![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Two stories: Public Transport and Gaming
So I'm halfway on my 1.5 hr journey to work on Wednesday when the Business Director rings to say one of the routers has fallen over and could I return to the city to reset it. No problem; it's one of the things I do and besides I quite like hanging out in big rooms with thousands of servers humming away. Finally returning to deepest darkest Croydon I discover that there's another twenty minutes for the next connecting bus so I visit the tiny second-hand bookstore in the arcade and discover a small mountain of ancient roleplaying tomes going very cheap indeed. I put aside some twenty books and promise the shopkeeper to return the following day. Two stories follow:
The first was the return journey home in the evening. It begins with the bus being late and thus not connecting with the departing train to the city. This happens sometimes and requires a further twenty minute wait. Then the inevitable; "Connex apologises for any inconvenience caused", a sound to whit Melbourne commuters should respond with a slow chant of "Connex are wankers". The second train had been delayed by a further fifteen minutes. Finally arriving at Richmond station the connecting train there wasn't due for a further minutes and that one was going to be an additional fifteen minutes late. I ended up catching the ever-dependable 246 bus home; a service that has been stable since I first moved to Melbourne fifteen years ago.
The fact is that Melbourne's train system, once considered the envy of other cities, is now totally dysfunctional. The incredible incompetence of the private providers, who are so bad that even the British Conservatives have admitted that rail privitisation has been a failure (notably this is from the same company). However, let this be a rule of thumb: private industries do a worse job at infrastructure than public organisations. The PTUA is on the right track in this regards (pardon the pun), but the "Socialist Left", Transport Minister seems to think the government should have marginal responsibility at best.
Now, story two; arriving the following day before the bookshop closed, I collected my twenty RPG books for the bargain price of $150. The shopkeeper enquired whether I was interested in the others. "Not this time" was my response ('twas a heavy load, being twenty books). "How about the rest for an additional $100?". It was a bargain I couldn't refuse. Dispite the incredible difficulty of travelling from Croydon to Ripponlea, I eventually made it and catalogued my haul: fully 134 books, including several boxed sets, a dozen hardbacks, old Tunnels & Trolls classics, a dozen Ars Magica books, twenty Champions scenarios etc.. Ran Seven Leagues last night; seriously fun system set in magical and mythical faerie realms; have also hacked our way through half of G2: The Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant, in the ongoing retro-AD&D game. Recently reviewed the new Earthdawn Players Compendium and Ruby.
The first was the return journey home in the evening. It begins with the bus being late and thus not connecting with the departing train to the city. This happens sometimes and requires a further twenty minute wait. Then the inevitable; "Connex apologises for any inconvenience caused", a sound to whit Melbourne commuters should respond with a slow chant of "Connex are wankers". The second train had been delayed by a further fifteen minutes. Finally arriving at Richmond station the connecting train there wasn't due for a further minutes and that one was going to be an additional fifteen minutes late. I ended up catching the ever-dependable 246 bus home; a service that has been stable since I first moved to Melbourne fifteen years ago.
The fact is that Melbourne's train system, once considered the envy of other cities, is now totally dysfunctional. The incredible incompetence of the private providers, who are so bad that even the British Conservatives have admitted that rail privitisation has been a failure (notably this is from the same company). However, let this be a rule of thumb: private industries do a worse job at infrastructure than public organisations. The PTUA is on the right track in this regards (pardon the pun), but the "Socialist Left", Transport Minister seems to think the government should have marginal responsibility at best.
Now, story two; arriving the following day before the bookshop closed, I collected my twenty RPG books for the bargain price of $150. The shopkeeper enquired whether I was interested in the others. "Not this time" was my response ('twas a heavy load, being twenty books). "How about the rest for an additional $100?". It was a bargain I couldn't refuse. Dispite the incredible difficulty of travelling from Croydon to Ripponlea, I eventually made it and catalogued my haul: fully 134 books, including several boxed sets, a dozen hardbacks, old Tunnels & Trolls classics, a dozen Ars Magica books, twenty Champions scenarios etc.. Ran Seven Leagues last night; seriously fun system set in magical and mythical faerie realms; have also hacked our way through half of G2: The Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant, in the ongoing retro-AD&D game. Recently reviewed the new Earthdawn Players Compendium and Ruby.
no subject
I did a small radio feature on the whole PT shemozzle the other week, as a uni assignment. I was going to get it broadcast on RRR, but the damn thing ran aground, largely because of the arrogance of those running the system. Connex's PR guy demanded to know what questions he would be asked before he gave an interview, then refused to comment on anything which had any hint of criticism or was not strictly related to Connex's business doctrine. And they were absolute lap-dog questions to begin with! Things like: "What do you think of public transport's role in combating climate change." He basically said "We don't want to know. Piss off and talk to the government" - and yet he then promised an angry phone call from him if I broadcast anything negative against Connex on the topics he'd refused to speak about.
Then when I rang Lynne Kosky's office, they were even worse. They had a better excuse for palming me off, since it was a week after the Kerang crash, but they were very cold about it. The media officer said: "We might get back to you, but I won't promise anything. You're basically our lowest priority." Ouch! Even if it's true, it's hardly polite. Sure enough, after a week, when it came to hand the assignment in, I still couldn't get a peep out of them.
Anyway. I got a bit of research done along the way. As a train user, I already knew the system was in bad shape, but what I didn't expect to find was that the State Government has been essentially covering up the dismal state of Connex's performance. Every time the Director of Public Transport comes out and compares punctuality and cancellation standards since privatisation, they compare Connex's (self-reported) figures with those from the two-year period right before privatisation, when the whole system fell in a heap because it was being restructured. Not to mention that those stats don't take into account the definition of a late train was loosened when they privatised the system, from five minutes to six, against the recommendation of the Auditor-General who suggested tightening it to three minutes. The kicker is that nobody will say who made that decision or why.
No doubt you might have heard of this already, but if you haven't, Dr Paul Mees from Melbourne Uni's Urban Planning Program has a great summary of the whole thing (that's a pdf).
no subject
The insincerity is quite awful; I don't think anyone believes that Connex is sincere about anything, except their desire to get their contract renewed. The actions of the Connex PR guy is just further evidence of how much they really want to discusss the issue in the public sphere.
Kosky's crew (despite their alleged socialist convictions) would rather have the entire problem go away, which of course is a great mistake. There is great things that could be done with public transport, things that would improve the productivity of Melbourne and make the city a much better place to live.
The good Dr. Paul has bee a thorn in the side of the powers that be for many years. I consider myself fortunate to know him on a personal basis.