HISTORY OF ROUTES 99B & 99C

The original story was published in STA magazine Among Ourselves in 1988.

This story describes the development history of bus services which solely operate within the Adelaide square mile.  The most famous of these services is the former Route 99B Bee Line and the 99C City Loop.

The early horse tramways and buses between the City and the suburbs provided services through various City streets and were primarily geared to suburban transport.  The introduction of the electric tramways in 1909 saw the provision of a very effective suburb to City and inner City transport system in that the majority of services operated through the City, to relatively high frequency, with stops at most major street corners.  As a result the Municipal Tramways Trust saw little need for a special inner City service as people wishing to travel around the City did not have long to wait for a tram.

During the period of tramway operations, inner City travel was assisted by a special ‘City Ticket’ which allowed passengers to travel between 9.00am and 4.30pm anywhere within the terraces for one penny.  The ticket continued in use at a price of 1 1/2d until 1948, then reappearing again for a short time in 1950 priced at 2d.

The railways suffered badly in comparison to the through trams, since passengers on trains terminating in Adelaide Station on North Terrace faced an uphill walk to the main shopping centre in Rundle Street and a long walk or tram ride (not included with train fare) to Victoria Square.  The only exception was the Glenelg Train which at least terminated at King William Street / Angas Street.  These passengers still faced a long walk though to Rundle Street.

The Victoria Square Traders were concerned about their distance from Adelaide Station and it is believed that an experimental motorbus service which was privately run and free was operated from Adelaide Station to Victoria Square, possibly terminating outside Moore’s Department Store (now the Samuel Way Building).  Could this have been Adelaide’s first Bee Line?

The Glenelg Railway which had terminated at Angas Street since 1873 was cut back to terminate at South Terrace in 1914.  This was done to remove the perceived nuisance of steam trains operating along King William Street.  To go someway of compensating the affected passengers, the Municipal Tramways Trust, commenced the operation of a short working of its Hyde Park tram service.  The service ran at certain times between the City and South Terrace, with train passengers being carried for free until 1921.

On 4^th October 1911 Adelaide’s first ‘City Loop’ service commenced, an electric tram service operating in both directions from King William Street / Currie Street via King William St, R Grote St, L Brown St (Morphett St), NW corner of Whitmore Sq, R Sturt St, R West Tce, R Currie Street to the terminal.  The service operated through part of the City not served at that time by electric trams.  The ‘West City’ service, as it was known ceased operation in 1925 following the earlier introduction of a tram service to Keswick via Sturt Street as well as the re-routing of the Henley Beach and Hilton trams via Currie Street and Glover Avenue.

The conversion of Glenelg Railway in 1929 to electric tram operation saw the reinstatement of of a direct public transport service from Victoria Square to Glenelg.  Passengers travelling from Glenelg to Rundle Street still had to walk or catch another tram from Victoria Square.  Glenelg trams only ran to Adelaide Station in the early morning and late evening.

From 1910 until 1953 passengers arriving at Adelaide Station by train were able to transfer to trams on North Terrace and travel along King William Street, although they had to pay for the privilege.  When the Findon Tram service was replaced by diesel buses in 1953 this facility simply vanished into thin air.

The 1968 Metropolitan Adelaide Transport Study (M.A.T.S) recognised that Adelaide’s suburban rail system served the Adelaide Central Business District poorly.  If it were to become an integral part of the transport network it needed to be extended underground so that it could compete with the motor car and provide a reasonable alternative to through City bus services.  The M.A.T.S plan proposed an underground railway from Adelaide Station along King William Street to South Terrace then via the Glenelg Tram reservation to link with the southern lines to Bridgewater and Hallett Cove.  There were to be stations provided at Rundle Street, Victoria Square and Gilles Street.  The underground railway was envisaged to be complete by 1986!

During the early 1970’s there was tremendous upsurge in public transport interest all the way around the world.  Many ciities were experimenting with new types of services including high frequency City Central services.  In 1971 the MTT prepared a report at the Minister of Transport’s request on a proposed City distributor service for Adelaide, linking Adelaide Station, the main shopping precinct, bus and tram terminals and Victoria Square.  The MTT recommended against such a service, saying that patronage would be light and it would cause congestion in King William Street.  In September 1973 the Department of Transport prepared a proposal for a ‘Blue Bus’ distributor service, the route proposed being the basis of today’s Bee Line.  As part of preliminary investigations an ex-Sydney double deck bus was given a trial, including a run along Gawler Place and Rundle Street.

As a result of the above proposal, on Monday 3^rd December 1973, the MTT commenced operating the Bee Line service as Route 99B.  It ran from the tram terminus in Victoria Square via King William St, L North Tce, L George St to the terminus.  Returning via L Hindley St, L Morphett St, R North Tce.  Specially painted 800 series Leyland Worldmaster buses were used.  The service was free and ran every 5 minutes during business hours and 10 minutes on Friday nights.  The red, yellow and white buses made it very easy for passengers to identify the buses on their approach.

The Bee Line was an overwhelming success, carrying approximately 8,200 passengers per day.  From mid 1979 the ageing Leyland Worldmasters were replaced by red, yellow and white AEC Swifts.  However, from 1986 conventional buses began operating on the Bee Line service as the AEC Swifts were being withdrawn from service.

The success of the Bee Line service led to requests to extend it to other parts of the City, principally the Central Market, Central Bus Station and Royal Adelaide Hospital.  As a consequence of the requests the STA commenced Route 99C known as the ‘City Loop’ on 29^th September 1980.  The service was identified by the AEC Swift buses being painted red, white and blue.  The service operated every 10 minutes in both directions during business hours, Monday to Friday.  The route commenced from Adelaide Station on North Terrace and ran via North Tce, R East Tce, R Rundle St, L Pulteney St, R Wakefield St, Grote St, R Morphett St, R North Tce.

Despite extensive publicity the service was never well patronised, with its peak usage being about 3400 passengers per day.  In 1981 Routes 301 & 302 were through linked with route 530 & 531 and operated along the full length of North Terrace, thus providing additional pressure on Route 99C.  Patronage on the City Loop continued to be poor, but on 12^th February 1984 there were a number of service changes on other bus routes to improve the City distribution.  Northern Routes 307, 308, 311, 320, 321 and 322 through linked with southern routes 620, 630, 640 and 641 and operated from Government House via North Terrace, Pulteney Street and Wakefield Street.  This spelt the death knell for Route 99C.  However, from Monday 13^th February 1984 Route 99C was altered to operate over the western portion of route only.  From Victoria Square buses operated via Gouger St, Angas St, L Chancery Ln, L Wakefield St, Grote St, R Morphett St, R Hindley St, L King William St, L North Tce, L Morphett St, L Gouger St. The service was altered to operate every 15 minutes.

Despite the STA trying to boost patronage it was in all in vain as only about 470 passengers used the service per day and so on 27^th December 1984, Route 99C was withdrawn from service.

In November 1986 Route 99B was re-routed via West Terrace instead of Morphett Street to overcome traffic difficulties at the Morphett Street / North Terrace intersection.

In 1993 the State Government set up a new governing body to manage Adelaide’s public transport services.  This new organisation is the PASSENGER TRANSPORT BOARD.  As a result of this the STA was renamed TRANSADELAIDE on 4^th July 1994.  The PTB set about dividing the bus services into “contract” areas and then put them to tender for varying periods of time.

On 9^th December 1995 TransAdelaide re-introduced the Route 99C City Loop, although it followed a slightly different route to it’s predecessor a decade ago.  The route commenced in Victoria Square and ran via Wakefield St, L Pulteney St, R Grenfell St, L East Tce, L North Tce, L West Tce, L Hindley St, R Morphett St, L Franklin St, R Bowen St, L Grote St to the terminal @ Victoria Square.  The service operated every 30 minutes Monday to Saturday and ran in both directions.  The frequency was improved to every 15 minutes from 19^th February 1996.

Routes 99B and 99C were marketed by the PTB as ‘CityFree’ and used the new wheelchair accessible vehicles which painted in a special yellow livery with artistic drawings of Adelaide’s attractions.  The buses were fitted with television screens and they show promotional footage of Adelaide and its surrounds.  This is a far cry from the Bee Lines humble beginnings over 30 years ago.  Furthermore, with the advent of Sunday trading in ? Routes 99B and 99C were provided with a Sunday service for the first time in their history.

Following the installation of traffic lights at the intersection of Morphett Street and North Terrace Route 99B reverted to its original route from 17^th March 1997.

As a result of the State Government’s policy of tendering out Adelaide’s bus services, TRANSADELAIDE lost all of its bus contracts.  The City Free services, which operate out of Mile End Depot were awarded to TORRENS TRANSIT, which commenced operating from Sunday 23^rd April 2000.

In 2001 the Adelaide City Council commenced its own free bus service known as ‘Adelaide Connector’.  It uses small 19 seater Mitsubishi Rosa buses.

In 2002 the service was handed over to Serco who operate the service on behalf of the City Council.

On Sunday 17^th October 2007, the new tramline along King William Street and North Terrace came into operation and as a result the famous Beeline, Route 99B was last operated on the afternoon of Saturday 16^th October.  The honour of the last timetabled run was given to Torrens Transit bus no. 1756.

Acknowledgements

In preparing this story I acknowledge the information provided in documents by:-

Messers D.G Evans, C.J.M Steele, J.C Radcliffe, R.T Wheaton and T.J Wilson.

Original story published in STA magazine Among Ourselves in 1988.