Connex Whinger

Th..th...th..that's all folks

2007-11-23T20:30:00.001+11:00

Well, this is my last CW blog entry as a commuter. From today I am no longer a Connex customer! Seven years of commuting hell end today.

I can't even begin to estimate how many times I've stood in the platform at Flinders Street dreaming about not being subservient to the whims of Connex and their complete lack of customer service. Despite the improvements in recent times there's still a long long way to go. And thankfully I'm no longer affected by them. So despite the sense of sadness at the end of far and away the best job I ever had (which is the only reason I've put up with Connex for so long) there is at least one silver lining.

While I'm in not really thinking about my next job yet, I am determined that it will be somewhere that I can sensibly drive to. Now I know that's not the best thing for the environment, but I've done my share over the last seven years and my level of commitment to public transport has been way too one-sided. Until I start to see some commitment from our elected representatives, in the shape of serious public transport policy and planning, I'm afraid I'm going back to being part of the problem.

All the best to those who continue to be locked in to an ongoing Connex relationship.

Into the lion's den?

2007-11-20T05:48:00.000+11:00

Those who have read my (increasingly sporadic) blog entries over time will probably have noticed a bit of a shift. In ignorance, I started out solely blaming Connex for the appalling state of our rail network, but as I've gained a better understanding the focus shifted more towards our state government, specifically Batchelor and more recently the Cloth-Eared Nuff-Nuff.

Along the way Connex has made improvements to the reliability of the trains, so while they're far from perfect the number of cancellations has reduced since this blog started two and a half years ago. What hasn't improved all that much is the hopeless communication when things do go wrong. SMS alerts are still very unreliable, the old screens have been replaced by new ones but they still display "listen for announcement" all too often. And we still stand on the platform wondering if/when our train will arrive, several minutes after the scheduled departure time, without word from Connex. You can't blame Kosky et al for that!

A couple of years ago I participated in what we laughingly called "discussion" on the Railpage forums. At the time, somebody challenged me to put up or shut up - ie if I thought I could do better why didn't I go work for Connex and see if I could fix things. At the time I was enjoying the challenges of my current position so I politely declined. Two years later that position has changed, and I had the opportunity to go talk to Connex about just such a possibility. So that's what happened yesterday afternoon.

Let's just sum it up by saying that I don't really think Connex is ready for my approach! Much as I would've liked to put my money where my mouth is, I'm afraid it's just not going to happen. It's a pity because I have a lot of confidence that I could've really made a difference, but it's just not meant to be.

Failure to communicate

2007-11-07T19:45:00.000+11:00

Enter Flinders Street Station at 17:20, hoping the 17:26 is OK. The flash new screens suggest the next Sandy train is the 16:58... Uh oh!

Indeed the monitor on platform 13 monitor confirms the next train is the 16:58. While platform 12's monitor suggests nothing there until the 17:49.

Meanwhile the new service update page is still not showing any issues on the Sandy line.

Suddenly at 17:25 the screens on both platforms give us the "Listen for Announcement" notice. We try, but it's inaudible, so there's just a sea of confused faces on the platform. Moments later a train pulls into platform 12, with no announcement. Is it ours? The LED display helpfully welcomes us to Connex but stubbornly refuses to tell us whether it's the Sandy train or not. Turns out it is...

Communication guys, that's all we ask!

Meet the managers...

2007-11-01T19:54:00.000+11:00

I was possibly going to have a work commitment that would preclude me from attending today's "meet the managers" session. I'd been looking forward to a bit of badinage with Bruce and his team, so was disappointed when I thought I'd miss it. But as I'm sure you've already deduced, I was free after all, so off I went to Melbourne Central.

I had a very long chat to the GM Network Services, Sean, who actually seems to have his finger on the pulse. I'd prepared a reasonable list of questions, but he had answers to most of them. And I mean real, plausible answers. Call me gullible if you like, but after chatting with him for probably 15-20 minutes, I came away with the feeling that there really is a change happening in Connex. Perhaps it's the fear of actually losing the contract, perhaps its an injection of funds from Brumby and co. But all those new screens and stuff are the outwards signs of a thrust towards improving customer information at long last, and Sean appears to be the major driver in this. One interesting piece of info was that the PDP-11s have finally been retired, after more than 30 years' gallant service!

For those who've missed it, there's the new web page at http://www.platypusworld.com/connex_frame/eventdetails.asp that lets you keep an eye on cancellations as they happen. If you have a mobile or PDA that has a web browser you can check the status of trains on the way to the station - provided staff update it of course!

I also caught up with Sir Topham for a couple of minutes. Again he seems to be sincere about wanting to fix the Sodor customer service issues. It remains to be seen whether they can deliver, but I did walk away from Melbourne Central with a changed perception. I believe these guys really do want to finally address these customer service issues... I guess time will tell if I've been sucked in or not.

How did I know?!

2007-10-23T18:03:00.001+10:00

I never travel without a valid ticket. Never. Just one of those things that I don't do.

Today I inserted my 10 x 2 hour ticket with six empty slots and got the dreaded "re-try" message. Tried it in a second machine, same result. So I've gone over to the customer service guys and they've had look at it, opened the barrier and let me through. I was heading down the stairs and suddenly thought "hang on a minute..."

I've gone back and pointed out to them that I didn't actually have a validated ticket - slight hint of irony there! So they tried it, same result. The woman then scraped it with something, they tried it, and it now worked. One validated ticket.

Unbelievably, we pulled into Ripponlea and there were the ticket inspectors. I don't think I've ever seen them there before, yet by the biggest coincidence I was within a whisker of getting caught for no ticket!

No doubt they would've had no problem accepting my story and letting me off, had I not clicked back at Flinders Street...!

Banished to the back blocks

2007-10-22T18:30:00.000+10:00

Here's the problem: while I was out of town a few weeks ago, the Sandy line was permanently banished to platforms 12 and 13. We now have an extra few hundred metres to walk, but that's not the issue.

The problem is that you get to platform 10 and you can see a train way in the distance on 12 or 13. And the question is whether that's the previous train running late, or is it the next train already sitting there?

Knowing how unreliable Connex can be, there's a massive compulsion to get on the train that's there, since there's no confidence that the next one will run. So do you run for it, just in case? Or do you walk normally only to see it pull away, knowing that's the cue for the next one to be cancelled?

How hard would it be to put one more big plasma/LCD screen on platform 10 summarising all platforms, as they have on platform 8? If Connex management actually used their train system, I'm sure they would've already done so!

A message to Bruce Hughes

2007-10-11T08:30:00.000+10:00

Bruce, you and your executive team are doing your meet-and-greet fact finding over the coming months, but unfortunately I'll be interstate for your next session. So here's something to chew over in the meantime...

Yesterday evening typified what's wrong when you cancel a train. I needed to get home early to finish off a uni assignment due that day. I couldn't quite get out in time for the Sandy 17:16, so went for the 17:26 instead.

I reached platform 8 at 17:21, but there was a Frankston train sitting there and your fancy new monitor that theoretically tells us what's on each platform was full of "Listen for announcement" messages. No offence Bruce, but you're really not very good at making announcements! Besides, what's the point of all these new monitors if they can't be relied upon to keep your customers informed?

So I went up to the concourse to see if I could find some information - stap me vitals if that's not a bloke wearing a Connex customer service vest! So I politely asked him what he knew about the 17:26 to Sandy. He helpfully pointed me towards platforms 12 and 13, where the monitors were both suggesting we listen for announcements. Given that it was now one minute to departure time and there'd been no announcements, I think we both knew that was not going to help us.

So he led me to the impressive new bank of monitors that replaced the old departure board. And that said the next Sandy train was going from platform 12, but it was the 17:37! I'd had no SMS alert about the 17:26, I'd heard no announcement, and nor had your staff member, it completely vanished without word. Meanwhile the platform 12 monitor was still urging me to listen!

I caught the tram instead... slow but dependable.

Thing is Bruce, we all accept that the Sodor train set can fail from time to time. But when this happens, we really, really, really want you to tell us what's going on. But you never do.

Ask Sir Topham Hatt the tough questions

2007-10-04T15:17:00.001+10:00

At last, a chance to ask Sir Topham Hatt exactly what he's doing with our trains, and how he intends to fix them.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22529774-2862,00.html

Apologies for the lack of updates, I had some time off to finally get my broken collarbone fixed up. I was back for a few days and then I've been off for the school holidays. I've missed the whole new timetable fiasco, the problems caused by people being sick, signals failing, doors being held open, people getting backpacks in others' way, farting, sitting with legs akimbo, and all the other things that can impact on the efficient running of our trains.

But I did notice that there's been a big upsurge in SMS alerts from the Connex systems over the last couple of weeks. And they were notable for almost always being issued after the scheduled departure time! So no improvement there then. Let's add it to the list of questions for Sir Topham, shall we?

Oh well...

2007-08-24T05:30:00.000+10:00

It looks as if the change at the top has not made any difference to the enthusiasm of the Labor government for pouring our hard-earned into inefficient private enterprise.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Melbourne-trains-trams-up-for-grabs/2007/08/21/1187462256340.html

And that can only mean more of the same for Melbourne's long-suffering commuters. Luckily it appears that a couple of totalitarian government operators are interested in taking up the challenge. Who knows, if Singapore's SMRT wins the bid over Connex we might be able to convince them to broaden their portfolio - then we'd see some efficiencies around Victoria!

After the failed "Don't hold others back" campaign, I see the latest push from Connex is a broader campaign to educate us to be better commuters. Don't fart, don't spread your legs, don't wear a backpack, don't put on make-up, don't talk on your mobile, don't listen to an iPod etc. Maybe Singapore's SMRT already has control?

http://www.martinmerton.com/index.html

Connex no longer apologises

2007-07-24T07:35:00.000+10:00

The Connex SMS cancellation alerts used to finish with "Connex apologises for any inconvenience", probably not exactly sincere, but at least there was some recognition of the fact that we, their customers, were impacted by Sir Topham's inability to keep Thomas, Edward, Percy and co running. I noticed the other day that they now say "Connex, Keeping you updated".

So what does that mean, Sir Topham? You've given up any pretence of caring? Or is it that you realise that after years of apologising without actually fixing your train set, people are sick of hearing it?

Interesting that your poor cousin, Melbourne Bus Link doesn't have an SMS alert system. Why is that? Oh, because their buses just run pretty much to the timetable and don't get cancelled!

If you have nothing good to say...

2007-06-30T06:30:00.000+10:00

Everybody's mum must have said this at least once - "If you have nothing good to say about x, don't say anything at all" - I'm sure mine used to say it a lot.

But in the case of the ConnexWhinger blog it's the opposite, I have nothing bad to say so I've been saying nothing! The reason I have been so slack at blogging lately is that there's just not that much happening in my Connex life.

Having more or less recovered from the fall from the pushie a few months ago, I'm getting back into the fairly regular Perth trips. I catch the bus in most mornings now - it's clean, it's very reliable, it's not crowded, and most importantly it's not run by Connex! I sometimes get the bus home and sometimes the train, the bus is pretty reliable but can be slow, the train is pretty unreliable but is quick.

In the few weeks since I last posted, I've probably caught the train a handful of times. Sometimes it's been on time, sometimes on time©®™, and once late in anybody's language, I don't think there have been any cancellations of a train I've been aiming to catch. The trouble is I'm no longer a frequent enough user to judge whether it's any better or any worse than it's always been. I still arrive at the station and if it's a few minutes before departure time and no train is sitting at the platform, I automatically start wondering whether it will arrive on time, or at all. And as we sail past the scheduled departure time with no service announcement, I just stand there along with all the other sheep waiting and wondering where our train is. Just as we've been doing since Connex took over the Sandy line.

So to answer the couple of recent questions about when I'm coming back, it'll be when I have something bad to say about Connex!

I still hate you Connex!

2007-06-06T19:43:00.001+10:00

OK, I know we've all got a bit of focus on the Bracks Government and why they need to sack Connex, but let's not forget they could do a little more without expending too much effort. Like tonight, I'm waiting for the 18:12 and their own clock is already showing 18:13 before they bother to tell us that the train is running late - yeah we kinda figured that mate, the lack of a big silver thing at the platform at 18:12 was a bit of a hint! Thing is, surely they knew where that train was, didn't they? I mean it was in the system somewhere, and somebody in Metrol had some idea where our train was. Why didn't he just tell us?

So eventually the train rolls in and it fills up pretty quickly. My collar bone is still flopping around, since I seem unable to find a surgeon who has a clue how to fix it, and I really don't want to be stuck in the doorway getting shoved. And of course I'm very conscious that standing in the doorway makes trains very late, after all Connex spent millions telling us this. Unfortunately there's nowhere else to stand as the train is full up.

Anyway, on the subject of Connex and their favoured relationship with Bracks and the Nuff-nuff, I've uploaded the very interesting segment from Stateline for those who missed it.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6120199477099126658&hl=en

Sack Connex!

2007-06-01T05:47:00.002+10:00

Sack Connex was the clear message at last night's public meeting. It is up to us, Melbourne commuters, to convince Steve Bracks to return Melbourne's trains to public hands.

Rob Gell presented first and gave some pretty compelling arguments as to why we should have a decent and reliable public transport system. He came across as a little too rabidly anti-car for my taste, and if he had publicly renounced the use of cars altogether he might've been more convincing. I just couldn't help thinking of Jeremy Clarkson on Top Gear challenging various celebrities about their ownership of a Toyota Prius!

What Rob Gell lacked in sincerity was amply made up for by Fiona Taylor from OurPublicTransport.org. If that is not the most sincere, intelligent and motivational speech I've ever heard, bar none, I don't know what is. Fiona is one of us, an average Melbourne commuter who has simply had enough and is not going to take it any more! I sit here and whinge with the luxury of a train, tram or bus all within a ten minute walk, while those in outer suburbs have literally nothing for large parts of each and every day - if you can't afford a car, that's it, you simply stay at home. Yet this is 2007 and we have had a Labor government for years.

OurPublicTransport.org is not prepared to let Connex keep its franchise and has a number of ideas on how to tackle this. Head over to their website and give them some support.

Lastly we had Dr Paul Mees. As always, a very clear presentation of what's wrong with our public transport system and how it can be done much, much better. It was along the lines of his article in The Age a day or two ago. Clearly if other government bodies can operate an efficient, integrated, cost-effective public transport system, so can we. As Paul pointed out, their solutions are there to examine and copy, we don't even have to work it out for ourselves.

So what are we going to do about it? It's more than two years since I started blogging. Initially I wanted people to get off their backsides in joining me to tackle the apathy of Connex staff and management. Over time, as is clear from my evolving blogs, my focus has shifted more towards Batchelor and Bracks, followed by Kosky the cloth-eared nuff-nuff. Kosky is obviously just a waste of space, so the answer must lie with Bracks. Just like Howard, Bracks is a pollie who doesn't like too much negative publicity. We need to find ways to keep this issue under his nose leading up to the November decision on whether to renew Connex' contract. Personally I think OurPublicTransport.org is the organisation to do that with.

Kosky bereft of ideas?

2007-05-27T16:33:00.000+10:00

Seriously, is this the best she can offer? What hope is there for Melbourne's commuters?

We recently had the fanfare when nine services were added across all lines in peak times. As Paul Mees said - "The system now carries 600,000, so adding 7000 extra spaces a day is 1 per cent," he said. "Patronage has gone up 18 per cent. To respond to that massive rise with this is not quite meeting our public transport challenges." Does this cloth-eared nuff-nuff have any understanding at all about our public transport systems? Is she even qualified to be involved at all in the Connex contract renewal decision? I'd suggest not.

Now the latest revelation is this mob was warned nearly a year ago that the system was in crisis, so why weren't our new trains ordered then? Oh, I see, Batchelor was in charge - how convenient for the nuff-nuff. All they had to do was head down to one of the loop stations in peak hour to see what the problem was!

Anyway, on to the CENN's proposal to deal with this issue... change all the schools' start and finish times. Honestly, that's her answer! Don't worry about the huge impact that's going to have for people who have arranged their lives around the current school times. Unbelievable!

Anyway, don't forgot the meeting this Thursday, details below.

Public meeting

2007-05-17T08:00:00.000+10:00

Linkup Melbourne has organised a public meeting for Thursday 31 May, details here.

If you saw this earlier, I'm afraid I was a bit inaccurate in my description. Apologies for that, it is actually a public meeting.

Confession time...

2007-05-17T05:53:00.000+10:00

If you're wondering why there's so little commentary on the daily Connex commute, there's a good reason - I'm not doing it any more! That's right, the Connex Whinger has given up on Connex.

It came about after the broken collar bone several weeks ago. Travelling on an overcrowded train is a significant challenge when you're carrying an injury. People bump and jostle you just trying to sqeeze in - it's not their fault but that doesn't make it any less painful (nor any less annoying).

So I'm pretty much a bus convert as things stand today. The morning bus is pretty reliable, although experience suggests it can be more than five minutes EARLY and up to ten minutes late. At 7:00am though the traffic is fairly light so we generally get a good run and I'm in the office a few minutes earlier than if I'd caught the train. Given that I only leave the house five minutes earlier, the door-to-door travel time is about the same. But MUCH less crowded!

Getting home is not so great, as the traffic is so bad after 5:00pm. While the bone's healing, I'm making the effort to get out of the office before then, but that's not really sustainable. I guess I'll try it a few times and inevitably I expect I'll be back to the evening crush with Connex, unless I can convince myself that cycling home in winter is preferable.

Anyway, for now I'll continue to post about the many issues that arise almost daily about Connex and Kosky. Feel free to keep the comments coming.

A couple of conversations...

2007-05-14T08:00:00.000+10:00

Cloth-eared nuff-nuff: Hey Bruce, your train set is a shambles and the proles are emailing me to sort it out

Fat controller: Hi Lynne, I thought you had your spam filter set to max so you didn't see those?

Cloth-eared nuff-nuff: One got through from Bracksy. Anyway mate, gonna have to fine you $10m

Fat controller: Yeah no worries, cheque's in the mail

Cloth-eared nuff-nuff: Thanks mate, see you for a glass of Chardy next Thursday

Next Thursday...

Fat controller: Hey Lynne, the usual?

Cloth-eared nuff-nuff: Yeah, thanks Bruce

Fat controller: You know, we're struggling to meet financial targets this month

Cloth-eared nuff-nuff: Oh dear, how much are you short?

Fat controller: Umm, about $10m will cover it

Cloth-eared nuff-nuff: No worries mate, cheque's in the mail! Cheers!

Fat controller: Cheers!

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/late-trains-fines-hit-62m/2007/05/13/1178994997217.html

While we're talking about The Age, have a look at Alan Attwood's comments...

I have a dream in which an army of commuters - all of us from the 8.17 or 8.33 or the 8.44 via the Loop - stream out of Parliament Station, past the newspaper guy and Louis the Big Issue vendor, and head not to our offices but across Spring Street to the steps of Parliament House. There we gather in an angry mass, serried ranks of pent-up frustration, doing a Peter Finch and declaring we're mad as hell and are NOT going to take it any more.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/commuters-sick-of-hearing-apologies/2007/05/13/1178994989570.html

I'm up for it, anybody else want to join in with Alan's protest?

Liars, damned liars and politicians

2007-05-10T19:47:00.000+10:00

Hands up, who's looked at the cloth-eared nuff-nuff's personal website? If you haven't, check it out at www.lynnekosky.com.

The bit that amuses me is her opening sentence...

"As your state parliamentary representative I am here to help you!"

And what really amuses me is that last bit is not just me emphasising it, it is actually bolded on her website... lucky old me, Lynne is here to help me!

So I spent a fair while back in early February crafting a well thought out email offering her some sensible ideas and inviting her to come and meet some of the travelling public who would like her help, me included. After all she did offer to help me!

I received an automated acknowledgement, so it seems the email at least made it to her office. But now, more than three months later, I have yet to receive any further response. Lynne, where's the help you offered me? Could it be that you are lying? Could it be that you are not here to help me at all? Could it be that you, like most other politicians, are only in it for yourself? Surely not?

If you are not lying and you really are here to help me and other long-suffering commuters, how about coming down to Flinders Street one day at peak hour and check out your domain for yourself? Talk to a couple of your consituents waiting patiently for their sardine can trains. In short, put up or shut up... help me!

More trains - too little too late

2007-05-03T16:30:00.000+10:00

So Bracks, Brumby and Kosky are proudly delivering a whopping ten extra trains - in two years! They're going to carry a HUGE 8,000 people in peak hour. But let's not get too excited here. Let's assume that's one extra service on the Sandy line in peak hour, or around 17% extra capacity.

Earth to Bracks Government... you've got that increase already! If you had those trains operational today they'd already be full to overflowing, you cretins. By 2009 (realistically 2010) when these ten trains are operational, they'll be more crowded than today's sardine tins.

Where is your vision? And where is our new train control system, while you're at it? And while we're discussing your technology, what's with the new screens at Flinders Street? Can we anticipate actually seeing more (or even some) useful and accurate information on them? Don't think I'll be getting any big surprises there!

12% increase?

2007-04-24T07:45:00.000+10:00

So let me get this straight Kosky, Bracks and assorted pollies. You were looking for a threefold increase in passengers over the next decade or so, yet a 12% increase has so taken you by surprise that you have to pay a fortune to buy back and refurbish 30 year old scrap trains? If you aren't the most pathetic bunch of morons to ever run this state, please enlighten me as to who outdumbs you.

Peak hour trains are reminiscent of the Mumbai Special even when they run to time - as expressed in this blog many times, a small delay quickly makes them intolerable. So your well thought out reaction is to go and pay through the nose for a handful of junk? You incompetent buffoons!

Get off your fat arses and do the jobs we pay you for.

No 07:13? Who cares?

2007-04-20T07:45:00.000+10:00

At 06:17 Connex alerted us to the cancellation of the 07:13. Ordinarily that would spark the internal debate about whether I could make the 06:59 or not. And ordinarily I probably could've done, but not while I'm dealing with this broken collar bone; it’s taking me much longer to get anything done, so no chance.

But of course I now have the option of the bus... How cool is that?! I've learnt the hard way that the bus timetable is slightly more flexible than the Connex timetable. Just like the train, the bus can be several minutes late, but unlike Connex’ trains, they can run up to five minutes EARLY! Took me a while to figure that one out, but now I just allow a few minutes extra when I'm bussing it. Having the SMS alerts and the bus as fallback pretty much solves the morning problem.

Sadly, buses in the evening are another matter altogether - it takes 25 minutes to get to St Kilda Road - I could walk it in 15! And ten times as many people seem to get the outbound bus as do inbound, so it's as crowded as the train.

I only recently discovered, quite by chance, that a 10x2 hour ticket can actually be used as an all day ticket. Probably everybody but me already knew this. But I'd always assumed that if I validated at 07:10 it would expire at 10:00 then if I validated again at 12:15 it would expire at 15:00. Using it a third time to get home would then use a third two hour session. But it seems that the second usage of the day extends its life for the rest of that day. And since a 10x2 hour ticket costs the same as a 5x1 day ticket (that recently replaced the 5-pack of daily tickets), I can't see any reason not two simply use the 10x2 hour ticket. When I think how many times I've wasted an all day ticket for the single inbound trip…

Not getting any better, nuff-nuff

2007-04-13T07:40:00.000+10:00

I've broken my collar bone, so I'm pretty much stuck with the trains for the next several weeks. Tuesday the 07:13 was eight minutes late, I had medical appointments Wednesday and Thursday so worked from home around those. Today the 07:13 was about also eight minutes late. So late even by nuff-nuff's who-gives-a-toss-about-plebs-on-trains standards.

And there we're back to my favourite topic - lack of information. It's taking me much longer to get ready in the morning, so I'm racing to get to Ripponlea on time. If the SMS notification system worked as it should, I would know I didn't have to hurry!

As for the cloth-eared nuff-nuff, it seems even her own colleagues despise her. Good to know we got that right. Now who's with me in a campaign to bring Peter Batchelor back...?!

07:13 On time - using dictionary meaning!

2007-04-03T18:42:00.000+10:00

I'm not sure how many months ago that all the Connex, State Government and PTUA negotiations finished and the 07:14 became the 07:13. Admittedly I haven't been as regular as I used to be, what with the still frequent Perth trips and the occasional foray into the bus world, but this train is still the one I go for.

And in all these months, this is the first time it's departed Ripponlea prior to the old time of 07:14. Now I know it's only one minute, but that's exactly my point - why bother going through all the palaver of changing the timetable by one minute? Just think about the reprinting of timetables alone! But if somebody, somewhere thought this important enough, why has it taken until now to implement?

OK the bus is not it!

2007-03-30T07:45:00.000+10:00

After all these years of frustration with The Met/M>Train/Connex I'd recently tried the bus and found it a pleasant surprise - clean, comfortable, quick and uncrowded. I'm still doing the train in/bike home thing, but as the evenings get darker, colder and wetter I've been looking seriously at the bus as on option.

But I just can't!

See the bus is due at 07:03 and if I wait until 07:07 I can still get to Ripponlea in time to catch the 07:13. And a couple of times I've played this brinkmanship game but it's too stressful!

Today I'm planning to run home, so I have the option of the bus. But it doesn't show and off I go. If it shows up while I'm between bus stops I'm not sure how I'll go flagging down the driver. Anyway it doesn't, so the point is moot. Did it show a minute later? Five minutes later? At all? And that's the problem, even if the trains are hopeless, you still have a glimmer of hope that you can find out somehow. But with the bus, you have no idea what's happening, and no way of finding out. So it's the 07:13 from Ripponlea after all... better the devil you know!

Update:
At 07:40 we get the message that all Sandy trains are delayed at Sandy due to vandalism. Looks like I was lucky with the 07:13. Would've been really spewing to have let the bus go only to find the trains screwed.

Great start Connex!

2007-03-19T06:50:00.000+11:00

Here we are, Monday morning and already the 06:40 and the 07:13 are cancelled. So if you're on the 06:59 or the 07:29, be prepared for getting up close and personal with your travelling companions. Update: add the 08:09 to that list!

Last week I kept my train travel to a minimum, including running home on Friday, only 10-15 minutes longer than the train journey and much more enjoyable. I'm in Perth this week so hopefully next week I can get back to train in - cycle home again.

Looks like we have some West Australian support for Transperth to take over from Connex - http://transperthtorun.blogspot.com - get on board! I've written to Allanah MacTiernan to see what she thinks of the idea. Wonder if I'll get a reply. Meanwhile, the cloth-eared nuff-nuff is "here to help me" according to her website - http://www.lynnekosky.com - but I'm not sure how as she doesn't even respond to emails. Clearly she's not open to the idea of Ms MacTiernan showing her how it's done!

I 'ate you Butler!

2007-03-16T07:50:00.000+11:00

Yes, for the first time ever I'm trying the 216 bus service this morning. I've not been using the bike since Tuesday, when I discovered Albert Park, a publicly owned facility, is not actually accessible to the public for several days prior to the race action.

Yesterday both inbound and outbound services were delayed and consequently crowded - although Connex records will show them as on time©®™, of course. That confirmed my plan to run home after work today. And subsequently persuaded me to see what Blakey, Stan, Olive and the crew were on about all those years ago.

The bus is due at 07:03 and by 07:07 with no sign of it, I've still just got time to catch Connex' finest, the 07:13 (in reality I may've had plenty of time, but how would you know?)

So I head off and am nearly at the station when the 216 appears. It's clean and comfortable, not crowded and gets me into the city only slightly later than Connex. All in all a pretty positive first experience of a Melbourne commuter bus service in 25+ years

Looks like Connex may have some competition!

Kosky and punctuality

2007-03-04T17:22:00.000+11:00

Firstly, in the vein of Keating and more recently Messenger (Qld), I need to make an apology about calling Lynne Kosky a "cloth-eared nuff-nuff". Sorry about that. I should've mentioned that this expression belongs to one GT, with whom I worked a few years ago. Naturally I should've attributed it to him!

There's been further discussion on Kosky's "preoccupied with punctuality" comments of last week here - http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/plebs-deserve-to-ride-on-time-too/2007/03/03/1172868809756.html - that provides an interesting slant. As Terry Lane points out, the real issue is that our public transport system is a welfare system. It's really only there for those of us who simply have no other choice.

It's pretty obvious when you say it that way, and certainly I've felt for years that I've had no other choice. A car and parking are just too expensive and not particularly enjoyable either. A motorbike is OK, but when el Nino's finished and we're back to wet weather it's not all that great. Trams are too slow. Buses are an unknown quantity but I just don't like them! The train in/cycle home approach is kind of working at present, but we'll see when we get into autumn and winter.

I was thinking about the whole punctuality thing one morning last week. We pulled in about three minutes late and a handful of people sprang out of the train like greyhounds after the rabbit. Why? Because they had no idea whether their connecting trains would be leaving on time or not, but they were barely going to make it if they did. And if they missed their connecting trains they might have a twenty minute wait until the next one. So those three minutes that the cloth-eared nuff-nuff is so dismissive about can quickly have a compounding effect. Similarly those who are attempting to connect with a bus that somehow manages to run to a timetable far better than Connex is able. Their train is only a couple of minutes late, but the bus pulls out of Glen Waverley Station bang on time, even if it's empty.

So, you cloth-eared nuff-nuff, the reason many people care about punctuality is that their train journeys are not taken in a vacuum. There are often consequences even from short delays. So take your job seriously and make some effort to understand that.

Come back Pete!

2007-02-27T04:40:00.001+11:00

Who ever thought there could be a worse Transport Minister than Peter Batchelor? Certainly I didn't. However I think the preliminary report card on Ms Kosky suggests I was wrong.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/trams-trains-likely-to-stay-private/2007/02/25/1172338469217.html

The above article not only tells us that Kosky believes Connex is doing fine, but also thinks we're being a bit hard on them! Aaahhh poor Connex, the most pathetically inept management you could imagine is really just misunderstood. Apparently it's all our fault for being too slow getting in and out of those carriages. That wouldn't be because they're jam-packed with people would it Ms Kosky?

This is very bad news. Here we had the opportunity to start getting our public transport system sorted and here's some cloth-eared nuff-nuff who's been in the job five minutes deciding that she's got it all sussed, she's right and we're wrong. No discussion, no debate, no public accountability, that's it.

Who hacked the PDP-11s?

2007-02-24T17:57:00.000+11:00

At 21:55 yesterday I received the following from the Connex SMS system...

ALLAHU AKBR FROM CONNEX! our inspectorS Love Killing people - If you see one coming, run. Want to bomb a train? they will gladly help! See you in hell!

And at 23:28 the apology...

A hoax message was sent tonight to some users. Connex apologises and is investigating with the police.

So it looks like somebody's hacked the Connex systems last night. Does that bother anybody else? If they can get into the customer database with our mobile numbers and other details, as well as the SMS gateway, what else could they access?

Let's hope they don't figure out how to control the train set...

Nearly there...

2007-02-23T05:00:00.000+11:00

On Monday morning I pulled a muscle while running, which meant no bike again for a day or two. Except I exacerbated it on Tuesday and consigned myself to a few days of the train both ways. Having been completely free of the frustrations of getting home with Connex for a while now, I have not enjoyed this. Even when they run on time©®™ there's always that few minutes approaching the departure time when there's no sign of your train and you're wondering whether it'll show or not.

So yesterday I've dropped the kids at school and sauntered down to the station with a few minutes to spare to catch the 09:11. I'm just passing the synagogue and a city-bound train pulls in, check my watch and it's 09:06. My instinct is to run for it - a bird in the hand and all that - but even if I weren't hobbling a bit, there's no way I'd get there in time to catch it. OK, no dramas, there's no way that's the 09:11 running early, so it must be the 08:58 running not on time©®™. No, turns out that's the 08:49 running very much not on time©®™ and the 08:58 is on its way. Sure enough it pulls in at 09:09, so it's not on time©®™ either. So I'm in the unusual situation of being on a peak hour train that's running 11 minutes late but almost empty. I can deal with that! No SMS alerts for either of these delayed trains by the way.

Homeward bound is a different matter however. As is often the case, I'm ready to leave and if I make an effort I can catch one train, if I relax and take my time I'll let that go and catch the next one. As my leg's still not 100% there's no point racing for the 17:49 so I let it go and aim for the 18:01. When will I learn...?

Sure enough I've just crossed Collins Street, it's 17:49 and the SMS comes through to say the 18:01 is cancelled! Stuff it, might as well go straight to the tram. Get to Swanston Street and there's a number 3 - perfect! Except of course they don't stop at the lights any more (OK, they stop, but not for passengers to get on or off). So with a busy junction to cross and two sets of lights to get to the "superstop" I can wave the number 3 goodbye. Eight minutes till the next one, according to the display. You can usually add 25-50% to that, so that's not much chop. Might as well get a number 16 that's just pulling in. FORTY MINUTES!!! That's how long it takes to get to Balaclava from Flinders Street. 40 minutes for a tram journey that takes 11 or 12 minutes on the train. 40 minutes to travel less than 10km. It doesn't take me that much longer to do the journey on foot!

So the smartest plan would've been to accept the 18:01 is dead, forget the 18:12 as that'll be jam packed, and get the 18:24 and still get home ahead of the number 16 tram. Except that there was no guarantee that the 18:24 would be on time or even run at all! And that's what annoys me more than anything else about the Connex delays and cancellations, the fact that you don't have enough confidence in the system to make decisions like that.

Have I mentioned lately that I hate Connex?

I want my bike

2007-02-16T05:15:00.000+11:00

Yesterday and today I'm dropping the kids at school so I'm going in a bit later. Despite the fact that I am arrogant and self-centred, as evidenced by this blog, my weakness is being considerate of my fellow passengers. Consequently I will not attempt to take my bike on the train in peak hours. Unlike the dozen or more yesterday evening who seem to use their bikes as battering rams to force their way into an overcrowded carriage... oops, getting ahead of myself!

As I was saying, I don't feel it appropriate to take the bike on the train after 07:30 when they're just too crowded. Consequently I can cycle in or leave it at home. And cycling in is just never going to work for me, too much mucking around with carrying work clothes in, showering etc. So the only real option is to use the train both ways, something I haven't done a lot of lately. And yesterday reminded me of why!

I dropped the kids at school and I pulled away at 08:38 - no worries, 11 minutes to get to the station about 1.5km away... easy-peasy - apart from the huge number of mums in 4wds of course. Anyway, without being too stupid I manage to get parked with a minute or so spare. And the 08:49 is running about five minutes late. But you know if it had just taken me that extra minute to get there, the 08:49 would've been exactly on time! Anyway it's crowded since it's carrying half the passengers who'd turned up to catch the 08:59, but it goes with the territory at that time of day.

Heading home and by the time I was ready to leave I realised I could not hope to catch the 17:49 so went for the 18:01 instead. It's about 33°C so I'm anticipating problems. Sure enough there's no sign of the train that's confidently predicted to depart at 18:01 by the platform monitors and there's no announcement to tell us what's going on. Have I mentioned the fact that this irritates the hell out of me? OK, maybe once or twice! Then the monitors switch to "Train not taking passengers" and now my blood's starting to boil.

Shortly afterwards one of the new trains pulls into platform 9 and then we're told that's our train. But somebody would've known that at least five minutes earlier, so WHY DIDN'T THEY TELL US???

Pile in and it's stink hot. No air-con and no windows. Great! If it's 33°C outside and this feels like walking into an oven, how hot is it? But just in case it's not hot enough, we hang around for a few more minutes to cram in a few more of the 18:12's passengers with their body heat and eventually we depart. It's hard to believe that you can step out of somewhere into 33°C and feel relief at being so much cooler!

I have to go through this again today and also next Thursday and Friday. Maybe I can sort out some way of cycling in that's manageable and finally break my dependence on this cretinous Connex outfit altogether?

Customer Service Operators

2007-02-15T07:00:00.000+11:00

What's the PC name for the men and women who go around booking the travelling public for various infringements? I think somebody called them customer service operators, and I suspect there's the odd less flattering name used from time to time too!

If you've browsed the comments on the previous post you'll see a bit of discussion about these guys. Now I'm on record as not being a fan of people running in front of an oncoming train, but clearly that's not what happened here. The train is stopped at the station and the gates are closed. Noisy girl has a look and sees that not only is the train stopped, but the driver is out of the cabin assisting a passenger. So as a mature adult, she assesses the situation, makes the judgement that the chances of this train running her over are pretty slim. Added to that she knows the trains are still prone to cancellation so doesn't have confidence when the next one will show. She has a good look around and carefully decides to cross. (I didn't just conclude all this from her posts here, by the way.)

So despite all of that the customer service officer decides to book her. And a guy on a pushbike, and by the sound of it a few others. Why? Safety or revenue raising? If it was about saftey, surely the starting point is educating the broader public about the risks, not leap straight into a handful of people with the ticket book? And what genius decided it was a good time to launch this when Connex and the state government's stocks are already at their lowest in years?

I doubt there's many people who cross against a red light as a pedestrian from time to time. It's all about risk assessment and having your wits about you when cross a road or a rail line.

So they're back...?

2007-02-13T05:30:00.000+11:00

The SMS came through yesterday morning to advise that the Siemens trains were back on the rails and the Sandringham returns to normal service.

Of course we all know what normal service means... delays and cancellations at random times with minimal or no notification. It means the trains are still crowded and smelly. It means that when the mercury hits 30°C, as most of this week is predicted to do, the new trains have a hissy fit and refuse to operate. It means that there are no staff around to ask what's going on with your trains and any you do find are generally surly and disinterested. It means being hassled by armies of ticket inspectors, or are they customer service operators now? It means Bruce Hughes and co still being chauffeured to the door without having to soil his Gucci loafers stepping in somebody's regurgitated pizza and beer. It means continued use of the archaic PDP-11s with no upgrade future. It means century old technology limiting train capacities in some areas. It means no hope for updated commuter information systems that we can rely on. It means a state government that has no interest in providing decent public transport infrastructure.

It simply means despite all the interest of the media over recent weeks we're back to how it was, nothing has changed and nothing will change.

Yep, looks like normal service is all we have to look forward to.

High tech testing?

2007-02-08T07:45:00.000+11:00

There was an interesting news story on Channel 7 News last night - a secret film of Connex' high tech testing of the Siemens brakes. A bit of tape, a bit of Nylex hose, off you go! Isn't there something in Bracks' water regulations to cover watering a train's brake pads only between 2:00am and 4:00am?

And what's the go on the European testing that Bruce Hughes is overseas supervising? Seems nobody over there knows anything about it. Surely Connex and the Bracks Government wouldn't be telling porky pies?

This public transport crisis seems to be descending into farce!

Is this a spoof message?

2007-02-02T08:15:00.000+11:00

I received an SMS beginning "Siemens issue" this morning...

Siemens issue - 37 cancellations until further notice, inc. the 8.05am from Sandringham. See website 4 details. We apologise for the inconvenience.

I had my doubts about its authenticity at first - are Connex staff really hip enough to know about TXTspeak, ie using "4" instead of "for"? Did the strangely invisible Andrew Cassidy approve this message before it went out? Or did it go all the way up to Sir Topham Hatt himself, who suggested the common touch of a bit of TXTspeak might make the message more palatable to their long-suffering customers?

Anyway, since there was a detailed statement about the cancellations on the website, I guess they weren't spoofing us about the Seimens issue!

OK, this is pretty juvenile, but if they hadn't said "Siemens issue" I would not have been tempted!

And it just gets better

2007-02-01T07:30:00.000+11:00

A week or two ago young Chris, AKA The Met, took me to task over what he considered to be conflicting comments on my view of the old silver trains (apparently they're Hitachi's - not sure of the purpose of that apostrophe, but it seems to be a requisite when referring to those old rattlers). Anyway, The Met was confused by my dislike of them due to their lack of air-con and my statement that they were reliable.

The fact that they are still running and get dragged back into service when the new ones fail does seem to suggest that they are reliable. However only to a point. Like today when I'm on the 06:59 and the doors work fine at Ripponlea but refuse to open after that. At each station passengers stand there awaiting the door release that never comes. Eventually they wrestle the doors open, and with the springs on those you have to be pretty fit. Release them and they close with a bang, so don't get caught!

Needless to say that Hitachi was (temporarily?) removed from service after we all fought our way out at Flinders Street.

How long before the old blue ones are resurrected?

Those PDP-11s again

2007-01-28T10:27:00.000+11:00

Following on from last week's not particularly surprising revelations that Connex doesn't know where its trains are, The Age is now highlighting the fact that their technology is prehistoric

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/01/27/1169788745745.html

As it happens, I covered this issue almost two years ago

http://connexwhinger.blogspot.com/2005/05/mon-16-may-whats-pdp-11.html

And a year later they announced a plan to upgrade/replace the PDP-11s that was discussed here in this very blog

http://connexwhinger.blogspot.com/2006/05/fri-12-may-176m-well-spent.html

Funny that we've heard no more of that since, nor is it mentioned in the recent article, which you'd have thought would be an opportune time to mention any plans that might exist to get them out of this mess.

Dude, where's my train?

2007-01-21T17:59:00.000+11:00

So we finally get our confirmation of the reason Connex can never tell us where their trains are, they only know the whereabouts of around 10% of them!

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/01/20/1169096027874.html

Don't think there's anything I can add to that. Apart from how much longer is Bruce Hughes going to preside over this shambles?

A tip for you Connex

2007-01-10T19:00:00.000+11:00

In case you hadn't figured it out, you French-type peoples, this here is Melbourne, Australia. And here we don't have namby-pamby temperatures in the high twenties, we have serious heat. It may come as a surprise to you, but in summer the temperature often exceeds 30°C. And I mean really exceeds it - like today when it got very close to 38°.

So having trains that can't cope above 30° is kinda limiting, doncha think?

Today I was planning a lunch with sufficient alcohol to think that cycling home would probably be unwise. But the problem was that I knew we were expecting warm weather so I just had to accept that coming home on the train would be problematic. And just because the 17:38 was actually at the platform when I got there meant nothing. It "became defective" while we were waiting to depart. They ran another train from platform 12, but as we left at 17:50, I'm not clear whether it was the 17:38 very late, or the 17:49 just a little late. There were three other cancellations this evening too.

So Bruce Hughes, how about telling your French masters that we want some proper Aussie trains, not your weak European rubbish?

If temp > 30°C then cancel trains

2007-01-05T07:45:00.000+11:00

I got four cancellation SMSes yesterday evening, two of which were sent several minutes after the scheduled departure time.

Only a complete cretin buys trains to operate in a city where the temperature often exceeds 30°C that can't operate when the temperature exceeds 30°C!

It's a bit warm to be cycling home just at the moment, but it sure beats standing on the platform at Flinders Street wondering when the next train will show, only to find it's one of those battered old silver things with no aircon.

Down, up, pedals, down, up, down

2006-12-05T07:45:00.000+11:00

Every time I get a rhythm going on the bike that old Mixtures song comes into my head. I've been seeing how I go with bringing the bike in on the 07:14 then cycling home. There's more than a few nutjobs on the road so it does present a bit of a challenge, but I've finally worked out a route that keeps me reasonably clear of most of that.

I have another Perth trip next week then things should get back to normal after that. I'm not sure whether resuming the blog makes sense though. It was always my intent to continue with the daily stats, but of course the worst problems are in the evenings, and at this stage I'm not sure I'll be using the evening trains very often. Maybe we'll just see how it looks over the next few weeks... A couple of hot days or a close shave or two with an aforementioned nutjob and perhaps Connex won't look so bad!

I haven't commented on the change of ownership of the transport portfolio. I'll take full credit for my campaign started back on 1 June to get him out - http://connexwhinger.blogspot.com/2006/06/thu-1-june-weasel-words_01.html - OK, perhaps others may have had a hand in it too! The fact is that he's gone and it's hard to see his replacement being quite the weasel he is. So long Batchelor, you useless cretin, you got your just desserts.

Just a minute...!

2006-10-30T07:45:00.000+11:00

I'm back for a couple of weeks but won't bother with the daily updates again just yet. But I have to comment on the changing of "my" train from 07:14 to 07:13. Apparently they shifted it one minute earlier for some bizarre reason. It still goes out from Flinders Street as the 07:35 Williamstown, so why the change?

But the timetable was updated several weeks ago, and not only are the SMS cancellation messages still calling it the 07:14, but on the few times I've caught it the platform announcement called it the 07:14 too. And of course it's never come in any earlier than 07:14 on the few occasions I have caught it.

So what's that change all about? Answers on a postcard, please...

♪My baby takes the morning train♪...

2006-10-23T06:45:00.000+10:00

Not sure Sheena would be quite so jolly if her baby were an early morning commuter on the Sandy line! Seems like almost every day either the 07:14 is cancelled or it's the 06:59 that's gone so the 07:14 is jam packed. I'm in Perth again this week (should be pretty much all over by late November) so I get to avoid the hassles.

In town for a while...

2006-09-21T07:45:00.000+10:00

Seems a few Perth people are optimistic of one or both of their teams playing in Melbourne on the last Saturday of September. Consequently Qantas are gouging these misguided footy fans $1,800 for a one-way across the Nullarbor! And of course that means anybody else who's travelling at that time is up for similar fares. When's the ACCC going to have a close look at this duopoly?

Anyway, this situation rules out travel to Perth either side of the Grand Final weekend so I'll be spending the longest stint in months at home. And that means the longest run of Connex travel in months too - how will I cope? Well since you asked... they have cancelled my 07:14 train twice this week!

I vaguely wondered out loud recently whether Connex had improved to the extent that I didn't feel the need to air my whinges any more. A few weeks of regular use will answer that question I suppose. So far I'd be thinking we'll pick things up again in a month or two...

And Freo, you have no chance Friday night - Swans for back-to-back premierships!

Greets from Perth...

2006-07-16T21:00:00.000+10:00

This morning I decided to go down to Freo on the train. I am fairly sure this is the first time I've used the Perth rail system. The trains both ways were on time, and they're only 15 minutes apart on a Sunday! They were clean, quiet and spacious. The central station is modern and clean. They're expanding the system by adding new stations and putting lines underground (click here to check out the details). The fares are pretty cheap too...

In short Connex could learn a thing or two from Transperth

Can't help myself...

2006-07-12T04:45:00.000+10:00

I'm gone again for the next several weeks after a few days of using our wonderful transport system again. Man I will so not miss it!

Monday I get there in time for the 17:38, it's showing on the entrance board so all is good. I get to the platform and the monitors are showing 17:49... uh oh! A couple of minutes later an SMS comes through confirming that the 17:38 is cancelled. I consider the alternatives... go outside and get a taxi? Nope, takes too long and is too expensive. Go jump on a tram? Nope, takes too long and too crowded then too far to walk at the other end. Go to the pub, get magotted and wait a while? Nope, would not be popular at home! Curse Connex management and stand there gnashing teeth for the next 10-15 minutes as we always do? Yep!

So the platform fills up and we wait. 17:49 passes and we wait, now the platform is pretty full. So do you reckon these doughbrains in charge might want to make some extra effort to keep us informed, as they've already cancelled one train and the second one has not arrived by its departure time? Well if they had any notion at all about customer service they might, but not these cretins.

Needless to say that when we depart around five minutes late the train is bursting at the seams. Not surprising when you have two complete trainloads jammed in, plus around half of the people expecting to get on the 18:01. Of course it's perfectly safe and it's not too bad really and I'm just a whinger...

Next morning I'm just thinking about breakfast and the dreaded SMS alert comes through, the 07:14 is cancelled. Do I skip breakfast and race through the shower or just go in late? I've got so much on that I can't do that, so I do the hurry up thing and manage to get there in time for the 06:59, having had no brekky and not made any sangers... I really hate you Connex!

Funnily enough what really prompted me to make a post is to draw attention to a comment made on my previous post. Have a look at the third comment. If you ever had any doubts about how deeply rooted the problems are, here's your confirmation. "Bernard", thanks for giving us such a great insight into why Connex is such a mess. I can't say that there's anything there that surprises me, but it helps considerably to know that our suspicions are confirmed and that there are guys like you working from the inside to try to improve things for all concerned.

It's always seemed like the biggest single problem within Connex is the "but we've always done it this way" approach. If you ever get involved with the gunzels at that railpage fan site, most of them seem to be entrenched in the mentality that nothing can be done to improve the system. Rather than recognising that peak hour commuters are their raison d'être they see them as a hindrance to playing with their 1:1 scale train sets.

I've had an email exchange or two with various people inside the Connex hierarchy and invariably we just hit a brick wall at the suggestion of making change. Andrew Cassidy opted to respond to my last attempt and I passed on some fairly simple suggestions for improving customer service by keeping people informed on where their trains were, since obviously Metrol has to know at all times where the trains are. His response was that they're not in the same location so it's too hard. Clearly if they're not up to using such modern inventions as telephony we have a long way to go!

The point is that he and his colleagues are just too entrenched in doing things the way they've always done them. Even relatively simple changes are just too hard. The more far-reaching, fundamental changes that are required to actually fix the underlying issues are never going to happen. I think "Bernard" has pretty much confirmed this. Me, I'm not really keen on being away for the next few weeks, but I can forget the Connex shambles for a while at least.

Am I missing Connex...?

2006-07-04T19:45:00.000+10:00

I'm back in Melbourne this week. I've caught four trains and each of them was at least 5 minutes late, tonight's was over 10... good job I'm not doing stats at the moment!

As is often the case, we're all standing there at 17:49 looking up and down the line like we're at a tennis match. At 17:55 they tell us the train's 6-7 minutes late. Since it's already six minutes after the scheduled departure time, I think you've got that wrong again. The train had come in from Sandy, so why oh why couldn't they have told us earlier? It was a pleasant surprise when the train driver actually apologised for the lateness over the PA system!

I miss my family and I miss Melbourne while I'm away, but I don't miss these cretins that are charged with providing a public transport system.

Summary 12-16 June

2006-06-18T21:45:00.000+10:00

This will be the last stats post for a while too. We're still down below 60% but the downward trend seems to have stopped. On the plus side, the number of cancellations is much better than it was a few months ago, but they are still plagued with delays that are rarely communicated to long-suffering commuters.

http://www.connexwhinger.com/stats.html

Take it easy and remember to come back and check in September for signs of life!

Phil

Fri 16 June - So long, for now...

2006-06-16T19:45:00.000+10:00

Well this is pretty much it for now, apart from the weekly stats update over the weekend. I'll leave the blog active of course, so feel free to keep using it for chats if you like. If you want to have a whinge to me at any time, phil@connexwhinger.com will still work.

All being well I'd anticipate recommencing my daily whinges in September.

The 07:14 is OK again this morning.

Fittingly the week ends with confusion. The board at the entrance tells us the 19:05 will depart from platform 8. The monitors on the platform confirm this to be the plan once the "Train not taking passengers" has shifted itself. However it looks like the "Train not taking passengers" that's just sitting there may have an alternative plan!

Suddenly the monitors change and tell us the next Sandy train going from platform 8 is the 19:20... uh oh!

Anyway the platform 9 monitors have been changed to show the 19:05 will go from there instead. Trouble is that it's 19:05, no train, no announcement. It arrives shortly afterwards and we make it to Ripponlea about three minutes late.

Thu 15 June - Winding up...

2006-06-15T19:45:00.000+10:00

I'm probably going to mothball Connex Whinger for a while at least. I'm looking at spending most of my time in Perth for the next two or three months. Since I'll be commuting with Qantas, keep your eye out for my new blog...!

The 07:14 is pretty much on time again today.

Home on the 17:49 and it's pretty right too.

Wed 14 June - How's the 07:49...?

2006-06-14T19:45:00.000+10:00

It used to be that while we were waiting for the 07:14 at Ripponlea the 07:12 southbound (which I figure becomes the 07:49 northbound from Ripponlea) would be fairly punctual. Lately I've noticed that we often depart before it shows - today it just beats us. But I wonder if it makes up the time or if it ends up being late. Anybody know?

Anyway the 07:14 is only slightly late.

And the 17:49 is pretty much on time too.

Tue 13 June - Nice break...

2006-06-13T19:45:00.000+10:00

Well big thanks to somebody else's queen for the nice long weekend. We came into the city yesterday to see the new Disney/Pixar movie, Cars. We'd vaguely planned to go on the train, as my 4yo son still likes trains, but as that would have cost us close to $20 versus about $2 worth of petrol, it didn't quite stack up. The trains are arguably less stressful than dealing with the incompetent morons on the road, provided they run to the timetable...

The 07:14 starts out pretty much on time this morning, but a few minutes waiting in the yards results in us being four minutes late at Flinders Street.

Home on the 18:12... it's quite a surprise when at 18:11 they announce the train will be three minutes late - very rare for advice before the scheduled departure time and a welcome change. As it happens it leaves four minutes late and manages to lose a further three minutes on the way, but hey, it's a start!

Summary 5-9 June

2006-06-12T09:45:00.000+10:00

Guess what Connex... the number of services that are on time is continuing to head downwards and is trending towards the 50% mark. In case it's not clear, this is not a good thing. What is also bad is that you're pretty hopeless at telling us what's going on when you are late. But of course you know this and could not give a damn. I think your main spokesman Mr Cassidy has as good as admitted this, since his last reply was along the lines of "Yeah you're right but it's just too hard to change"...

At least we can console ourselves with the fact that although it's only going to get worse, driving will be an increasingly less attractive an alternative!

http://www.connexwhinger.com/stats.html

Fri 9 June - Cancellations...

2006-06-09T19:45:00.000+10:00

An early morning SMS alert that the 06:40 is cancelled gives me cause to go back through the inbox. There was one yesterday evening, but apart from that they're probably averaging one cancellation a week, which is quite an improvement over the pattern a year or so ago.

Unfortunately there are still frequent delays, as the stats attest, but they're not so bad. What still hasn't improved in the slightest is the woeful passenger information. Far too often we're left standing on the platform with no information about if or when to expect our train after its scheduled departure time. If they could just fix that...

Anyway we're on time this morning.

Blogger.com seems to be a bit intermittent lately - apologies if you're having trouble getting access and for the delay in my posting!

On time coming home too - on the 17:27.

Thu 8 June - Validated ticket area...

2006-06-08T19:45:00.000+10:00

Just recently they've been tarting up the stations and they've put up signs saying "validated ticket area". Presumably these signs are there to suggest that we should not enter the platform without a validated ticket? Well they need to stick the next train information outside this "validated ticket area", because there are times when I want to know if there's a train coming fairly soon before I validate. That way if it's too long I have the choice to drive and not waste a ticket.

We're about three minutes late this morning.

And we're three minutes late on the 18:01 too.

Wed 7 June - Sydney...

2006-06-07T07:45:00.000+10:00

I'm in Sydney for the day.

Tue 6 June - Beast's Day...

2006-06-06T19:45:00.000+10:00

... Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is 07:14...

OK, it's not been too bad lately, but that's probably putting the moz on it. Not sure I've been on it that much in recent weeks, so how would I know?!

We're three minutes late this morning.

Home on the 17:49 - as is often the case the departure time rolls on past with no sign of the train and no word from the ever friendly platform announcer. It shows up soon after and we wait a fair while before we depart. We pull in to Ripponlea six minutes late.

Mon 5 June - Uh duh...

2006-06-05T19:45:00.000+10:00

At the doctor's this morning so I have another late start to to the day.

The 10:04 is about a minute late at Ripponlea this morning. Which means that if it had been on time the silly woman who dodged the crossing gates and ran right in front of the train would've missed it altogether.

So here's a tip for you - check the timetable and allow more time. Or if you can't be bothered then just accept that you'll miss the occasional train. Either way, it ain't worth risking your life for. Besides if you did kill yourself then we'd be even later!

Home on the 18:24 and it's more or less on time.

Summary 29 May-2 June

2006-06-04T07:45:00.000+10:00

With only three trips this week the stats haven't changed much. The six week trend is showing trains that are on time are still only 58%, late 29% and very late/cancelled 13%. Have a look at the graph, it's a very long way from Connex' rosy picture!

http://www.connexwhinger.com/stats.html

(As it happens I went to the Connex website to see what their latest fairy tale figures were and the site was down - those PDP-11s must be struggling again!)

Fri 2 June - Missed again...

2006-06-02T19:45:00.000+10:00

Having just got back from Perth I'm taking my daughter to school. So I just get to the station in time for the 08:58 and there's no parking. Needless to say, it runs bang on time and I just miss it! The 09:11 comes in a minute or so late and arrives at Flinders Street about five minutes late - and we're on platform 12… great!

Home on the 17:49 and it's on time.

Thu 1 June - Weasel words...

2006-06-01T07:45:00.001+10:00

The truth finally comes out - click here for link - the plan for 20% of trips being made via public transport by 2020 has been abandoned.

This should come as no surprise to most of us, since it's been fairly obvious for ages that the train system can barely cope with the current passenger loads and there are no serious plans to improve this situation. Surely the Weasel has to be held accountable for misleading the Victorian public. It is time for the Weasel to go...

So where does this leave us?

A public transport system without a viable future

Severely congested roads without credible plans for improvement

The Weasel still "in charge" of this mess

A smarmy git as Premier

I think we're in a bit of trouble here, aren't we? Best go visit the Get Active site and send a message to the Weasel...

Tue 30 May-Thu 1 June - Perth...

2006-05-31T19:45:00.000+10:00

In Perth again for three days.

Mon 29 May - Wet and late…

2006-05-29T09:45:00.000+10:00

Late this morning - I'm going to Perth again after work so I’m taking my son to kinder first. I get very wet walking to the station - at least I remember to use a two hour ticket rather than an all day one.

The 09:11 is about four minutes late and dumps us on platform 10.

Summary 22-26 May

2006-05-28T14:45:00.000+10:00

The trend is not your friend - looks like Weasel Batchelor (pictured below) was correct when he said he expected service to decline after the Games. The trend is now below 60% green after the fourth drop in a row.

http://www.connexwhinger.com/stats.html

Fri 26 May - It's cold...

2006-05-26T19:45:00.000+10:00

It's cold outside and the train's fairly cold inside too. At least it's on time today.

Home on the 17:49 - it pulls in to Ripponlea about four minutes lates.

Thu 25 May - Signals...?

2006-05-25T19:45:00.000+10:00

Seems the signals are problematic today - maybe a bit cold for them? Anyway the upshot is that we have a long wait at Ripponlea and the 07:14 pulls in seven minutes late.

Home on the 17:49 and it's on time.

Tue-Wed 23-24 May - Out of town...

2006-05-23T05:00:00.000+10:00

We have an out-of-office strategy session for the next couple of days so I won't be participating in the daily Connex lottery. Given that the weather is now well outside Connex' preferred operating conditions we can probably expect further delays and problems in the coming days. At least we haven't got the annual "leaves on the line" excuse that the British commuters have to face every autumn!

Of course if we shifted the lines underground the weather problems would be substantially reduced. And this is the plan that's currently being proposed - thanks to an anonymous contributer for this link. I guess we'd want to see a bit more detail, and there'd sure be a few obstacles along the way, but this is the sort of thinking we need. Forget your poxy billion or so a year on bits and pieces, let's do some serious investment in 21st century public transport solutions. Just install a few hundred more speed cameras and you'll have it funded in a jiffy, Bracksie!

Mon 22 May - Ticket inspectors...?

2006-05-22T19:45:00.000+10:00

I've not hidden my views on the role of the ticket enforcement officers, particularly in regard to the lack of necessity in the free public transport world. The aspect I rarely comment on is the stormtrooper approach to their task.

For those who didn't see it there's a comment here that suggests they are still carrying on with their bully-boy tactics. If anybody has any first-hand experience of such behaviour perhaps they could contact Kym? His details are there on his blog.

The 07:14 is more or less on time.

Not so the 18:12. Annoyingly, I could've possibly made the 18:01 but I'd hate to be racing up the platform just in time to see it pulling out, so I walk normally and get there a couple of minutes after it's gone. Then we all stand around and wait while the departure time approaches until it's fairly obvious the 18:12 will be late. Still we wait and still no announcement. Why the hell can't they just tell us where our train is? It eventually pulls in unannounced and out again about eight minutes late. We pull into Ripponlea twelve minutes late - which is the time the 18:24 is due in.

This is the aspect that really gets my goat about Connex. Sure, stuff happens that's out of their control, we all understand that. But this train must've been somewhere around Prahran or South Yarra, still heading into the city, at its scheduled departure time. And somebody in Metrol must've known that. So why on God's green Earth won't they just tell us?

Summary 15-19 May

2006-05-20T10:45:00.000+10:00

As last week the cumulative stats show that we still have 61% on time, 23% a little late and 16% very late or cancelled. The trend is still heading down slightly.

http://www.connexwhinger.com/stats.html

Happy 6th birthday to my girl!

Fri 19 May - $10,200,000,000...

2006-05-19T19:45:00.000+10:00

The ten billion announced by Bracks and Batchelor has attracted some comments - unsurprisingly many people seem critical apart from our regular railfan. But you don't need to look too far to see that the Blair wannabes have the spin down pat. So let's have that closer look...

First up, what is the time period for spending this $10b? The Age article opens with it being a 25 year plan. In the same Age article Ken Ogden says it's a 20 year plan. On the ABC news they said ten year plan. Anyway, the State Government site says ten years, so we should go with that. So they're going to spend about one billion per year on average - big @#$%^&* deal - in a few years time they'll be making that just in traffic fines!

Anyway, we can then have a look at where that money is actually going (from The Age article)...

1. $1.3 billion for outer metropolitan arterial roads;

2. $800 million for new metropolitan trains;

3. $500 million for a new tram fleet;

4. $750 milllion for rail safety, including a communications upgrade;

5. $350 million for new regional trains;

6. free public transport for pensioners on Sundays

1 - Probably needs doing but won't make a jot of difference to train and tram users.

2 - OK, we may get some benefit, but are these simply replacements of older rolling stock plus one or two new services? Can't see any changes on the Sandy line in the detailed plans.

3 - Not going to help our train capacity problems apart from the barest handful who have the coice and may switch to trams.

4 - Long overdue I'd suspect, but this won't increase carrying capacity either.

5 - Ditto

6 - That's nice, but is such an obvious gimmick it makes me want to throw up.

So there we have it. In ten years time, we can expect double the number of commuters on the Sandy line as we have today, but no extra trains to handle this load. Hope you're all having regular showers cause we're going to be getting a lot of face to armpit action happening in the coming decade. Interestingly our railfan believes that I should be impressed by this!

It's quite foggy this morning so I'm expecting the worst - c'mon you have to admit that sometimes Connex does seem to suffer from the weather a fair bit. Anyway the 07:14 is more or less on time.

This blog seems to have attracted the odd spambot lately - the most recent one took a fair while to clean up. Consequently I've turned on the anti-spam checker, hope that doesn't cause too much inconvenience.

What's that all about? At the station entrance we're told that the 17:38 is leaving from platform 9 and the 17:49 from platform 8. It's 17:45 at the time, so that suggests the 17:38 is fairly late. Get onto the platforms and the 17:38 is still there and packed solid. I let it go on the assumption that the blank monitors on platform 8 are hiding the fact that it's the 17:49 for some obscure reason.

The 17:38 departs and almost immediately the monitors confirm this is the 17:49. I board and we wait. And we wait. Eventually at 18:00 we depart. No information is forthcoming for the whole 11 minutes. Now it's just as crowded as the other one but I'm home 15 minutes later. Thanks a lot Connex.

And now, to add insult to injury I've just sat through the ABC's Stateline story on the Government's plans and that insufferable weasel Batchelor had the hide to say...

"Melbourne has a pretty good public transport system.

People who use it, like it.

And the biggest complaints come from those who sit in university cafes or who drive cars."

Well Pete my old mate, there's a few of us here who'd beg to differ...!

Thu 18 May - Reasons to be cheerful...

2006-05-18T19:45:00.000+10:00

Not sure how many remember Ian Dury's hit from a few decades ago? He lists a plethora of mundane and obscure reasons to be cheerful. This morning Ian's song is in my head and I try to insert "travelling with Connex" without success - it scans OK but it just jars too much. Even when the train's more or less on time you're still waiting for the next problem to arise! Maybe I need "A bit of grin and bear it" instead...?

Home on the 18:50 and it's bang on time.

Wed 17 May - Let me out...!

2006-05-17T19:45:00.000+10:00

The 07:14 pulls in just a minute or so late at Ripponlea so we get to Flinders Street more or less on time. Then we wait for what seems like ages (but is really only about a minute) before the doors are released. I'm tempted to force them, but I know that would somehow cause a huge ripple effect and delay trains everywhere, so I don't!

Home early - the 16:48 as I'm picking up my daughter from school. This is the life, much quieter than the trains an hour or so later. And we pull in bang on time.

Tue 16 May - I can handle this...

2006-05-16T19:45:00.000+10:00

The 07:14 arrives at Ripponlea about three minutes late this morning - consequently we pull into Flinders Street three minutes late. No, it didn't completely ruin my life, I'm sure I'll learn to deal with it after a few months of the appropriate therapy.

Home on the 18:01 and, by the most amazing coincidence, it's also three minutes late into Ripponlea.

Mon 15 May - Bracksie's failure...

2006-05-15T19:45:00.000+10:00

Looks like everybody's favourite premier is struggling to get to grips with Melbourne's traffic chaos. Best step aside and let the others have a go then mate...

Somebody kindly sent me this newspaper clipping - I haven't found out where it's from yet!

The 07:14 is a couple of minutes late.

Home on the 17:49 and it's on time.

Summary 8-12 May

2006-05-14T14:30:00.000+10:00

From now I'll continue to report the overall performance since starting this, but I'll also include a graph showing performance trends. I've tried to strike a balance between ease of maintenance and showing something meaningful.

The graph reflects the trend by showing the percentages of on time, late or very late/cancelled trains at the end of the week. I've chosen to show the prior six weeks, as week-by-week cannot really show a trend - it's too variable, especially if I'm going to Perth more often (I tend to be lately). This is pretty arbitrary, but it feels about right to me.

So the cumulative stats show that we still have 61% on time, 23% a little late and 16% very late or cancelled. The trend shows a positive peak in November, dropping quickly into January then steadily climbing again until fairly recently. Reliability seems to have been declining a little since.

http://www.connexwhinger.com/stats.html

While we're on the subject of reliability, it seems Mr Bracks is about to pay somebody $5,000,000 to find the solution to Melbourne's traffic congestion. Tell you what Bracksie, give me 10% of that and I'll give you the answer... FIX OUR PUBLIC TRANSPORT!

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/
0,5478,19126760%255E661,00.html

Fri 12 May - $176m well spent...?

2006-05-12T19:45:00.000+10:00

So we see the announcement that Metrol systems are finally set to be upgraded at a cost of $88m. We can confidently predict that'll blow out to double the original estimates, so we might as well say $176m now. Is that too much money?

I don't think so, and not just because I'm an IT guy. Put this in perspective - they are running PDP-11s from the early 1970s; there would not be too many organisations that have managed to make an IT investment last that long. So when you consider what's NOT been spent in the intervening decades (yes, I know about the failed project from a few years ago) it's not really a lot. Especially when you think how much was spent on Southern Cross Station. That's simply a monument to Weasel Batchelor's huge ego - this new system, if properly implemented will finally give Connex the foundations for some major improvements in service delivery... bring it on!

I'm on the 09:11 after taking my daughter to school... it's about five minutes late and dumps us on platform 12.

Home on the 17:38 and it's on time.

Mon 8 May - Scraping in...

2006-05-08T07:45:00.000+10:00

Just scraping in with a green this morning. The barrier swallows my ticket and holds it for no obvious reason. I'm half expecting a crowd of Connex badge-touting thugs to leap out and ambush me for my anti-Connex stance, but eventually the ticket is regurgitated from the in-slot.

Annoyingly I've used a daily ticket when I could've used a two hour one. I hate giving them money unnecessarily!

Off to Perth again this evening, back Friday. Behave yourselves while I'm gone, especially you Chris!

Summary 1-5 May

2006-05-07T10:30:00.000+10:00

Given the fact that we have so much data now, even bad weeks for delays only have a marginal difference on the stats. We still have 61% on time, 23% a little late and 16% very late or cancelled.

http://www.connexwhinger.com/stats.html

Fri 5 May - You there Andrew...?

2006-05-05T19:45:00.000+10:00

Several weeks ago I thought it worth having one more go at some constructive dialogue with Connex management. I sent an email, spraying it to everybody whose address I had, to about 10 or 12 senior Connex people. The gist of the email was that I thought there would be a number of relatively easy things that Connex could do in the area of passenger information that could greatly improve people's travelling experience. I did my best not to be confrontational (that's a challenge for me) and tried to spell out how easy I thought these things would be, they would have minimal cost impact and I thought there would be real benefit from doing so.

Eventually I received a slightly patronising response from Andrew Cassidy that explained how difficult it was to do anything and how technology was a limiting factor. Since one of the ideas was for the train driver of a crowded, delayed train to announce over the PA how far behind the next train was, I politely suggested that he might want a rethink. After all that has actually been done once (and only once to my knowledge), so we know that there is no technology barrier in implementing this, simply a lack of corporate will. That was two weeks ago and I haven't heard from Andrew since.

So that probably answers the biggest question - do Connex give a rat's about passengers? Nope.

The 07:14 is on time again.

Home on the 18:01 and they don't even bother to tell us that it's running late tonight. We're wet and cold anyway, so a delayed train can't make things any worse. We arrive at Ripponlea about seven minutes late.

Thu 4 May - OK...

2006-05-04T19:45:00.000+10:00

The 07:14 gets in on time today... and the clickers are still at South Yarra.

Home on the 17:49 and it's pretty much on time too.

Wed 3 May - Clicking again...

2006-05-03T19:45:00.000+10:00

On the 07:14 which is on time...

The clickers are clicking hard at South Yarra again. While their task is not too onerous on platform 1, looking across at one of the far platforms they'd have a hard job counting them accurately - the train is packed solid.

Yesterday's comment from Daniel Bowen (the PTUA guy?) and the closed barriers got me thinking about this whole issue again. Why do Connex and and Yarra Trams insist that ticket validations can be used to provide any meaningful information whatsoever? It does not help one iota. Sometimes the barriers are open at Degraves Street, other times there are a dozen heavies with their gleaming badges proudly displayed for all to see.

The point is if I validate at Ripponlea and again at Flinders Street 20 minutes later it's safe to conclude that I made that one journey. But if I walk through an open gate or barrier, they have no idea whether I'm doing that gunzel thing of travelling every line in the network in a day (I'll leave Chris/The Met to explain that one), or my normal single journey. Even more basic than that though - if the whole system runs on 30-yo PDP-11s, there wouldn't be enough grunt or programming skills to analyse the data anyway!

Home on the 18:01 and it's a couple of minutes late.

Tue 2 May - Counting sheep...

2006-05-02T19:45:00.000+10:00

These guys seem to be able to stay awake whilst counting sheep this morning. There's people on the platform and there's people in the carriage, all madly clicking their little tallying machines. Would be interesting to see them try to do this in the evening on a busy train!

We're just over two minutes late. Connexwhingerer, I'm simply reporting the times, as I've done for the last year or so. It's called keeping the b******s honest!

There's nobody at the barrier at the Degraves Street exit again and all barriers are closed. I thought a recent bit of communication from Connex said this would not happen.

At 18:03 we're advised the 18:01 is running three to four minutes late. Surprisingly it arrives at about 18:05 and is about five minutes late at Ripponlea. And yes Connexwhingerer, it makes a big difference - not the five minutes itself, but the 50% more passengers crammed in.

Mon 1 May - Early late...!

2006-05-01T19:45:00.000+10:00

We shifted pretty much everybody in the office over the weekend so I'm heading in early to assist with any problems that arise. The 06:40 arrives at Ripponlea on time and not crowded at all... yet somehow we manage to pull in almost three minutes late. How does that work?!

There's already an extra minute built into the timetable for inbound trains, so we lost close to four minutes in what should be a twelve minute journey. That's with almost no passengers and nobody forcing the doors! If they can't keep to the timetable at this time of day, is it any wonder that there are problems at busier times?

Home on the 17:49 and it's three minutes late at Ripponlea too.

Summary 24-28 April

2006-04-30T07:49:00.000+10:00

The numbers are still unchanged from two weeks ago, I need to do a full week's work in Melbourne... 61% on time, 23% a little late and 16% very late or cancelled.

http://www.connexwhinger.com/stats.html

Fri 28 April - Good again...

2006-04-28T19:45:00.000+10:00

No problems again this morning.

I need to come into the office on Saturday and would normally come in by train. But I see this on the Metlink website

Saturday, 29 April 2006:

Buses will depart Sandringham every half-hour from 4.34am until 6.34am, then every 20 minutes from 6.54am to 7.34pm and then at regular intervals from 7.52pm until 11.32pm.

So you turn up at Ripponlea and wait from zero to twenty minutes for a bus, with no idea when it might arrive. Then you'll alight at South Yarra and wait for some extra period of time to connect to a train that will be running to a completely independent timetable.

It's not hard to see this trip taking an hour door-to-door. Compared to 15 minutes in the car, I think I'll drive thanks!

And if the works are at Middle Brighton, why not shuttle trains between the city and North Brighton?

Home on the 18:24 and it scrapes in for a green.

Thu 27 April - OK this morning...

2006-04-27T19:45:00.000+10:00

No problems with the 07:14 today, although we do seem to hang around at Richmond for a couple of minutes just to ensure that we're not bang on time.

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

Wed 26 April - First SMS in weeks...

2006-04-26T19:45:00.000+10:00

I can't see that I've had an SMS alert from Connex since before the Games... so it figures that I'd get one this morning for the cancellation of the 07:14... gee it's good to be back!

Luckily there's just enough warning to catch the 06:59.

Home on the 17:49 - three minutes late at Ripponlea.

18-21 April - Perth

2006-04-18T15:45:00.000+10:00

In Perth for the week.

Summary 10-14 April

2006-04-15T09:45:00.000+10:00

No real change from last week, as I've only made three train trips this week - 61% on time, 23% a little late and 16% very late or cancelled.

http://www.connexwhinger.com/stats.html

Thu 13 April - Same again...

2006-04-13T19:45:00.000+10:00

Having got home from Perth well after midnight again (Qantas and Connex must be run by the same management) I'm having a late start this morning. And so is the 09:37!

It really is looking like the off-peak trains are just as tardy as the peak trains. And that does suggest that Connex' stats need to be independently audited and the results made public.

We're in danger of scoring an orange this morning, but a three minute wait at Richmond ensures we're sufficiently late to score a red!

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

Tue-Wed 11-12 April - Perth...

2006-04-11T07:45:00.000+10:00

In Perth for the next two days... no Connex for me!

Mon 10 April - Off-peak no better...?

2006-04-10T21:45:00.000+10:00

I'm heading over to Perth again this evening so I do the kinder/school run first. Just get there in tme for the 08:49 and it's a couple of minutes late so I needn't have hurried.

A slow crawl and a wait through the yards and we pull up about four minutes late. This adds weight to my suspicion that it doesn't matter what time of day I travel, the trains are no better than in the busy times.

Summary 3-7 April

2006-04-09T09:45:00.000+10:00

We now have just over a year's worth of statistics and it's getting a bit big to keep posting in here every week. Consequently the stats can now be found at http://www.connexwhinger.com/stats.html.

This week's performance percentages are the same as last week, 61% on time, 23% a little late and 16% very late or cancelled. And we've been there are thereabouts for the last twelve months. Must be a lot of people holding the doors...!

Fri 7 April - More on overcrowding...

2006-04-07T19:45:00.000+10:00

I just wanted to take the opportunity to comment on some of the overcrowding issues that have arisen lately...

Firstly on bikes, thanks again to CB for this one... "Bicycles and surfboards may be carried on train passenger services free of charge at all times, provided that the comfort of other passengers is not affected" from a December 2004 Gazette. So what happens if other passengers are affected, as was the situation Wednesday morning? Answer... nothing! It's a meaningless clause that will be ignored by the inconsiderate and will already be understood and followed by the considerate.

Also there is a recent comment from Jackie on the ConnexWhinger feedback page that highlights the problem for people with injuries or disabilities. For those of us who are fit enough a crowded train can be a real annoyance, how much worse if you're experiencing pain as a result? This is an aspect of overcrowding that I've seen a few times and it does seem very poor. Obviously something "Comeng" who posts further down on the same page clearly has no sympathy for.

The 07:14 is on time.

The 18:01 just scrapes in at around two minutes late.

CW wins letter of the day in MX, here's the full, unedited letter...

In reference to this evening’s headline article, I completely disagree. I rarely see people holding doors and it is even more rare to see people attempt to open them after they’ve closed. Occasionally at Flinders Street somebody may come racing down the escalator as the doors close and make half-hearted attempt to open them again – usually the driver keeps on going, so there is no delay. I’m one of the accused referred to in the article who favours one particular carriage – the one next to the escalators - so if it were happening anywhere it would be there and I would see it far more often than I do.

The blocking doors issue is one that has had much discussion recently on my blog – http://blogspot.connexwhinger.com – with no real outcome. A simple and glib answer is that if the trains weren’t so crowded, people would not need to stand in the doorways. And if they did so in an uncrowded train it wouldn’t matter anyway.

But of course the answer is more complex than this. Those who spout the doorway dogma seem to have some idealised notion of how this should work that simply does not translate to reality. If everybody did force themselves to pack into the gaps between seats so that the doorways were kept clear, guess what? When they, or the people in the seats, arrived at their stations they’d still be fighting their way through other people to get out. The only difference is that they’d be doing so in the body of the carriage rather than in the doorways. Of course if we all formed ranks according to which station we planned to alight from, I’m sure that would help!

The bottom line is that both of these issues are trivial in comparison to the major factors that impede the delivery of a quality, reliable service to Melbourne’s hard-pressed commuters. Remove Peter “Weasel” Batchelor from office and replace Bruce “Sir Topham Hatt” with a competent CEO: start delivering service and we’ll quickly forget all about such diversionary nonsense.

Regards etc

Thu 6 April - Reasons for delays...

2006-04-06T19:45:00.000+10:00

That article in yesterday's MX - see blog below - is still on my mind. I went back over my emails and reviewed the ones from Connex drivers and staff. They're a mix of favourable and unfavourable towards this blog, as you might expect. But I couldn't find any that even hinted at the claimed reasons for delay. In fact one driver mentioned that you could set your watch by his trains. So if that's the case, why isn't he suffering these massive and regular delays? Because they're BS perhaps?

The 07:14 is on time.

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

(Apologies for neglecting to post this morning's entry until now - it was on my PDA ready to go, but I have been fairly full on lately so forgot to post it!)

Wed 5 April - Keeping doors clear...

2006-04-05T19:45:00.000+10:00

OK Chris/The Met, this won't happen too often, but today I agree with you... to a point.

I'm on the 07:29 as I couldn't make the 07:14 this morning. It's very crowded and there's somebody with a bike blocking half the doorway and also the entrance to the seating area. People try to squeeze past with no attempt by the cyclist to move out of the way.

Frankly, as someone who takes a bike now and again on the train, I'm amazed how often some cyclists make no effort to minimise inconvenience to their fellow passengers. If you're going to take your bike on the train, why would you try to jam into a crowded carriage during peak times? These are the people who do cause delays and frustration for passengers.

We pull into Flinders Street about four minutes late.

We're about three minutes late on the 18:35, seems it's all our fault according to the MX newspaper. Apparently it's all those people holding doors and blocking doorways again. I see Andrew Cassidy comments that this is not the major issue, so it appears even senior Connex people don't agree with the author of this piece, nor with Chris/The Met.

Tue 4 April - Happy birthday CW blog...

2006-04-04T19:45:00.000+10:00

A year ago today I made my first daily post. What's changed since then? Well I'd have to acknowledge that reliability has improved a bit. The communication problem is manifestly as bad as it ever was. Weasel Batchelor is still the pathetic Transport Minister and Sir Topham Hatt is still the completely ineffective CEO of Connex. So not much really.

The 07:14 is pretty much on time. There are only six inspectors at the exit this morning, the rest must be on a tea-break!

"Sandringham train running two to three minutes late" says the announcer at 18:14. Well as it's not in yet, and it's already two minutes past the departure time, I think we can safely say that ain't gonna happen!

Anyway, we arrive at Ripponlea seven minutes late.

Mon 3 April - Sick...

2006-04-03T19:45:00.000+10:00

I've got a migraine on top of a cold that I've had for the last week, so I'm off today.

Summary 27-31 March

2006-04-01T08:45:00.000+11:00

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...

2006-03-31T20:45:00.000+11:00

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.