No 07:13? Who cares?
At 06:17 Connex alerted us to the cancellation of the 07:13. Ordinarily that would spark the internal debate about whether I could make the 06:59 or not. And ordinarily I probably could've done, but not while I'm dealing with this broken collar bone; it’s taking me much longer to get anything done, so no chance.
But of course I now have the option of the bus... How cool is that?! I've learnt the hard way that the bus timetable is slightly more flexible than the Connex timetable. Just like the train, the bus can be several minutes late, but unlike Connex’ trains, they can run up to five minutes EARLY! Took me a while to figure that one out, but now I just allow a few minutes extra when I'm bussing it. Having the SMS alerts and the bus as fallback pretty much solves the morning problem.
Sadly, buses in the evening are another matter altogether - it takes 25 minutes to get to St Kilda Road - I could walk it in 15! And ten times as many people seem to get the outbound bus as do inbound, so it's as crowded as the train.
I only recently discovered, quite by chance, that a 10x2 hour ticket can actually be used as an all day ticket. Probably everybody but me already knew this. But I'd always assumed that if I validated at 07:10 it would expire at 10:00 then if I validated again at 12:15 it would expire at 15:00. Using it a third time to get home would then use a third two hour session. But it seems that the second usage of the day extends its life for the rest of that day. And since a 10x2 hour ticket costs the same as a 5x1 day ticket (that recently replaced the 5-pack of daily tickets), I can't see any reason not two simply use the 10x2 hour ticket. When I think how many times I've wasted an all day ticket for the single inbound trip…
But of course I now have the option of the bus... How cool is that?! I've learnt the hard way that the bus timetable is slightly more flexible than the Connex timetable. Just like the train, the bus can be several minutes late, but unlike Connex’ trains, they can run up to five minutes EARLY! Took me a while to figure that one out, but now I just allow a few minutes extra when I'm bussing it. Having the SMS alerts and the bus as fallback pretty much solves the morning problem.
Sadly, buses in the evening are another matter altogether - it takes 25 minutes to get to St Kilda Road - I could walk it in 15! And ten times as many people seem to get the outbound bus as do inbound, so it's as crowded as the train.
I only recently discovered, quite by chance, that a 10x2 hour ticket can actually be used as an all day ticket. Probably everybody but me already knew this. But I'd always assumed that if I validated at 07:10 it would expire at 10:00 then if I validated again at 12:15 it would expire at 15:00. Using it a third time to get home would then use a third two hour session. But it seems that the second usage of the day extends its life for the rest of that day. And since a 10x2 hour ticket costs the same as a 5x1 day ticket (that recently replaced the 5-pack of daily tickets), I can't see any reason not two simply use the 10x2 hour ticket. When I think how many times I've wasted an all day ticket for the single inbound trip…
posted by Connex Whinger at 7:45 am
3 Comments:
Buses are allowed to run a bit early - but if they run early at a major stop listed on a hard copy timetable then they are doing the wrong thing and I've been advised that when it happens to me I need to contact the bus company to tell them so much.
Also Connex trains, albeit rarely, can run early. I've had them run as much as 3-4 minutes early (by their time) in the last month or so but thats rare - more often its just 60 seconds early if it runs early. Almost all of the time its 1-30 minutes late.
When i think the brack's government are crap and can't get much worse, they do...
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/recycled-trains-on-their-way/2007/04/22/1177180483892.html
I'm not totally against the re-introduction of these trains but pi$$ing away so much money when they owned them in the 1st place is mind boggling...
I'm not totally against the re-introduction as at least the hitachis turn up and ... stop.
Just another random whinge here...
The government is finally building a train station at Coolaroo. They say it will be finished in 2010, which is great news. The problem is, that the government originally promised a train station there in 1965!! It's only 45 years late you cloth eared gits! What a joke!
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