Re: Country(link?) - try walking instead

["Switched On" <yaropolk@hotmail.com>]

Jack <bd107@tsn.cc> wrote in message
ylzT3.143$Ms4.5587@nsw.nnrp.telstra.net">news:ylzT3.143$Ms4.5587@nsw.nnrp.telstra.net...

> Hello Switched On

Hi Jack

> Switched On wrote in message ...
> >
> >Jack <bd107@tsn.cc> wrote in message
> >news:EvUR3.53$yi3.1045@nsw.nnrp.telstra.net...
> >they are constantly travelling (just like Countrylink staff.) It is not
> >cheaper to run an aircraft as compared to a train, actually quite the
> >reverse because you have much higher fuel, maintenance and infrastructure
> >costs (airport terminals are not cheap.)
>
> Nor is servicing fuel etc for the trains as well... It is very amusing
when
> pple try compare rail and air... You have to be kidding.... they cater for
> completely different styles of clientele

Not really. They cater for people trying to get from one location to another
faster than they could by walking or riding a donkey.

> >No passenger should be expected to sympathise or understand the reasons
for
> >any sort of problems for delay or lack of service - especially not at the
> >prices CountryLink charges for their services.
>
> No but a little tolerance would be appreciated
>
> No one asks them to sympathise..I  think once they are told why a service
is
> late, they should accept that... not whinge about it... Pple should be
> informed as to why the train is late, and once they know they should
refrain
> from takin it out on the staff members on the train...

I doubt that they would take it out on the staff if their perceptions of the
level of service were changed.

Obviously, it's not the staff on the train who are responsible for being
late, but they can do a lot to improve the way customers _feel_ about being
late.

> >I am not trying to bag CountryLink staff or anyone personally, I am just
> >trying to put it in perspective. The alternatives to CountryLink are far
> >better value for money!
>
> I think U are missing the point here... the service is provided for a
> certain customer, as a rule pple who cannot afford to fly and pensioners
who
> get their travel for a song.. If you have the money to fly and prefer
> flying, sure go ahead, but there are pple who cannot afford to take that
> option... and as such the level of service is reflected by the majority of
> pple who use the service... Countrylink Trains, in reality are just
> glorified interurbans...

So is the Tilt Train... but you can get a quality meal without leaving your
seat, watch a video, have attendants come around and check that everything's
ok...

> >> The people  in this forum are not customers, they are fair game when
they
> >> whine without lookin for the reasons behind their problem, or more to
the
> >> point the problem they percieve....
> >
> >I have been a CountryLink customer a number of times, and each time I
have
> >been dissappointed with the service given the amount paid for it.
>
> That would depend on what U are expecting...

I booked first class tickets, and therefore expected first-class service.
Can't say I got anything more than I would have got in Economy, apart from
the fact that the carriage was a little bit quieter because there were fewer
roudy types. But that's all. Hardly first class.

>  But you
> >are right, it's not any one person at fault, and no one is suggesting
that
> >there is.. the problem is that CountryLink is weighed down by a history
of
> a
> >public service mentality in a sea of commercialisation. There is in
> >motivation within the organization for lifting the game because there is
no
> >incentive.
>
> Tell me how lifting the game can be achieved... Because I really dont see
> how you would do it... if lifting the game involves liftin staff morale,
> maybe a new management style would be in order...

You have to look at what your competitors (ie the airlines) are doing and
learn from it.. you don't have to _copy_ them, but you have to see what
strategies they use and how hard they push to implement them.

You are right, management has _a lot_ to do with this, but also changing
management too often is not a good thing. You need steady, continuous
improvement. Furthermore, management is only half the problem, the other
half is the staff at the coalface. Both have to change and work together
like a real team of coach and players.

> >Just wait until it's bought out by Amtrak or someone like that... we are
> >talking major staff shedding and hiring (churn), harder timetables,
(maybe
> >not cheaper fares) but certainly improved customer service.
>
> How many onboard staff and drivers do you think there are in the business,
> there are nowhere near as many as I think U presume... and quite a few of
> the passenger attendants are on 6 month contracts...

U? U2? :-) Where is Bono anyway?

Seriously, the sort of staff shedding that they would do would be similar to
what happens in the IT industry. It's not downsizing, it's actually a
shedding and replacement of staff in order to radically change company
culture.

> >The private operators do not go easy on their staff like the old
Australian
> >public service railways did. They a big companies who play the game hard
> and
> >fast.
>
> So that makes it better, run the staff further into the ground try to cut
> wages and conditions, yes that would be a wonderful outcome.... didnt one
of
> the private companies now running trains in Australia try that only to get
> rolled in the courts?

They wouldn't cut wages, they might even increase them, but they would only
hire contract staff or those staff willing to abide by some kind of
performance-based workplace agreement. I'm not saying it's nice or
wonderful, I'm saying it's the way they operate because it does work on the
bottom line.

> >"The customer is always right" - even if they are wrong. Have you ever
been
> >to MacDonalds and dropped your dinner tray accidentally and all your meal
> >falls on the floor before you even get a chance to eat it? What happens?
> >They give you a whole new meal gratis and clean up after you... even if
> it's
> >your fault. And the result is that MacDonalds pulls in more customers,
> >builds more stores and makes more money.
>
> I dont see the relevance of comparing a Multi National who preys on our
> young to make them work for pittance,to make a profit...

MacDonalds, and it's pay structure is absolutely no different to many local
Australian (ie non-multinational) companies such as the little electronics
repair shops and R&D companies which hire Uni undergraduates on casual
holiday employment. If anything, Macdonalds has a better pay structure
because you don't have to have any technical skills or knowledge to be
employed by them, and they do have real training programmes and upward
mobility for staff. The little "family" companies don't. Capiche? Macdonalds
obviously aren't perfect, nor even very good, but they are successful and
popular, and still better for high-school kids wanting to make some money
than the tax-payer funded alternative (ie the dole) because at least they
are learning to _work_ for their dosh, not bludge off the system.

>to a government
> entity who provides a service from Taxpayers money...

QANTAS was a government entity, but obviously its level of service is higher
than countrylink's, and privatization really hasn't done much to dampen that
company's success.

QR is a government entity, but I haven't heard many complaints about the
level of service on the Tilt Train (or any of its trains for that matter)

>Sorry I am from th old
> school and believe that I pay my taxes to have services provided, and
those
> services dont have to make a profit.. the key word is service... expecting
> passenger rail to return profit is ecconomic rationalism gone mad... it is
a
> service provided by government..

And I believe we pay taxes which are way too high for a level of service
which is pretty slack. The previous generation (baby boomers) have left
their children a country which is in a worse economic state than at any
other time in the history of Australia. As one American statesman said (in
relation to his generation) "This is the first generation which has left its
children in debt." (paraphrase)

The old school, in this particular case, should be dismantled as soon as
possible, because it's drowning its offspring in a sea of mediocrity.

However, regarding CountryLink, I genuinely believe that it's probably too
late for that organization, and that within 5 years, we shall see it sold
off to the highest bidder. You just wait and see.