Re: Hillside Website

["Michael Walker" <walker@hotkey.net.au>]

>But if you want to have a quick look try
>http://www.hillsidetrains.com.au/index2.html
>
Thanks for this. Had a look. It looks not unlike the Swanston Trams one in
many respects.

In the best interests of niggling:
General info:
no of customer - should be plural.
The ads they play on Gold FM say they have over 14000 parking spaces, their
site claims only 12995

Timetables:
Only shows Glen Waverley line but they would appear to have stolen the Yarra
Trams idea of printing stop specific information when you select a station.
Indeed, the page is called 'Route Stops'! I presume the site will eventually
have all the lines selectable then the page which now appears will appear
when you select your line.

I must admit, I prefer the Bayside approach of having the full timetable
available although judging by the Yarra Trams implementation of this idea,
these will presumably be available. It would be interesting to see if they
have the station to station timetable info the Bayside site has.

Given Hillside has the Show trains and Racecourse trains, I wonder if they
will put the timetables up on their site at applicable times? It wouldn't be
difficult to have two copies of the relevant pages and post the Show pages
before the show and repost the originals after. The Racecourse trains could
be the same but are probably better handled by the Bulletin Board.

Tourist info:
Reasonably extensive. The only oddity was that they appear to be in the
process of including links to the bus companies but only one bus company was
mentioned in the list and therefore only one link. It seems odd as they
haven't mentioned any other bus co's in their list. I would have thought it
would make more sense to link the actual route numbers (mentioned in all the
listings where applicable) to the route timetables (they are all available
on the net now - at least the ones Hillside mention) with the timetable
opening in a new window or in the right hand frame. The same could apply to
the listing for PBR. Apart from that, good list, I couldn't think of any
other tourist attractions worth mentioning.

Fares:
Similar to the posters which used to appear on the stations. Better laid out
than the Metcard site because of it.
Niggle: Hustbridge on the map should be Hurstbridge. I will have to check
all the other maps I have to see if they have the same error...

Contact Us:
Good comprehensive list, better than the phone book one. Epping's number
seems to be the same as Eltham's. The number listed for both is Eltham.

Premium Stations:
There should be 'Their' in 'There officers are specialists...'

History:
Seems a bit odd having a picture of Puffing Billy at the top of a Hillside
history page. Is the playground on top of the station still there?
Original paint colour were researched should be 'Original paint colours
were...'
The summary at the bottom is interesting, it also includes dates of
electrification as well as construction. It's a pity it is only for Hillside
lines as Bayside doesn't have an equivalent on their site.
It's a shame the history is more a history of Flinders Street station rather
than a history of Hillside. I enjoyed reading it but I am sure interesting
things happened at other stations and other parts of their system.

FAQ:
Who's the dufus at the top?
Waste of time this page, all the answers can be found in General Info.

Reasonably good site, will be interesting to see what happens with their
timetable presentation. They could use a good spell checker or grammar
checker though, it's a little bit sad the amount of spelling and grammar
errors in what is supposed to be a professional site.