Kosky and punctuality
Firstly, in the vein of Keating and more recently Messenger (Qld), I need to make an apology about calling Lynne Kosky a "cloth-eared nuff-nuff". Sorry about that. I should've mentioned that this expression belongs to one GT, with whom I worked a few years ago. Naturally I should've attributed it to him!
There's been further discussion on Kosky's "preoccupied with punctuality" comments of last week here - http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/plebs-deserve-to-ride-on-time-too/2007/03/03/1172868809756.html - that provides an interesting slant. As Terry Lane points out, the real issue is that our public transport system is a welfare system. It's really only there for those of us who simply have no other choice.
It's pretty obvious when you say it that way, and certainly I've felt for years that I've had no other choice. A car and parking are just too expensive and not particularly enjoyable either. A motorbike is OK, but when el Nino's finished and we're back to wet weather it's not all that great. Trams are too slow. Buses are an unknown quantity but I just don't like them! The train in/cycle home approach is kind of working at present, but we'll see when we get into autumn and winter.
I was thinking about the whole punctuality thing one morning last week. We pulled in about three minutes late and a handful of people sprang out of the train like greyhounds after the rabbit. Why? Because they had no idea whether their connecting trains would be leaving on time or not, but they were barely going to make it if they did. And if they missed their connecting trains they might have a twenty minute wait until the next one. So those three minutes that the cloth-eared nuff-nuff is so dismissive about can quickly have a compounding effect. Similarly those who are attempting to connect with a bus that somehow manages to run to a timetable far better than Connex is able. Their train is only a couple of minutes late, but the bus pulls out of Glen Waverley Station bang on time, even if it's empty.
So, you cloth-eared nuff-nuff, the reason many people care about punctuality is that their train journeys are not taken in a vacuum. There are often consequences even from short delays. So take your job seriously and make some effort to understand that.
There's been further discussion on Kosky's "preoccupied with punctuality" comments of last week here - http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/plebs-deserve-to-ride-on-time-too/2007/03/03/1172868809756.html - that provides an interesting slant. As Terry Lane points out, the real issue is that our public transport system is a welfare system. It's really only there for those of us who simply have no other choice.
It's pretty obvious when you say it that way, and certainly I've felt for years that I've had no other choice. A car and parking are just too expensive and not particularly enjoyable either. A motorbike is OK, but when el Nino's finished and we're back to wet weather it's not all that great. Trams are too slow. Buses are an unknown quantity but I just don't like them! The train in/cycle home approach is kind of working at present, but we'll see when we get into autumn and winter.
I was thinking about the whole punctuality thing one morning last week. We pulled in about three minutes late and a handful of people sprang out of the train like greyhounds after the rabbit. Why? Because they had no idea whether their connecting trains would be leaving on time or not, but they were barely going to make it if they did. And if they missed their connecting trains they might have a twenty minute wait until the next one. So those three minutes that the cloth-eared nuff-nuff is so dismissive about can quickly have a compounding effect. Similarly those who are attempting to connect with a bus that somehow manages to run to a timetable far better than Connex is able. Their train is only a couple of minutes late, but the bus pulls out of Glen Waverley Station bang on time, even if it's empty.
So, you cloth-eared nuff-nuff, the reason many people care about punctuality is that their train journeys are not taken in a vacuum. There are often consequences even from short delays. So take your job seriously and make some effort to understand that.
posted by Connex Whinger at 5:22 pm
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