trains, trams, buses and crowds
May. 12th, 2011 10:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hnpccI have found myself darkly amused by Melbourne's public transport system this week. Today was a highlight, when I missed four trams at Federation Square - including, annoyingly, one that goes right past my work - because I could not get on any of them. This was due to the sheer crush of numbers, not me being incapacitated. Where oh where is my Caufield to Footscray rail link when I need it? It would relieve the congestion on St Kilda Rd no end.
Flinders St Station, on the other hand, has finally instituted a one-way system in peak times, whereby they've made two thirds of the gates outgoing during the morning peak and ingoing during the evening. This is something I've been ranting about for literally years so it's good to see they finally got hold of the manual and worked out how to do it.
Now if they can just work out an exit from platforms 12, 13 and 14 to Federation Square I'd be thrilled.
And then you have the new government's porkbarrelling, nicely summed up in this article, whereby a senior member of the new government's electorate is to have their rail crossing upgraded and/or put underground - despite it being number 221 on a priority list. Still, it's nice for the whinging rich to get something I suppose.
My highlight for public transport recently though would have to be the train that was (a) 20 minutes late (they finally made an annoucement 18 minutes in, telling us that the train had been delayed. No shit Sherlock), (b) was then so full that no one could fit on two stations in from me leaving around 100 people stranded on the platform hoping the next train would come some time that day, (c) stayed so full the guy in the wheelchair gave up trying to get off and decided just to go into the city, around the Loop and back out to the station he wanted, (d) which was partly because he was blocked in by a cyclist, which seriously? None of us can move. Some of us are having trouble breathing. Take your bloody bike out and ride it, it'd be faster for starters, sheesh, and (e) the train turned from a double express into a stopping all stations (which was then even more delayed as people attempted to cram on, and at least ten passengers had to disembark and re-embark every time someone wanted to get off) which added about 20 minutes on to the travel time. I have actually been on a more packed train in Cairo, but this was the most packed Melbourne train I've been on. You know what would help? More things to hang onto along the train so more people could fit in. Not that that was an issue on that train, everyone just used each other for balance when they didn't have a hand-hold. And yet it was still better than the train my friend was on this morning, which was all that and more crowded still. At least my train made it to Flinders St Station - hers terminated at Southern Cross, leaving her to find her own way from there to Swanston St.
Actually who am I kidding - my highlight for public transport this week was the lovely girl who was chatting on her mobile while still listening to her iPod, and who came out loudly with "so then I found out he was planning on having sex with her while I was there..."
*grin* Ah yes, the world is your living room and no one can actually hear you. Please, tell us more! I think she had a third of the carriage eavesdropping by that point.
Flinders St Station, on the other hand, has finally instituted a one-way system in peak times, whereby they've made two thirds of the gates outgoing during the morning peak and ingoing during the evening. This is something I've been ranting about for literally years so it's good to see they finally got hold of the manual and worked out how to do it.
Now if they can just work out an exit from platforms 12, 13 and 14 to Federation Square I'd be thrilled.
And then you have the new government's porkbarrelling, nicely summed up in this article, whereby a senior member of the new government's electorate is to have their rail crossing upgraded and/or put underground - despite it being number 221 on a priority list. Still, it's nice for the whinging rich to get something I suppose.
My highlight for public transport recently though would have to be the train that was (a) 20 minutes late (they finally made an annoucement 18 minutes in, telling us that the train had been delayed. No shit Sherlock), (b) was then so full that no one could fit on two stations in from me leaving around 100 people stranded on the platform hoping the next train would come some time that day, (c) stayed so full the guy in the wheelchair gave up trying to get off and decided just to go into the city, around the Loop and back out to the station he wanted, (d) which was partly because he was blocked in by a cyclist, which seriously? None of us can move. Some of us are having trouble breathing. Take your bloody bike out and ride it, it'd be faster for starters, sheesh, and (e) the train turned from a double express into a stopping all stations (which was then even more delayed as people attempted to cram on, and at least ten passengers had to disembark and re-embark every time someone wanted to get off) which added about 20 minutes on to the travel time. I have actually been on a more packed train in Cairo, but this was the most packed Melbourne train I've been on. You know what would help? More things to hang onto along the train so more people could fit in. Not that that was an issue on that train, everyone just used each other for balance when they didn't have a hand-hold. And yet it was still better than the train my friend was on this morning, which was all that and more crowded still. At least my train made it to Flinders St Station - hers terminated at Southern Cross, leaving her to find her own way from there to Swanston St.
Actually who am I kidding - my highlight for public transport this week was the lovely girl who was chatting on her mobile while still listening to her iPod, and who came out loudly with "so then I found out he was planning on having sex with her while I was there..."
*grin* Ah yes, the world is your living room and no one can actually hear you. Please, tell us more! I think she had a third of the carriage eavesdropping by that point.
