Thursday, July 21, 2005

Thu 21 July - Who uses SMS...?

Receive an alert at 06:23 that the 07:29 is cancelled. No problems.

The 07:14 arrives on time and there's no appreciable increase in passengers over a normal day. Which got me wondering how many other people use the SMS alerts? And what do they do when they get them in the morning?

I'd always opt for trying to catch the earlier train, since you could expect the one following your cancelled train to be very full. And this morning there was more than an hour to react, so you'd think it would be worth trying to get out 15 minutes earlier. I guess I have to accept that not everybody hates crowded trains as much as I do.

Talking of crowded trains, the 17:38 leaves more or less on time, why is it so crowded?

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Got an SMS early this morning that the 7.30 Frankston train was cancelled. I thought "No probs, I'm going to the city". Turns out they meant the 7.33 CITY train as it never arrives and I get an extra half an hour standing on the platform in the freezing cold while I watch the next train get incredibly full and end up standing in c rowd on the one after that. So you can tick off this week as another one where I haven't been affected by at least one cancellation.

So we have cancellations that leave you stranded on a freezing Winters morning, overcrowded trains with no air con on sizzling Summer afternoons - to hell with the "Melbourne 2030" planning, someone needs to sit down with the clowns responsible and plan "Melbourne 2006".

21 July, 2005 08:59  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

re: SMS Updates. I remember reading somewhere that only about 10,000 people have signed up.

Not Connex's fault - they spent heaps on ads in MX, billboards & have a ad in the back of most timetable booklets.

21 July, 2005 22:57  
Blogger Connex Whinger said...

Hi Anon, don't get me wrong, for once I wasn't aiming this at Connex. I just don't understand why more people wouldn't use the SMS service. It would be nice if they could make it infallable, but rather the imperfect system we have than nothing at all.

If only 10,000 have signed up, I suppose it suggests that very few people care about delays and cancellations. That surprises me, but if people want to be apathetic, who am I to argue?!

22 July, 2005 06:20  

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