Saturday, November 05, 2005

Summary 31 October-4 November

Well hands up those who though Connex did well this week. No not you Bruce Hughes, you're biased! With a substantial delay every day (apart from Cup Day of course) we seem to have reverted to the early days of the Connex Whinger blog. Greens slipped back to 63%, orange steady at 22% and red back up to 15%.

In recent weeks I'd been starting to think they were getting their act together. This week's problems and the complete lack of information flow to customers, whether via platform announcements, train intercoms or SMS, suggest that even if they can improve train reliability their customer focus is still myopic. Then you read the current articles in The Age (eg this one) and you know there's no chance those cretins Batchelor and Bracks have any clue about providing a viable long-term solution.

Mon 31/10Tue 01/11Wed 02/11Thu 03/11Fri 04/11
07:14N/A07:1407:1407:14
17:38N/A17:3817:2717:49
Mon 24/10Tue 25/10Wed 26/10Thu 27/10Fri 28/10
07:1407:1407:1407:1407:14
17:3817:3817:3817:3817:07
Mon 17/10Tue 18/10Wed 19/10Thu 20/10Fri 21/10
07:1407:1407:1407:1407:14
17:4918:2417:3817:1718:12
Mon 10/10Tue 11/10Wed 12/10Thu 13/10Fri 14/10
07:1407:1407:14N/A07:14
18:1218:2417:38N/A17:38
Mon 03/10Tue 04/10Wed 05/10Thu 06/10Fri 07/10
N/AN/AN/AN/A09:49
N/AN/AN/AN/A17:38
Mon 26/09Tue 27/09Wed 28/09Thu 29/09Fri 30/09
N/A07:1407:1407:1407:14
N/A17:3818:0118:0118:24
Mon 19/09Tue 20/09Wed 21/09Thu 22/09Fri 23/09
07:1407:1407:1407:1406:59
16:57N/A17:3818:01N/A
Mon 12/09Tue 13/09Wed 14/09Thu 15/09Fri 16/09
07:1407:1407:14N/A07:14
17:2717:3817:38N/A18:50
Mon 29/08Tue 30/08Wed 31/08Thu 01/09Fri 02/09
07:1407:1407:14N/A07:14
17:2717:3818:12N/AN/A
Mon 22/08Tue 23/08Wed 24/08Thu 25/08Fri 26/08
07:1407:1407:1407:1407:14
17:3817:3817:3818:0117:27
Mon 15/08Tue 16/08Wed 17/08Thu 18/08Fri 19/08
07:1407:1407:1407:1407:14
17:3817:3817:4917:3817:38
Mon 08/08Tue 09/08Wed 10/08Thu 11/08Fri 12/08
07:1407:1407:1410:1707:14
18:0117:3817:3817:4917:38
Mon 01/08Tue 02/08Wed 03/08Thu 04/08Fri 05/08
07:1407:1407:1407:1409:24
17:3817:3817:4917:38N/A
Mon 25/07Tue 26/07Wed 27/07Thu 28/07Fri 29/07
N/AN/A07:1407:1407:14
N/AN/A17:2711:4218:24
Mon 18/07Tue 19/07Wed 20/07Thu 21/07Fri 22/07
06:5907:1407:1407:1407:14
17:3818:1217:3817:3816:27
Mon 11/07Tue 12/07Wed 15/07Thu 14/07Fri 15/07
07:1406:5907:1407:1407:14
18:0117:3817:3818:5018:01
Mon 06/06Tue 07/06Wed 08/06Thu 09/06Fri 10/06
07:1407:14N/AN/A N/A
N/AN/AN/AN/AN/A
Mon 30/05Tue 31/05Wed 01/06Thu 02/06Fri 03/06
08:3907:1407:1406:5905:40
17:4917:4918:1218:2418:12
Mon 23/05Tue 24/05Wed 25/05Thu 26/05Fri 27/05
07:1407:14N/A07:1407:14
17:3818:24N/A17:4917:38
Mon 16/05Tue 17/05Wed 18/05Thu 19/05Fri 20/05
07:1412:4706:59N/A07:14
17:3817:3817:38N/A17:38
Mon 09/05Tue 10/05Wed 11/05Thu 12/05Fri 13/05
07:1407:1407:1407:1407:14
18:0117:3818:0118:1218:35
Mon 02/05Tue 03/05Wed 04/05Thu 05/05Fri 06/05
07:1407:1407:1407:1407:14
16:3717:3817:3817:3818:50
Mon 25/04Tue 26/04Wed 27/04Thu 28/04Fri 29/04
N/AN/AN/AN/A09:11
N/AN/AN/AN/A17:38
Mon 18/04Tue 19/04Wed 20/04Thu 21/04Fri 22/04
07:1407:1407:1407:1407:14
17:4917:3817:3817:3817:38
Mon 11/04Tue 12/04Wed 13/04Thu 14/04Fri 15/04
07:1407:1407:14N/A07:14
17:3817:2717:27N/A19:35
Mon 04/04Tue 05/04Wed 06/04Thu 07/04Fri 08/04
07:1407:1407:1407:1407:14
17:3817:3817:3817:2717:38

Friday, November 04, 2005

Fri 4 November - Dude, where's my SMS...?

The 07:14 is OK. The 08:09 isn't, and again no SMS alert. I have not received one since the 08:49 was cancelled on 26 October (which they sent at 09:20 by the way!). I know there have been several cancellations since then, so why no alerts?

For reasons I won't go into, I carry two mobile phones - one Orange, one Vodafone - each number is set to cover a three hour window morning and evening. So it's not as if these cancellations have been outside my coverage times, and if two different mobile networks are not receiving SMSes from Connex while other SMSes get through, I think we can safely conclude that Connex is not sending them. If I get some spare time today I might ring them and ask.

Didn't get a chance to ring them up so still no idea what's happening there.

We're rounding out a bad week with further delays. The 17:49 leaves about seven minutes late and gets to Ripponlea eight minutes late. Connex has slipped back into old habits this week and it can't all be down to the signal problems on Wednesday!

Thursday, November 03, 2005

Thu 3 November - All over the shop...

Looks like the rails may have got a bit wet and slippery or something. Heat problems yesterday evening, today it's the storm that seems to be causing chaos on the trains. The 07:14 is OK, but the 07:29 is cancelled. No SMSes going out by the looks of things.

Some are telling stories of more than an hour to get from Caulfield to the city, with no information being conveyed to passengers. Haven't heard of anybody having to resort to eating their fellow passengers in order to survive, but keep your eye on A Current Affair/Today Tonight!

As Sam pointed out, where were the SMSes? Just think about it... there's thousands of people turning up at stations hoping to catch their normal train. They get there and it's chaos and nobody knows what's going on - why on earth did they not send out SMS alerts telling everybody their trains were stuffed? This is the problem we keep coming back to with Connex time and again... they have no concept of keeping their customers informed.

Now if somebody at Connex could explain why this morning's problems have spilled over to this evening, that would be really helpful! We are on platforms 12 & 13 because of the Flemington trains using platform 8. At 17:26 I ask the Connex guy in the little shed on platform 13 when he thinks the 17:27 will be there. He tells me a couple of minutes. Five minutes later I go back and ask him - he rings control and it's clear nobody knows. I enquire why they don't just ask the guy driving the inbound train where he is - surely somebody knows exactly where he is, otherwise we don't really want to think about trains wandering around willy-nilly!

Our train finally departs 10 minutes late and arrives at Ripponlea 12 minutes late. Another sardine run with more hot bodies, fortunately not quite as hot as yesterday. And once again Connex gave us no information while we were waiting. Pathetic!

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Wed 2 November - Well done Makybe Diva...

Not that Makybe Diva has anything to do with Connex and its performance. Just thought I'd throw that in as a comment on such an historic win yesterday.

The 07:14 is on time this morning.

The 17:38 is late. Very late. In fact it leaves well after the 17:49 is supposed to leave - there's no sign of it either. We're jam packed by the time we leave Richmond and it's even worse after South Yarra. It's hot and there's hot bodies pressed against other hot bodies. This is not a pleasant hot body to hot body experience, it's a very unpleasant one. We arrive at Ripponlea about 15 minutes late.

Apparently the poor trains don't like it when the temperature exceeds 30ÂșC.

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Thu 1 December - Sydney...

No Connex trains today as I'm in Sydney.

Monday, October 31, 2005

Mon 31 October - I don't like Mondays...

Well, it seems Connex has more problems on a Monday than other days recently. For some reason we're coming in on platform 13 and we wait for several minutes in the yards (yes, I know they're not yards, but I don't know what else to call that area!). We alight about five minutes late.

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

Sunday, October 30, 2005

Summary 24-28 October

Greens are definitely moving in the right direction, with 64% - orange is 22% and red is 14%.
Mon 24/10Tue 25/10Wed 26/10Thu 27/10Fri 28/10
07:1407:1407:1407:1407:14
17:3817:3817:3817:3817:07
Mon 17/10Tue 18/10Wed 19/10Thu 20/10Fri 21/10
07:1407:1407:1407:1407:14
17:4918:2417:3817:1718:12
Mon 10/10Tue 11/10Wed 12/10Thu 13/10Fri 14/10
07:1407:1407:14N/A07:14
18:1218:2417:38N/A17:38
Mon 03/10Tue 04/10Wed 05/10Thu 06/10Fri 07/10
N/AN/AN/AN/A09:49
N/AN/AN/AN/A17:38
Mon 26/09Tue 27/09Wed 28/09Thu 29/09Fri 30/09
N/A07:1407:1407:1407:14
N/A17:3818:0118:0118:24
Mon 19/09Tue 20/09Wed 21/09Thu 22/09Fri 23/09
07:1407:1407:1407:1406:59
16:57N/A17:3818:01N/A
Mon 12/09Tue 13/09Wed 14/09Thu 15/09Fri 16/09
07:1407:1407:14N/A07:14
17:2717:3817:38N/A18:50
Mon 29/08Tue 30/08Wed 31/08Thu 01/09Fri 02/09
07:1407:1407:14N/A07:14
17:2717:3818:12N/AN/A
Mon 22/08Tue 23/08Wed 24/08Thu 25/08Fri 26/08
07:1407:1407:1407:1407:14
17:3817:3817:3818:0117:27
Mon 15/08Tue 16/08Wed 17/08Thu 18/08Fri 19/08
07:1407:1407:1407:1407:14
17:3817:3817:4917:3817:38
Mon 08/08Tue 09/08Wed 10/08Thu 11/08Fri 12/08
07:1407:1407:1410:1707:14
18:0117:3817:3817:4917:38
Mon 01/08Tue 02/08Wed 03/08Thu 04/08Fri 05/08
07:1407:1407:1407:1409:24
17:3817:3817:4917:38N/A
Mon 25/07Tue 26/07Wed 27/07Thu 28/07Fri 29/07
N/AN/A07:1407:1407:14
N/AN/A17:2711:4218:24
Mon 18/07Tue 19/07Wed 20/07Thu 21/07Fri 22/07
06:5907:1407:1407:1407:14
17:3818:1217:3817:3816:27
Mon 11/07Tue 12/07Wed 15/07Thu 14/07Fri 15/07
07:1406:5907:1407:1407:14
18:0117:3817:3818:5018:01
Mon 06/06Tue 07/06Wed 08/06Thu 09/06Fri 10/06
07:1407:14N/AN/A N/A
N/AN/AN/AN/AN/A
Mon 30/05Tue 31/05Wed 01/06Thu 02/06Fri 03/06
08:3907:1407:1406:5905:40
17:4917:4918:1218:2418:12
Mon 23/05Tue 24/05Wed 25/05Thu 26/05Fri 27/05
07:1407:14N/A07:1407:14
17:3818:24N/A17:4917:38
Mon 16/05Tue 17/05Wed 18/05Thu 19/05Fri 20/05
07:1412:4706:59N/A07:14
17:3817:3817:38N/A17:38
Mon 09/05Tue 10/05Wed 11/05Thu 12/05Fri 13/05
07:1407:1407:1407:1407:14
18:0117:3818:0118:1218:35
Mon 02/05Tue 03/05Wed 04/05Thu 05/05Fri 06/05
07:1407:1407:1407:1407:14
16:3717:3817:3817:3818:50
Mon 25/04Tue 26/04Wed 27/04Thu 28/04Fri 29/04
N/AN/AN/AN/A09:11
N/AN/AN/AN/A17:38
Mon 18/04Tue 19/04Wed 20/04Thu 21/04Fri 22/04
07:1407:1407:1407:1407:14
17:4917:3817:3817:3817:38
Mon 11/04Tue 12/04Wed 13/04Thu 14/04Fri 15/04
07:1407:1407:14N/A07:14
17:3817:2717:27N/A19:35
Mon 04/04Tue 05/04Wed 06/04Thu 07/04Fri 08/04
07:1407:1407:1407:1407:14
17:3817:3817:3817:2717:38