Fri 16 June - So long, for now...

Well this is pretty much it for now, apart from the weekly stats update over the weekend. I'll leave the blog active of course, so feel free to keep using it for chats if you like. If you want to have a whinge to me at any time, phil@connexwhinger.com will still work.

All being well I'd anticipate recommencing my daily whinges in September.

The 07:14 is OK again this morning.

Fittingly the week ends with confusion. The board at the entrance tells us the 19:05 will depart from platform 8. The monitors on the platform confirm this to be the plan once the "Train not taking passengers" has shifted itself. However it looks like the "Train not taking passengers" that's just sitting there may have an alternative plan!

Suddenly the monitors change and tell us the next Sandy train going from platform 8 is the 19:20... uh oh!

Anyway the platform 9 monitors have been changed to show the 19:05 will go from there instead. Trouble is that it's 19:05, no train, no announcement. It arrives shortly afterwards and we make it to Ripponlea about three minutes late.

Thu 15 June - Winding up...

I'm probably going to mothball Connex Whinger for a while at least. I'm looking at spending most of my time in Perth for the next two or three months. Since I'll be commuting with Qantas, keep your eye out for my new blog...!

The 07:14 is pretty much on time again today.

Home on the 17:49 and it's pretty right too.

Wed 14 June - How's the 07:49...?

It used to be that while we were waiting for the 07:14 at Ripponlea the 07:12 southbound (which I figure becomes the 07:49 northbound from Ripponlea) would be fairly punctual. Lately I've noticed that we often depart before it shows - today it just beats us. But I wonder if it makes up the time or if it ends up being late. Anybody know?

Anyway the 07:14 is only slightly late.

And the 17:49 is pretty much on time too.

Tue 13 June - Nice break...

Well big thanks to somebody else's queen for the nice long weekend. We came into the city yesterday to see the new Disney/Pixar movie, Cars. We'd vaguely planned to go on the train, as my 4yo son still likes trains, but as that would have cost us close to $20 versus about $2 worth of petrol, it didn't quite stack up. The trains are arguably less stressful than dealing with the incompetent morons on the road, provided they run to the timetable...

The 07:14 starts out pretty much on time this morning, but a few minutes waiting in the yards results in us being four minutes late at Flinders Street.

Home on the 18:12... it's quite a surprise when at 18:11 they announce the train will be three minutes late - very rare for advice before the scheduled departure time and a welcome change. As it happens it leaves four minutes late and manages to lose a further three minutes on the way, but hey, it's a start!

Summary 5-9 June

Guess what Connex... the number of services that are on time is continuing to head downwards and is trending towards the 50% mark. In case it's not clear, this is not a good thing. What is also bad is that you're pretty hopeless at telling us what's going on when you are late. But of course you know this and could not give a damn. I think your main spokesman Mr Cassidy has as good as admitted this, since his last reply was along the lines of "Yeah you're right but it's just too hard to change"...

At least we can console ourselves with the fact that although it's only going to get worse, driving will be an increasingly less attractive an alternative!

http://www.connexwhinger.com/stats.html