Adelaide Hills Residents Stranded Without Weekend Bus Service

0:00It's April 10th. This is Adelaide News today, driven by AI. Folks in the Adelaide Hills are getting stranded without public transport on weekends and public holidays. The key issue is the 835 bus route from Lobothal to Mount Barker, which only runs Monday through Friday. That leaves towns like Balhanna, Verdun, and Hondorf cut off from bigger hubs. Over the Easter long weekend, one Anka Paringa resident couldn't get around from Thursday afternoon until Tuesday morning. Without this bus, locals have no link to Mount Barker or Algate blocking trips to the Adelaide Central Business District and beyond. A 10,000 strong population deals with this every weekend, Christmas, New Year, and other holidays. Local Advocate Joel Taggart has pushed for a weekend service for 18 months. Even sending a proposal to shift funds from weekdays, he points to events like the Oak Bang Racing Easter Carnival where better transport could boost the local economy. Even officials say the route skips weekends due to low demand.

1:01They've added nearly 600 extra buses weekly between the hills and the city in the past two years, a 42 percent jump. Meanwhile, they're running a full review of regional services, gathering community input to shape the next 30 years. Taggart's waiting on replies from the new transport minister. But that feedback could finally spark real change for these overload hills, communities.