reached out to Member for Hammond Adrian Pederick’s office.

Similarly, another supporter of bringing rideshare services to the region, Rural City of Murray Bridge councillor Airlie Keen, recently wrote to Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Tom Koutsantonis about the lack of transport options in Murray Bridge and Strathalbyn.

In her letter, she requested the removal of all boundaries to allow rideshare and point-to-point transporters to operate in Strathalbyn and Murray Bridge, and further community consultation to be held to ensure Hammond communities are included in the Mount Barker and Adelaide Hills Transport Study.

“The growth communities of Murray Bridge and Strathalbyn within the greater Adelaide region are critically under-serviced by public transport and transport options such as rideshare (point-to-point sector),” Cr Keen wrote.

“Whether for work, education, health or social needs, regional communities have no less need for public transport than their metropolitan counterparts.

“Tourists arriving in Adelaide seeking to attend regional-based events or destinations are hampered by limited options, impacting on our business and tourism sector.”

Like Mr Dean, Cr Keen noted people in country areas are often left without alternative options but to drive, which is why she called for rideshare barriers to be removed.

“The December 2021 expansion to the rideshare boundary based on Local Government districts created an anomaly, where small Hills towns are within the new operating area and large regional centres such as Strathalbyn and Murray Bridge are not,” she said.

“The community has embraced rideshare as a transport offering, and are calling on the government to remove restrictions, including to the operating boundary.”

A spokesperson for Minister Koutsantonis acknowledged Ms Keen’s correspondence, and told The Argus a rideshare review was under way.

“The State Government is already currently reviewing The Passenger Transport Act, and the question of the metropolitan boundary for the purposes of point-to-point transport services is being considered as part of that review,” they said.

“The Department for Infrastructure and Transport has advised rideshare companies are permitted to operate outside of metropolitan Adelaide and have been since April 2020, however, currently no rideshare company has chosen to operate outside of the boundary.

“Metropolitan-accredited rideshare vehicles and taxi services can pick-up or drop-off passengers in Strathalbyn provided the trips ends within the metropolitan boundary, which, following recent expansion, now includes Mount Barker and the Adelaide Hills.”

The spokesperson also confirmed Strathalbyn and Murray Bridge will be included in the government’s transport review.

“Further, the State Government is following through with its commitment to review transport planning across regional SA, including the current Hills and Mount Barker Transport Study,” they told The Argus.

“This will incorporate an audit of current needs and identify potential improvements both to road corridors and public transport networks.

“The broad review will define short, medium, and longer-term priorities and inform future investment, and will naturally include the Strathalbyn and Murray Bridge areas.”

Mr Dean welcomed the transport study, but said extending the boundary was the fastest and easiest solution.

He promised to keep pressing the issue for Strathalbyn.

“I don’t know where we’re going to go with it other than we’re going to keep niggling and annoying,” Mr Dean said.

“The rate of growth we’ve got between here, Mount Barker and Murray Bridge, we’ve got to have the facilities to make it work.

“All the way through this, the State Government has been saying Uber can run wherever they like, they just have to apply for a different license, but Uber has said it costs money to do it and the drivers would have to be on a different system; it just doesn’t make sense.

“They’re doing a feasibility study for the Hills, and I think that’s great, but it will take six months to do the study and six months to read it, then they’ll have to budget for whatever the answer is, whereas this is free.

“They’ve already done it for Barossa and a few others, so it’s not like they don’t know there’s no downside… I don’t see a problem.”