New year, new ride: Extra school buses en route for students

Wednesday, 24 January 2024

Getting to and from school is about to get easier for students, with extra bus services gearing up to hit the road across Adelaide.

An extra 16 new hybrid buses will be purchased and progressively rolled out across the Adelaide Metro network over the next three years, supporting Riverbanks College, Aldinga Payinthi College and Morialta Secondary College.

Three new services will be introduced from the start of Term 1, 29 January 2024. Two of these will provide Morialta Secondary College with its first dedicated bus route since it opened last year.

Two morning and two evening services will transfer students between the Paradise Interchange and Morialta College (route 620/621), with an additional two services being rolled out along the route in 2026 to keep up with expected enrolments.

From January 2024, Aldinga Payinthi College will receive an extra service to transfer students between the school and Sellicks Beach (route 788). This will be increased to four services by 2026.

This supports the four current services connecting the school to Seaford, Willunga and Sellicks Beach.

Riverbanks College at Angle Vale will also benefit from an extra service scheduled to start next year. The bus will transfer students along route 489 to Smithfield and Munno Para interchanges.

The total number of services each day across these three schools will increase from six currently to 15 by 2026.

Until the new buses are manufactured, services will continue to be maintained by leased buses.

The construction of all 16 Scania buses, worth around $11.75 million, will be carried out by South Australian company BusTech, supporting local jobs and backing the industry.

Additional services are initially targeting recently opened schools in areas where student enrolment and demand is expected to grow. These new services will be able to expand and be redirected to other locations to relieve any strain on the network.