An end to a beginning.

"I've decided enough is enough. Your ridiculous, petty sniping has to end. I've deleted your comments and as soon as I see any more from you they'll be deleted.I'm happy enough to have sensible, adult conversations, but your nonsensical, unintelligible drivel is simply wasting my time and everybody else's. " Mr Whinger


Bout bloody time. I started getting sick of sorting out shit from piss.

As I mentioned:

This is a sod of a site.

It really is blatant complaining, driven by cynicism. If I ever need a laugh, all I need to look is here (connexwhinger.blogspot).

I will stay online, and whenever leave my mark. You can never silence me. You can delete all posts from "The Met" - the thoughts and concepts are still there.

But you certainly cannot stop over thousands of locations from access to your site. And I can assure you; by the end of this week, I will have posted in every one of your recent posts anonymously - and the posts will remain.

I would have used a large selection of profanities in my statement.


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I certainly do complain or whinge in the first place - but continuing this crude behaviour of whinging and complaining is not going to provide a solution.

2007 - Another year...

Welcome, welcome - to another year.

Though this posts comes 19 days after the new year - I still which most of the population, the best of success and prosperity.


Unfortunately - this year, education takes it's toll - and www.whingingconnex.blogspot.com may be left a little left behind on my internet "to-do" lists.

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Railway happenings.


Seeing as there are a few issues concerning the networking, this is an aggregate amount of current issues.

Middleborough project
Due to be completed soon (hopefully before the second week of February). Recently 5 sets have been relocated back onto the main network. Connex being noted to have been 'conservative' with the amount of trains, reserved past Blackburn.

Bushfires
Well, just a few days ago, bushfires took their effect on the network. Stranding many commuters, due to power failures.

Bushfires have also caused some signal failures in some locations.

Heat
"Comeng" trains, have been inadvertently have their problems with searing temperatures. Many out-of-service causing many service cancellations.

Intercity operations, have also been affected with speed restrictions, as a safety issue.

Brakes
"Siemens" trains, quite a few sets have been taken out of service. This has come after long-standing problems. They are undergoing "rigerous testing" by Connex in conjunction with Knorr-Bremen (brake manufacturer; who also supplies brakes to other stock in Melbourne) to find the cause of the brakes, involved in incedents overshooting platforms.

Mixed sets
Positive news, ex-M>Train refurbished Comeng fleet, and Connex refurbished Comeng fleet have undergone conversions, to enable them to run together again. Last month, both set's have been reintroduced to the entire network. This hopes to ease pressure on operations, and offer increased flexibility.

General Update

Nothing much as of recently.

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I did take a trip to Perth and Adelaide. Riding on one of Australia's great rail journeys the Indian Pacific, and the Overland from Melbourne.


Must praise Perth for a "FTZ" or Free Transit Zone. A dedicated CBD area which allow completely free travel. Adelaide also assures tourists and inhabitants with their free ride with two bus routes circling the city.

Melbournes free City Circle tram, and Free Tourist Shuttle bus - perhaps challenged by Perths FTZ zone. But could a similar system cope here with the high demands and mass movements with the amount of passengers?

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And BATBYGOBSTOPL returns to screens and radios, remember:

Buying A Ticket Before You Get On Board Saves Time Or Problems Later

How true the statement is.

AND

www.dontholdothersback.com - maintains it's stance on TV - a very wise advert (if people bother to look at it).

So much truth to it - yet it seems rather funny as an idea Mr Whinger's brood of supporters.

The idea that standing in doorways doesn't effect other passengers, having the doors opened just to accomodate your running to the train - no effect on the timetable, or that passengers seem to hang around entrances to stations, definately not a sign of laziness (250 metres to spread out - but why bother, all this perfectly good space 20 metres in front of me where others are crowding.)

Oh how the latter drips with my sarcasm.



Regards
Chris

As the good doctor says: "Good mental health..."

Don't Hold Others Back!!!

http://www.dontholdothersback.com/


Well since my existance on Connex Whingers site, you may recall me and my ideas, (in fact wait, they're NOT ideas! ITS REALITY) well, the reality of people standing in doorways.

Briefly;
The 'reality' that people stand in doorways, this acounts to an increase in train dwell times. Therefore increasing delay etc. Passenger movement inside trains is also restricted by those inconsiderate enough to not bother finding a seat or keeping away from the doors...

In short; crowded doorways - not good.

Increases train 'waiting time'
Passengers can't move board/disembark easily
It's impossible to get past a crowd of people just to get a seat = MORE people standing around.

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"
DON’T HOLD OTHERS BACK

We launch our new advertising campaign this weekend to urge our customers to help us (and themselves).

There are many causes of delays around our network - some we can try to reduce, others are beyond our control. And some our customers can help us with (excluding, of course, those ‘customers’ who actually set out to delay our trains by destroying bits of them).

As patronage has increased – and customer numbers are currently growing by around 10 per cent a year – trains spend longer at stations while customers board and disembark (for new staff, this is called the ‘dwell time’).

Some of this added time is unavoidable – more people, means more time getting on and off. Some of it, however, can be reduced if our customers help us speed things along.

Our new Don’t hold others back campaign is designed to give our customers a few useful train etiquette tips so they can help us cut dwell times. And we’re doing this in a way that reflects the Connex tradition for creative, interesting, unusual and thought-provoking campaigns.

There’s only so much you can fit in a 60 second TV ad or on a billboard, so our Marketing team has taken a different approach.

The ads clearly communicate the most important message - your actions can impact on other customers by delaying the train – but after that we need our customers to go to a website (www.dontholdothersback.com).

And we do that by whetting our customers’ curiosity (in a big way). We’re not going to spoil the surprise so keep a look out for the TV ads, which first appear this Sunday night (13 August).

Tips on the website include:

Plan your trip – Running for the train can hold everyone up
Don’t follow the pack – Spread out along the platform
Access all areas – Don’t crowd around the carriage doors


The campaign runs from Sunday, 13 August 2006 through until October 2006 and will include:
TV advertising
Cinema advertising
Press ads
Billboards and ‘mini-posters’ at stations
Display posters around the CBD
On-line advertising
On-floor decals in CBD stations.


Tartar music

The music that accompanies the TV ad is dramatic, rich and resonant. The style is called Tartar music, after the ethnic group in Russia from which it originates. Zulya Kamalova, Australia’s leading proponent of this style of music, both wrote the song and sings it. To learn about this music and Zulya, visit her website at www.zulya.com
"

All aboard for a $10 billion ride

Ellen Whinnett and Liam Houlihan

18may06

VICTORIAN drivers are being encouraged to give up their cars, with the Bracks Government pouring billions of dollars into public transport ahead of desperately needed new roads.

The $10.5 billion transport blueprint unveiled yesterday is skewed firmly towards public transport, with two-thirds of the money earmarked for hundreds of new buses, trains, trams and rail upgrades.

Just one-third of the money will go on road projects, with the widening of the Monash and West Gate freeways the main relief for frustrated motorists. There will be no new roads, bridges or tunnels.

Bicycle-riding Transport Minister Peter Batchelor said the plan would allow Victorians to consider giving up their cars. "We want to change the choice that people now have," Mr Batchelor said. "When all these things are put in place, they (families) will be able to have the choice to do all of their travel by public transport and they can choose not to have a car if that's their wish."

The much-hyped Transport and Liveability Statement was touted by Premier Steve Bracks as the biggest transport announcement in Victoria's history. But it was criticised by both the RACV and the Public Transport Users Association, which both said it did not go far enough.

Key components of the announcement include:

$1.4 BILLION on better bus services, including 700 new buses with gadgetry that can turn traffic lights green and gives passengers accurate arrival times.

100 NEW trams and 100 new trains, with late-night runs on Friday and Saturday nights.

FREE public transport for seniors on Sundays.

$750 MILLION to improve rail technology, allowing for safer and faster connections. $90 MILLION to provide 5000 new park-and-ride spaces at metropolitan stations.

EXTRA tracks on the Footscray and Clifton Hill lines.

$3 BILLION for road improvements, including $1 billion on unspecified outer metropolitan arterial roads. NEW lanes on a 25km section of the Monash Freeway, cutting 20 minutes from the 40-minute peak trip time in both directions.

WIDENING of the West Gate Freeway and changing traffic flow in peak periods to provide five lanes instead of four. HALVING the 76-minute peak-time drive from Werribee to Narre Warren through the combined Monash-West Gate improvements.

A COMMITMENT that tolls will not be used to fund any of the road upgrades. The transport spending is over and above money already allocated in the state Budget. Mr Bracks said an extra 50 million passengers a year were expected to use public transport within four years.

He said better public transport would ease the hip-pocket pain felt by working families. "Many working families have been forced to buy a second car or a third car in some cases to get around, which stretches the family budget even further," he said. 'This is a far-sighted plan for Victoria. It's the most far-sighted plan since Robert Hoddle laid down the grid for Melbourne's CBD originally."

Mr Batchelor went further, claiming that when the work was done Victorians would be able to travel from one end of the state to the other without using their cars. "(For) those who do want to have a car . . . we will be providing significant upgrades in the road network."

RACV spokesman Ken Ogden was disappointed there was no commitment to complete the ring road between Greensborough and the Eastern Freeway or the Frankston Bypass. "These are critical projects and it is inconceivable that a 20-year strategy has not recognised their importance," he said.

A spokesman for the Public Transport Users Association, Alex Makin, said the plan was a series of "regurgitated announcements" that failed to deliver rail extensions that were much needed.

Mr Bracks said the Government had not committed itself to building a tunnel across the inner north, connecting the Tullamarine and Eastern freeways, because they "wanted to make sure we do it right".

A $5 million study will look into the tunnel plan. Under other parts of the plan, late-night weekend party trains and trams and a third track to Dandenong will become a reality. But only the segment from Caulfield to Springvale is paid for, accompanied by a promise to continue the work to Dandenong in a second stage.

heraldsun.com.au "

Money better spent.

Station to get $36m revamp

"Ellen Whinnett, state politics reporter
15may06

NORTH Melbourne's outdated train station will get a $36 million makeover as part of ambitious plans to speed up Melbourne's jammed train network.

The State Government will spend the money over the next four years as part of a major transport overhaul to be announced this week. The station, a major hub used by more than two million passengers a year, will be redesigned to allow the faster movement of passengers between platforms.

The Herald Sun believes the Government is preparing to announce the extreme makeover as early as today. It is believed plans for the station include major changes to its facade, including the relocation of the main entrance from the Kensington end of Railway Place to the city end.
A new concourse is expected to be built over the city end of the station and will connect the new entrance to all six platforms by a network of lifts, escalators and stairs.

Transport officials believe this will allow much faster movement of passengers between platforms, and will allow faster turnover of trains pulling into the station.

Studies have shown that the number of people using the station is set to double to four million a year in the next four years, and the station is a major interchange for people on V/Line trains connecting to city loop trains.

All the northern lines arrive at North Melbourne, including the Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Seymour, Werribee, Williamstown, Broadmeadows, Upfield and Sydenham services. The movement of passengers between platforms has slowed services arriving and leaving the station, which in turn delays other trains on the city loop.

Built in 1886 and added to in 1974, the station will take on a futuristic new look with a modern facade and radical roofing.

Final design work is still under way but is likely to include more canopies over the platforms to protect passengers from the weather, along with new passenger information display screens and extra closed-circuit television cameras to improve safety.

The six platforms will be resurfaced to make them more accessible for people with disabilities. The upgrade of North Melbourne station comes on top of the $250 million program to improve tram stops and railway platforms announced by Premier Steve Bracks last week.

In other parts of the transport package already confirmed by the Government:

$73 MILLION will be spent on the rail network at Mildura to improve freight movement.
$70 MILLION will be spent improving bike tracks around Melbourne and other parts of Victoria.
$5 MILLION will be spent on a study of transport options, including tunnels under Melbourne's inner north to link the eastern and western suburbs.
$15.4 MILLION will be spent recruiting and training new drivers for the city's rail network. "

Money well spent?

Validating

Topic i havent discussed to depth, well not 'here' anyway...

It's not just passenger data collection.

It's also about how "Connex: knows you've paid for your journey.

What were conductors for back ages and ages ago. TO see if you paid your journey, Validators replace the basic idea...

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The other idea is that when a ticket is validated, within the validator the 'ticket' is 'logged.'

Using an example we can say at "11:00 - 12:00am" there were 200 validations.At "5:00-6:00pm" there were 500 validations.

With this data, we (Connex/YT) can gather averages, standards, and see whether another service may be appropriate.

Now, regarding railways,, we can also see as an example: that during the morning the validators logged "600" compared to "100" @ 1300 - 1400. Obvious right, a little less/more? complex from the city.

We can see that theres going to be a peak amount of passengers leaving the city...OH, as another example as Mr Whinger would like to think. I do take train on rare occasion around. But not everytime i enter the platform/vehicle i have to validate. (Don't forget there are usually two platforms at a station)

Meaning that;
A. My ticket was validated meaning that i 'paid' for that journey
B. Connex/YT can see that a ticket was logged at a specific time, and see weather theres other passengers using the service time area, and alter timetabling to improve services. (Not as many suggest actually does happen)

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OH, and ill remind aimlessly that you are LEGALLY required to validate your Metcard upon entry into station area or vehicle. (Under Transport Act 1983)

Oh and someone also stated very stupidly that it has 1983 meaning it is that old.

Todays statutes and laws have been and dated dince the 1920's, they evolved and were changed... Durgh...!