Channel 7 news last night (23/11) carried a report on what a big stuff-up
it was. It was the most biased report I have ever seen. "There were hardly
any signs to direct confused commuters to their new platforms" they said,
and then promply focussing on one of the supposedly rare signs.
Then they interviewed a number of confused commuters, asking them "Did you
know how to get to Platform 14". They all (at least the ones we saw) looked
incredibly stupid and said "No". It wouldn't matter how many signs they put
up, there would still be many people who just don't read them. And, of
course, since Platform 14 is the platform where all Clifton Hill trains
left from until recently, it is pretty suprising that supposedly "no-one"
knew where it was. It is hardly a big walk, or hard to find.
They then went on to say "The PTC is treating this as a bit of a learning
excercise" which sounded like a quote out of context to me, but was
construed to mean that they have just bumbled into the exercise without
thinking about it.
Then they trotted out Patrick O'Connor (PTUA spokesman) who went on to fuel
the fire about how badly planned it all was. "3/4 of the transport budget
is being spent on Federation Square" he said (this is probably true!!),
"and this is a huge stuff-up". How those two issues are related, I don't
know.
Anyway, I think it is impossible to do any good without the media trotting
out their tired old "The railways are full of idiots" stories. I think a
few "the media is full of idiots" stories wouldn't go astray!!
I will wait with anticipation to hear how today's (Monday) peak went, with
all Burnley loop trains running in the other direction to normal. If they
thought Sunday was bad, I imagine today will be hell. But most of the
confusion will be caused by stupid passengers (sorry customers) not reading
signs or listening to announcements, rather than bad planning, I would care
to bet.
Regards,
Mike Alexander
(malex@bigfoot.com)