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

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...

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

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