Beat that train, Peddle that bus

What a liberty…

The Connex group who has the primary contract for running metropolitan railways services here in Melbourne, after months of discussing options on how to ferry more passengers, after amending their timetables to help just a little, who back-stepped on rejecting bicycles on trains, who haven’t yet delivered on their promise to remove seats and call commuters land sardines, have now come up with a brilliant plan to make rail commuting a wondrous thing…

They are going to change the seat covers.

Yes, bright new seat covers to some 43,000 seats are going to make the conditions better. No more sitting on torn seats, or ones with holes, they will now be comfortable, at least to those who can actually get a seat, we still have many more standing-sardine commuters yet to satisfy. Perhaps some new floor coverings for those on their feet?

These new covers are the latest technology in hard wearing materials, they will last longer, better, stronger and faster, we hope. Really? Has there been some materials manufacturing revolution in the last 5 years that I wasn’t aware of? Is it really possible to make cloth covered foam better now than at the turn of the 21st century?

Will somebody actually do something to improve public transport in Melbourne?

Something, somebody, anything… No new services, no new carriages, no extended services, no new ticketing system. All of these things have been discussed and considered and even truckloads of money spent on developing and investigating and yet… Nothing.

Speaking of passenger comfort, what is with these bus drivers and how smooth they drive?

I have been using them for a while now, going to the city for work every day, the regular commute. It is not the sardine can that the train system has become or the nightmare of the tram network but it does have it’s issues and when you see it and use it every day it’s easy to start to find fault. This is what I do and I don’t mind saying so when it gets to me. This blog is my way of getting irritations of my chest even if nobody reads it.

Are all bus drivers bad drivers? Can they not understand that bouncing your foot up and down on the gas peddle like your peddling the thing along is harsh for the bus, bad for the fuel economy and an all round pain for the passengers? I sit on the hard seat trying to enjoy the ride (reminds me, we could do with some new seat covers) while the bus lurches from the stop, new passengers still walking to seats are flung down the isle toward the rear and then when up to speed, not the road speed limit, just some arbitrary speed the driver decides, pulls the foot off, then plants it again, then off, and on, then on one big final time before hitting the brakes, pulling up short, then pushing forward again, 3 feet past the waiting passengers to a stop, almost with a screech. Pchshshsh… Passengers get on and then are flung down the isle.

It’s painful, my back hurts trying to hold myself in the seat, people are flung all over the place, it is not very customer friendly.

It must be bad for the fuel bill to, using that accelerator like a water pistol, squirting diesel into that straining motor again and again. The drive train stretching from push to pull, grunting the bus forward and back.

And then there are the traffic lights, pulling up behind a few cars at a red light and stopping. Then for no visible reason launching forward all of 6 inches and stopping again, closer to the stationary car in front of us, and again, another 3 inches. Then the lights go green, there is a pause, but the bus goes anyway and then in a realisation the car hasn’t moved yet, slams on the brakes, as the car takes off with the traffic and the bus is there, stationary for another moment before taking off again. What a waste of effort.

There is no feedback system, it doesn’t matter if a driver screws up, if the busses are late, if they continue to miss their stops or just not arrive at all. If they are bad drivers or are abusive it doesn’t matter because the companies above them don’t care. Seriously, they don’t want to know, they don’t want to listen and god forbid, if they actually knew enough about reality to do something constructive for their clients, the p-a-s-s-e-n-g-e-r-s.

Their business is to maintains their rolling stock, employ the number of people required to drive them and above all else, negotiate contracts with the government to own the situation. Nothing more.

They don’t provide a service to the public, never have and never will and they don’t care what happens because they are not accountable.

What a fucken liberty!