I know I bitch about trains a lot, but when you have to catch multiple trains on nearly a daily basis, you begin to observe things. Besides, it's my blog and I'll cry if I want to. I'm fairly sure I'm the only person who reads it anyway, peering at the words I typed months ago and giggling to myself in the dark recesses of my lair (or, in today's case, the dreary yet sunny light of day from within a train, funnily enough).
Today, I bring to you my first offer of discontent against Metro, the new big wigs behind the metropolitan train system. In actuality, I have really preferred Metro to the detestable Connex. Primarily, because I've noticed more ticket inspectors on more services, and they don't seem to be on a power trip like the Connex scum of old. I'm aware that some Connex staff were in fact held over in the change to Metro, so in all honesty, it may even be the same group of ticket inspectors, but I feel as though Metro has instilled in them a philosophy of treating passengers like human beings, with courtesy and politeness. A far cry from Connex's infrequent, useless and rude customer service team - I was assaulted on a Connex service and they did nothing. They later charged me $200 for being without my concession card.
Metro have been under fire for poor train reliability, and when you look at the figures, in plain sight at the very train stations they service, the numbers are staggering. As near as I recall, the punctuality rate for Metro trains in March was 80.7%. Good lord!
I don't recall seeing a figure that low since the Black Saturday period.
This number is possibly misleading, because the figures for train replacement bus services is hidden - they include bus services in the 'services delivered' section, yet I'm unsure whether they consider the extra time a bus service adds in the 'punctuality' department. So in effect, punctuality could be even lower than advertised.
Rather than reflect too much on that though, I pose to you a thought, and it really shows what kind of inefficiency we have accepted in our public transport system. According to Metro, for a service to run 'on time', it must be within five minutes of its advertised time of arrival. Five minutes in public transport can be a very long time, you know. Five minutes can mean the difference between whether you miss a connecting train, tram or bus, and arrive 20 minutes late for work. Yet, statistically for all to see, Metro's five minute wiggle room service gets the gold stamp of 'punctuality'.
Tell me, in your job or at your school, is five minutes late considered on time? No. Five minutes is just that. Late. And if you were late by greater than five minutes 80.7% of the time, you would be looking for another job.
The authority figures in your world don't accept such transgressions on your part. Don't accept it from your public transport system.
