Monday, December 4, 2017

QR's Summer of Hell (Again)

QR's Summer School Holidays Service Axe
It was pretty inevitable that more than a year into #RailFail, and with the net increase of train drivers being somewhere close to zero, that Queensland Rail (QR) were going to inflict yet more pain on commuters during the Summer School Holidays. This Summer, QR have decided to add two extra weeks of commuter hell, by axing even more train services from Monday 18th December 2017 until Sunday 21st January 2018. Changes in this years School Holiday Interim Timetable (SHIT) include:
  • Peak services cut, with 15 minute frequency running on most lines during much of the peak period (instead of every 6 to 7.5mins), and a few extra services during the busiest part of the peak period. Many express services have been axed, slowing down journey times. 
  • Off-peak 15 minute services axed, with 30 minute frequency on most lines. 
  • Hourly services on 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th, 30th, and 31st* December 2017, and 1st January 2018. 
  • *Hourly services on New Years Eve, until 5pm when they will be every 30 minutes.
  • Further service reductions on the already infrequent Sunshine Coast, Doomben, and Rosewood Lines.
... in the mean time, every other major city in Australia is running a normal timetable, with off-peak frequencies of 10 to 15 minutes in Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth. 

It appears that yet again, QR have contempt for the travelling public, not realising that passengers still need to get to work, travel for leisure during the school holidays and Xmas/New Year period, attend Boxing Day sales, and attend New Year functions. Despite a 25% reduction in patronage at this time of the year, services frequencies are being cut by up to 75%. The ongoing #RailFail service reductions which are likely to last at least another year, are a major embarrassment to Brisbane and SE Queensland. 

BrizCommuter has already been contacted by concerned Nurses and hospital admin staff working at the Princess Alexandra Hospital, Lady Cilento Children's Hospital, and Mater Hospital. The early am peak service reductions (people trying to get to work for 7am to 8am starts) through South Bank are horrific, with up to 75% reduction is services from Roma Street to South Bank and Park Road in the early am peak. With only 10 hours between shifts, nursing staff are concerned that the increased journey times will increase on the job fatigue, with risk to patient care. 

Surely with a peak service that resembles an off-peak service, and an off-peak service that is wholly inadequate for a "New World City", that TransLink should only be charging off-peak fares throughout the Summer School Holiday Timetable?

7 comments:

  1. NSW, pumped out the new timetable with massive off peak service improvements nearly 2 months ahead of schedule. (note that NSW has very little room for peak improvements). The biggest complaint is that there are so many services, that old trains are required to be used to fill the timetable. At least they have older trains they can call upon, unlike us.

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    1. Yes, it seems that every other rail network has sufficient competence to run the network at near to, or at maximum capacity. In QLD, we just get more axed services.

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  2. On an unrelated topic, customer impacting KPIs are poor, passenger numbers on trains are dropping and therefore we don't need to fund trains as much.... right? On the bright side NGR trains will be running on the Gold Coast line as-of Monday. Is it wrong that I wouldn't feel safe riding on an NGR until maybe February next year? I don't have faith they are safe.

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    1. I wouldn't feel safe trying to get into/out of the toilets in a wheelchair.

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  3. Where is the Courier Mail in all this fiasco? Not a peep out of the paper last year on this issue and again this year, nothing. The paper was hard at it with Rail Fail when it suited. Why no coverage?

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    1. Looks like the CM have fallen asleep at the wheel again? Or maybe they realise that the public know that LNP policy caused #RailFail in the first place?

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  4. I think it is more that just being more around Xmas time, no election now and ppl's minds on other things, spending column inches on a repeated topic will not sell newspapers.

    ReplyDelete

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