Connex Whinger: 2005-10-30

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 31/10	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

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 30ºC.

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 24/10	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

: Name: Connex Whinger; Location: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

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?

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Connex Whinger