One man's perspective of the daily grind on board the Connex Melbourne metropolitan train system.
posted by Connex Whinger at 7:45 am
An extract from my first post best sums up what this is all about.
"Perception is reality" was one of the many glib phrases my ex-boss used to regularly use. Well my reality is that I have never had a full week of the train that I want to catch running on time. Let me rephrase that somewhat inelegant sentence - I don't believe that of the ten scheduled trains that I would wish to catch in any given week, all ten have ever run as scheduled. Ever. In over four years of commuting on the Sandringham line, my perception is that at least one train per week is either delayed or cancelled.
That's probably a pretty bold call, so to turn my perception into reality, I plan to keep a diary for a while and we'll see how often Connex can deliver me a full week of reliable services. Yes, I know that's a little self-centred, but isn't that the whole point of blogging?
3 Comments:
Well I had the pleasure of arriving at Murrumbeena this morning to catch my train. I have no issue with trains running late (I'm used to that!) or industrial disputes (I'm used to that too!). What I have issue with is the pathetic (actually 'pathetic' suggests some at all), rather NON-EXISTENT level of communication coming out of Connex. Our fares now pay for two muppets to stand at the station who have NO idea what is happening on the line, and an SMS alerts system that was silent this morning.
Connex: have you ever heard of a phone? They were invented a number of decades ago, and allow people to get IMPORTANT information to other people. You should try them!
Connex: Another marvel of modern technology is the P.A. system (that's "Public Address"). Perhaps you could use it.. I know there is one there because you have used it before to tell me to validate my ticket (grrr!). If you stopped keeping people in the dark then they might be a little more likely to accept it when things go wrong on the line (which is destined to happen from time to time).
I think the problem is that Connex doesn't take it seriously that people actually rely on the train system to make a living. What do you think would happen if they were made accountable for the millions of $$$ that were lost this morning in people getting to work late. I would think that the pithy little signalman who got up on the wrong side of the bed would have simply gotten is butt gently kicked and got told to stop being a baby.
The bigger problem, however, is the level of apathy in the average Melbourne commuter. The idea of standing up for our rights, and trying to get something done about this pathetic excuse for a train system is just too hard for an apathetic public. COME ON PEOPLE! Stand up! Make MORE Noise!!! Enough of a public voice WILL force people to fix this!
Seriously, anonymous, what is wrong with you? If I had a manager harassing me, I wouldn't want to be working with them. It doesn't matter what their job is, they shouldn't be working with them.
But of course, being sympathetic to worker's rights would invalidate your argument, and we couldn't have that, could we?
evan - are you referring to the signal man that the whole dispute was about? Who was late - often, and by all accounts not a very reliable worker who would fall back and use the union as a shield for a poor work ethic?
He was making a play to save his job, and the unions lapped up being told to stay out as it the signalman had brought it on himself, which just made them bark louder. And we all suffered for it. Symapthetic to workers rights?!?!?!? Give us a break. Thousands of workers had to give up the right to get to work on time for this joker.
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