>Ringwood line. Right in the middle of both peak times, unfortunately.
>I've managed to spring a train that changed from an express to a stopping
>all stns Box Hill -> Camberwell two working days in a row now (Friday &
>Monday) as well as being 4 to 5 mins late every day last week. Admittedly
>when they are this far out of sync it shouldn't really matter, but they tend
>to get crowded when there's been a long gap.
>
>Trains outbound were a little better tonight, although still around 2-3 mins
>late (around 6.20pm). Must stop setting my watch to the nearest second,
>I guess...
I catch the 7.48am Lilydale train from Flinders St. I find it's often
a few minutes late. I've got 8 minutes to spare to catch my bus at Box
Hill, so I can tolerate a few minutes, especially if the bus is late,
which it mostly is. So I haven't been taking a lot of notice of
precise punctuality there.
In fact, a few minutes is most welcome, because I've only got an
official 3 minutes to get it after getting off my St Albans train.
More like 0 minutes a lot of the time. However, for the last week it's
been extremely punctual, as I mentioned.
My 4.55 pm from Box Hill to Flinders St is also often extremely
punctual. Found out why recently. I've been getting on at Blackburn.
Looks like they achieve "punctuality" by leaving the stations before
Box Hill 2 minutes early!
>Still, I do wonder if low morale should be a valid excuse - sounds vaguely
>like passive industrial action. I'm sure transport workers would endear the
>public a little more if they refused to collect fares or something...
I got the feeling from an article in the Age that normally workers go
to a fair bit of extra effort to make sure things run smoothly, and
that it would only take slightly less effort for the system to stuff
up like it is.