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| Space for 2 more! |
Day 2 - 21/01/2014
Nearly 6 year after Queensland Rail (QR) last stuffed up a new timetable on the Ferny Grove Line, they appear to have done it again. Despite over $130m being spent on the line's duplication, and a timetable that generally looked good on paper, the line still continues to be a basket case! On the second day of the new "sector 2" train timetable, the problems were:
- 07:10am from Ferny Grove - overcrowded due to being a scheduled 3-car unit.
- 07:25am from Ferny Grove - overcrowded due to being a scheduled 3-car unit.
- 5:26pm from Central to Ferny Grove - overcrowded due to being after a scheduled 15 minute gap in the busiest part of the pm peak.
- 5:33pm from Central to Ferny Grove - ran express (unscheduled) between Bowen Hills and Mitchelton, resulting in further delays for inner-Ferny Grove Line passengers. This in turn resulted in the following 5:41pm from Central (yet another 3-car unit) being crowded.
With trains currently being rather quiet due to school and university holidays, the congestion can only get worse on these services in the next few weeks. What do QR urgently need to do to fix the problem?
- Make the 07:10am and 07:25am from Ferny Grove 6-car units - but are there enough "quiet" services on other lines to take two 3-car units away from? These trains should never had been timetabled as 3-car units to due to the high loads during this period.
- Add an additional train service in between the 5:11pm and 5:26pm from Central to Ferny Grove - but are there enough spare units to form the required extra train?
- Avoid running trains express to make up lost time, and make up recovery time during the terminus turnarounds instead. Given the PR disaster from yesterday's troubles, annoying your customers even more should be avoided at all costs!
So what are QR doing about the issues? This is taken from QR's Facebook page:
"We closely monitored Ferny Grove line trains yesterday morning and know the 7.10am and 7.25am trains from Ferny Grove had some crowding. The good news is that there are services every 7-8 mins from Ferny Grove during morning peak and all other trains had plenty of capacity. We encourage customers to consider catching one of the 6-car trains (7.02am, 7.17am, 7.32am), where possible. We expect this issue to resolve over the coming days, as customers adjust to the new timetable. We encourage and appreciate any feedback and apologise for any discomfort on these services."
In other words, QR expect passengers to change their travelling times around congested trains, rather than timetabling sufficient train capacity for when passengers actually want to travel. Not good customer service or service planning! Of course, most of the blame should go on the previous ALP government for not buying enough trains.
As mentioned previously, whilst loadings may even out a bit over the next few days, the return of school and university traffic in a few weeks time will probably result in these services being full to capacity and leaving passengers behind. Unless changes are made, there will be no available capacity for patronage increases in the busiest parts of the peak period. No mention of the 5:26pm overcrowding issues, and no apologies have been made to customers who don't read QR's Facebook page (which is the majority of their passengers). It is very disappointing that due to these problems, the Ferny Grove Line is still acting as in incentive to drive to work along the congested Samford Road instead. For many commuters fed up with high fares, these issues may be last straw for using public transport.
Don't forget that if you have spotted any other issues with the new timetables, then please use the comments section.
Update - Day 3 - 22/01/2014
The 07:10am from Ferny Grove was very busy again this morning, with loads of around 40 passengers standing per carriage. This does not bode well for patronage increase over the next few weeks as schools and universities return. The 07:25am from Ferny Grove has also been reported as being overcrowded. QR are still attempting to get passengers to use other services, which rather defeats the purpose of a more frequent timetable. It is not looking good for an end to the am peak issues.
The evening peak period has also descended into chaos yet again due to earlier network issues, resulting in 6-car units becoming 3-car units, and overcrowding as a result. It appears that the new Ferny Grove timetable cannot cope with earlier delays, and BrizCommuter has fears for the timetable's sustainability.
QR published a 100% on-time statistic for yesterdays Ferny Grove Line peak service. Try telling that to the passengers kicked off the 5:33pm all stations which became an express. Rather dubious statistics QR?
Update - Day 4 - 23/01/2014
Despite QR's best attempts at the informing passengers about the 3-car trains (see right), the crowding on the 07:10am from Ferny Grove is not improving. Approx. 40-50 passengers standing per carriage were observed today, and again does not bode well for expected patronage increases in the next few weeks which are likely to result in this train becoming full and leaving passengers behind.
The 07:25am from Ferny Grove appears to be getting quieter with an average of 25 standing passengers per carriage (mainly concentrated on the last car), but this may also be borderline full due to expected patronage increases in the next few weeks.
The 5:26pm from Central to Ferny Grove is also looking like it will be chronically full unless QR can add an extra service in the 15 minute gap preceding this service.
Update - Day 5 - 24/01/2014
BrizCommuter didn't observe any loadings today as it was a friday before a long weekend, and thus loadings were relatively quiet. Things will pick up next week when some schools start their term.
In the continued attempt to inform passengers about 3-car services, QR have even highlighted 3-car services on their large poster timetables at some Ferny Grove Line stations. Unfortunately, this highlighting of 3-car services somewhat misses the point of giving passengers informed choices about overcrowded services. The reason for this is that not all 3-car trains are overcrowded, and there is an evening 6-car service that is overcrowded. Thus QR should be informing passengers of the busier services instead of the number of carriages.
Finally, QR have apologised to customers about this weeks fiasco in a video on their Facebook page. Unfortunately, as most of QR's passengers do not check QR's various social media, the majority of commuters will be completely unaware of the apology. A printed apology should be put up at each station, as occurs after serious issues on London Underground.
Future updates will be in a new thread.
http://brizcommuter.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/the-lack-of-trains-problem.html
The 07:10am from Ferny Grove was very busy again this morning, with loads of around 40 passengers standing per carriage. This does not bode well for patronage increase over the next few weeks as schools and universities return. The 07:25am from Ferny Grove has also been reported as being overcrowded. QR are still attempting to get passengers to use other services, which rather defeats the purpose of a more frequent timetable. It is not looking good for an end to the am peak issues.
The evening peak period has also descended into chaos yet again due to earlier network issues, resulting in 6-car units becoming 3-car units, and overcrowding as a result. It appears that the new Ferny Grove timetable cannot cope with earlier delays, and BrizCommuter has fears for the timetable's sustainability.
QR published a 100% on-time statistic for yesterdays Ferny Grove Line peak service. Try telling that to the passengers kicked off the 5:33pm all stations which became an express. Rather dubious statistics QR?
Update - Day 4 - 23/01/2014
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| Lots of 3-car trains |
The 07:25am from Ferny Grove appears to be getting quieter with an average of 25 standing passengers per carriage (mainly concentrated on the last car), but this may also be borderline full due to expected patronage increases in the next few weeks.
The 5:26pm from Central to Ferny Grove is also looking like it will be chronically full unless QR can add an extra service in the 15 minute gap preceding this service.
Update - Day 5 - 24/01/2014
BrizCommuter didn't observe any loadings today as it was a friday before a long weekend, and thus loadings were relatively quiet. Things will pick up next week when some schools start their term.
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| 3-car trains highlighted |
Finally, QR have apologised to customers about this weeks fiasco in a video on their Facebook page. Unfortunately, as most of QR's passengers do not check QR's various social media, the majority of commuters will be completely unaware of the apology. A printed apology should be put up at each station, as occurs after serious issues on London Underground.
Future updates will be in a new thread.
Issues on the first day of the new timetables:
The lack of trains problem:http://brizcommuter.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/the-lack-of-trains-problem.html
Thanks QR, give us a trains every 7-8 minutes, and then tell everyone to only use trains every 15 minutes.
ReplyDelete"We closely monitored Ferny Grove line trains yesterday morning and know the 7.10am and 7.25am trains from Ferny Grove had some crowding. The good news is that there are services every 7-8 mins from Ferny Grove during morning peak and all other trains had plenty of capacity. We encourage customers to consider catching one of the 6-car trains (7.02am, 7.17am, 7.32am), where possible. We expect this issue to resolve over the coming days, as customers adjust to the new timetable. We encourage and appreciate any feedback and apologise for any discomfort on these services."
ReplyDeleteIn other words, QR expect passengers to change their travelling times around congested trains, rather than timetabling sufficient train capacity for when passengers actually want to travel. Not good customer service or service planning! Of course, most of the blame should go on the previous ALP government for not buying enough trains.
Are you just joking about the blame for the previous ALP government or are you actually being serious?
Tim Warren - Yes, the blame really is on the previous ALP government. They ordered the previous batch of trains, and didn't order anywhere near enough units. Not sure if they received any poor service planning advice from stakeholders such as QR along the way.
ReplyDeleteThe EMU unit on the QR Network has always been my favourite train to ride. But i'm interested in the distinctive progressive sound it produces.
ReplyDelete