Summary 27-31 March

Overall a pretty good week, with no cancellations and no serious delays. Green remains at 61%, orange at 23% and red at 16%.

Mon 27/03	Tue 28/03	Wed 29/03	Thu 30/03	Fri 31/03
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14
17:49	18:01	17:49	17:38	18:50
Mon 20/03	Tue 21/03	Wed 22/03	Thu 23/03	Fri 24/03
07:14	06:59	07:14	06:59	N/A
N/A	17:27	N/A	N/A	N/A
Mon 13/03	Tue 14/03	Wed 15/03	Thu 16/03	Fri 17/03
N/A	07:14	N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Mon 06/03	Tue 07/03	Wed 08/03	Thu 09/03	Fri 10/03
07:14	07:14	N/A	N/A	09:11
17:38	N/A	N/A	N/A	18:01
Mon 27/02	Tue 28/02	Wed 01/03	Thu 02/03	Fri 03/03
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14
18:01	17:07	17:49	17:38	17:49
Mon 20/02	Tue 21/02	Wed 22/02	Thu 23/02	Fri 24/02
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14
18:01	18:12	17:17	17:49	N/A
Mon 13/02	Tue 14/02	Wed 15/02	Thu 16/02	Fri 17/02
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	09:37
17:38	17:49	17:49	17:27	13:42
Mon 06/02	Tue 07/02	Wed 08/02	Thu 09/02	Fri 10/02
08:49	07:14	07:14	07:14	N/A
17:49	17:38	18:24	18:01	N/A
Mon 30/01	Tue 31/01	Wed 01/02	Thu 02/02	Fri 03/02
07:14	09:24	N/A	N/A	N/A
17:49	17:38	N/A	N/A	N/A
Mon 23/01	Tue 24/01	Wed 25/01	Thu 26/01	Fri 27/01
07:14	07:14	07:14	N/A	07:14
17:38	18:01	17:49	N/A	17:07
Mon 26/12	Tue 27/12	Wed 28/12	Thu 29/12	Fri 30/12
N/A	N/A	07:59	07:29	07:14
N/A	N/A	17:27	17:17	15:45
Mon 19/12	Tue 20/12	Wed 21/12	Thu 22/12	Fri 23/12
10:04	07:14	10:32	07:29	07:49
18:01	18:01	N/A	19:35	N/A
Mon 12/12	Tue 13/12	Wed 14/12	Thu 15/12	Fri 16/12
07:14	07:14	N/A	N/A	N/A
18:12	17:49	N/A	N/A	N/A
Mon 05/12	Tue 06/12	Wed 07/12	Thu 08/12	Fri 09/12
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14
17:49	18:50	18:01	N/A	17:07
Mon 28/11	Tue 29/11	Wed 30/11	Thu 01/12	Fri 02/12
07:14	07:14	07:14	N/A	07:14
18:35	18:35	18:35	N/A	17:49
Mon 21/11	Tue 22/11	Wed 23/11	Thu 24/11	Fri 25/11
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	10:47
17:49	17:27	18:01	17:38	18:01
Mon 07/11	Tue 08/11	Wed 09/11	Thu 10/11	Fri 11/11
08:49	N/A	N/A	N/A	08:49
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	18:12
Mon 31/10	Tue 01/11	Wed 02/11	Thu 03/11	Fri 04/11
07:14	N/A	07:14	07:14	07:14
17:38	N/A	17:38	17:27	17:49
Mon 24/10	Tue 25/10	Wed 26/10	Thu 27/10	Fri 28/10
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14
17:38	17:38	17:38	17:38	17:07
Mon 17/10	Tue 18/10	Wed 19/10	Thu 20/10	Fri 21/10
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14
17:49	18:24	17:38	17:17	18:12
Mon 10/10	Tue 11/10	Wed 12/10	Thu 13/10	Fri 14/10
07:14	07:14	07:14	N/A	07:14
18:12	18:24	17:38	N/A	17:38
Mon 03/10	Tue 04/10	Wed 05/10	Thu 06/10	Fri 07/10
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	09:49
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	17:38
Mon 26/09	Tue 27/09	Wed 28/09	Thu 29/09	Fri 30/09
N/A	07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14
N/A	17:38	18:01	18:01	18:24
Mon 19/09	Tue 20/09	Wed 21/09	Thu 22/09	Fri 23/09
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	06:59
16:57	N/A	17:38	18:01	N/A
Mon 12/09	Tue 13/09	Wed 14/09	Thu 15/09	Fri 16/09
07:14	07:14	07:14	N/A	07:14
17:27	17:38	17:38	N/A	18:50
Mon 29/08	Tue 30/08	Wed 31/08	Thu 01/09	Fri 02/09
07:14	07:14	07:14	N/A	07:14
17:27	17:38	18:12	N/A	N/A
Mon 22/08	Tue 23/08	Wed 24/08	Thu 25/08	Fri 26/08
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14
17:38	17:38	17:38	18:01	17:27
Mon 15/08	Tue 16/08	Wed 17/08	Thu 18/08	Fri 19/08
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14
17:38	17:38	17:49	17:38	17:38
Mon 08/08	Tue 09/08	Wed 10/08	Thu 11/08	Fri 12/08
07:14	07:14	07:14	10:17	07:14
18:01	17:38	17:38	17:49	17:38
Mon 01/08	Tue 02/08	Wed 03/08	Thu 04/08	Fri 05/08
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	09:24
17:38	17:38	17:49	17:38	N/A
Mon 25/07	Tue 26/07	Wed 27/07	Thu 28/07	Fri 29/07
N/A	N/A	07:14	07:14	07:14
N/A	N/A	17:27	11:42	18:24
Mon 18/07	Tue 19/07	Wed 20/07	Thu 21/07	Fri 22/07
06:59	07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14
17:38	18:12	17:38	17:38	16:27
Mon 11/07	Tue 12/07	Wed 15/07	Thu 14/07	Fri 15/07
07:14	06:59	07:14	07:14	07:14
18:01	17:38	17:38	18:50	18:01
Mon 06/06	Tue 07/06	Wed 08/06	Thu 09/06	Fri 10/06
07:14	07:14	N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Mon 30/05	Tue 31/05	Wed 01/06	Thu 02/06	Fri 03/06
08:39	07:14	07:14	06:59	05:40
17:49	17:49	18:12	18:24	18:12
Mon 23/05	Tue 24/05	Wed 25/05	Thu 26/05	Fri 27/05
07:14	07:14	N/A	07:14	07:14
17:38	18:24	N/A	17:49	17:38
Mon 16/05	Tue 17/05	Wed 18/05	Thu 19/05	Fri 20/05
07:14	12:47	06:59	N/A	07:14
17:38	17:38	17:38	N/A	17:38
Mon 09/05	Tue 10/05	Wed 11/05	Thu 12/05	Fri 13/05
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14
18:01	17:38	18:01	18:12	18:35
Mon 02/05	Tue 03/05	Wed 04/05	Thu 05/05	Fri 06/05
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14
16:37	17:38	17:38	17:38	18:50
Mon 25/04	Tue 26/04	Wed 27/04	Thu 28/04	Fri 29/04
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	09:11
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	17:38
Mon 18/04	Tue 19/04	Wed 20/04	Thu 21/04	Fri 22/04
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14
17:49	17:38	17:38	17:38	17:38
Mon 11/04	Tue 12/04	Wed 13/04	Thu 14/04	Fri 15/04
07:14	07:14	07:14	N/A	07:14
17:38	17:27	17:27	N/A	19:35
Mon 04/04	Tue 05/04	Wed 06/04	Thu 07/04	Fri 08/04
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14
17:38	17:38	17:38	17:27	17:38

Fri 31 March - End of a good week...

The 07:14 is more or less on time - it's been a pretty good week on the whole. I had vaguely thought I'd use the pushie again a few times this week, but the trains have been reliable enough that I haven't felt a need, plus I've got one of those colds that makes you feel less than enthused about any form of exercise.

Finish up a bit late tonight, home on the 18:50. Once again it's pretty much on time.

Thu 30 March - Not too bad...

Well I am only too happy to admit when I'm wrong (not really, I hate doing so!) but in this case it's fair to say that Connex' wheels have not fallen off after the efforts during the Games fortnight. I haven't had one SMS alert for a cancellation this week and while one or two of the trains might've been slightly late, there haven't been any serious delays either.

The 07:14 is on time.

So too the 17:38. Even more amazing was the fact that a cleaner came through picking up rubbish - I've never ever seen that in over five years of regularly using Connex trains. Next thing you know they'll start keeping passengers informed... OK, perhaps I'm getting carried away!

Wed 29 March - When's the election...?

I'm not sure I should be confessing this so publicly, but I'm politically agnostic. Well I'm probably politically atheist but that's not a valid expression. Whatever. The point is that I don't believe in the politicians, I think democracy is seriously flawed and I don't vote. And yes, I do have a better solution - benevolent despotism!

Anyway, I don't vote because I don't believe anything a politician says, and I have refused to go along with this idea of voting for the other guy just because you dislike the current guy's policies. I can't recall that I’ve ever cast a serious vote in my life, yet I'm actually considering doing so now. Why? Because I am convinced that that weasel Batchelor should be tossed out of office. I'm not necessarily convinced that Terry Mulder will do any better, but I'm past caring. I just want to see Batchelor gone - so much so that I'm even considering selling out my basic non-voting principles.

We'll see, November's still a fair way off…

The 07:14 just scrapes in and avoids an orange.

The 17:49 is in when I get there, but mysteriously doesn't leave until 17:50. We manage to lose a couple more minutes so we're three minutes late at Ripponlea.

Here's my final comment on the "keep away from the doors" debate that Chris/The Met feels is about the single biggest factor in the tardiness of our trains...

This evening we're only slightly late and I have to assume the 17:38 ran as scheduled. In my carriage there are 130-140 people as near as I can count. This is slightly more crowded than normal, but certainly not out of the ordinary for a train at this time of day.

Most of the seats are taken, apart from the odd one or two. They're small seats so possibly the adjacent seat is occupied by somebody of a larger frame, making the second seat unusable. Anyway, it's one of the newer double door trains (sorry, not being a gunzel I don't know the brand, they're just trains to me). There are around 10-12 people standing in each of the two ends and around 20 in the area between the seats in the centre of the carriage.

By Chris/The Met's theory this is all right and proper, and nobody should've been standing in the floor area between the doors. Unfortunately there are around 20-25 of us in each of the two doorways, sorry about that Chris. Kinda hard to see where we 40-50 people could've gone if we weren't to stand there. Maybe we should've got off and waited for the next train?

So here's the challenge to you Chris/The Met - you meet me at 17:49 at Flinders Street on a day of your choosing. You can then explain to me and our fellow passengers where we should stand in order to keep away from the doors. If you can do so successfully, I'll back down from my position. If you can't, you can retract your claims publicly in this blog. Sound fair?

Tue 28 March - Well, Sir Topham...?

As is often the case, I'm indebted to a fellow commuter who keeps me fed with useful information pertaining to Connex. In this case the interesting titbit was Sir Topham Hatt’s rather frank assessment of the issues he faces as fat controller of the Sodor rail network. For those who are interested it's here. Thanks to CB for the link.

So, Sir Topham, this is all very interesting, but what are YOU going to do about these problems? Perhaps those slides with your proposed solutions were missing from the end of your presentation?

The 07:14 is on time.

Home on the 18:01 and it's on time too.

Mon 27 March - Post-Games blues...?

A few commentators are suggesting that Connex may suffer from post-Games blues after making such a big effort over the last two weeks. I guess we'll know in a few days if they're right.

The 07:14 seems very full this morning - did the 06:59 not run? It gets a slow start and arrives at Flinders Street just over three minutes late, so we start the week orange. Are those commentators being proven correct already?

But going home on the 17:49 is OK, we're a tad late but not enough to score an orange.