Re: Metcard - new message on tickets

["Mike Alexander" <malex@bigfoot.com>]

>> noticed today my Metcard has printed on the back
>> TAKE THE MET TO THE CRICKET
>>
>> replacing the old bit about validating every trip.
>>
>
>Who is the Met?
>Dillside/Badside Trains, Yobbo/Swankston Trams, really need to sort out
>their identity crisis.


I just amazes me that they are creating all of this unnecessary confusion.
Now we are starting to see train maps with obscure coloured backgrounds to
indicate which train company is running which lines, as well as tram maps
with half the lines greyed out. A new tram brochure I saw today states "All
Swanston tram services operate in Zone one". Quite correct, but how is the
average commuter supposed to know when they get on a Bundoora tram (which
goes to Zone 2), that this statement is not true for that tram line? Are we
now suposed to find the little sticker which tells us who runs the tram
before we know which information applies to us?

Should we as passengers need to worry about all of this? NO!!!

One of the primary rules of business is to hide your corporate
structure/problems when it is to the detriment of your customers.

Why can't we just keep "The Met" as a corporate identity? All brochures,
maps and timetables should use this as the primary branding, with maybe some
small text indicating who is running the service. After all, V/Line has been
doing it for years. All V/Line buses are run by private companies, but are
still conspicuously branded in the V/Line corporate image.

And what happens if, say, "Yarra Trams" is sold to Stagecoach? Do we then
have to go through another re-branding exercise to "Stagecoach Trams"? Where
is it going to end?

This corporate branding bullshit is just going too far. All it does is
create confusion in the customers' minds about who runs their train, who
they can complain to, where they can get information etc. At Spencer St
recently, even the useful signs above the video monitors on the suburban
platforms which gave you the platform number (e.g. Spencer St - Platform 12)
have now been replaced with useless "Hillside trains" signs. Why replace
information with propaganda?

This is really the critical time when people should be making noise to stop
this before it gets too big to change. Anyone got any ideas?


Regards,

Mike Alexander
(malex@bigfoot.com)