Article: Crushing Connex verdict

[ozbob]

From the Herald Sun click here!

Crushing Connex verdict

Crushing Connex verdict
Article from: Herald Sun

Mary Bolling

November 13, 2008 12:00am

TAXPAYERS are forking out half a million dollars a year so the State Government can find out if public transport passengers are satisfied.

But as approval ratings plummet, fed-up strap-hangers want to know if anyone is listening.

As Melbourne's public transport patronage booms, commuters have never been so unhappy. Satisfaction levels nose-dived in the latest Department of Transport surveys.

The need for more services, more staff and better parking are among the biggest concerns of train passengers.

For those on trams, cancelled and crowded services cause most grief.

Passengers on the Sydenham line are least content, and new services this week appear to be doing little to allay their frustrations.

The June quarter saw Connex customers rate the service 57.5 points out of 100 -- its lowest score since ratings began nine years ago.

But Sydenham passengers handed out a score of just 51.9.

Fed-up Footscray mum Caroline Wells said her husband drove to catch a Craigieburn-line train rather than risk being left on the platform by packed Sydenham services.

"If you go to Footscray, you just can't get on, it's so busy -- even before 8am," she said.

"It's been like that for more than a year. It's strange they don't do anything to fix it, because they must know it's happening."

Yarra Trams and metropolitan buses, which saw a 12 per cent rise in patronage last year, scored 66 out of 100.

But nearly half of tram passengers, and more than two-thirds of those on the buses, wanted more frequent and reliable services.

This year, Connex warned that the Sydenham line would be running at absolute capacity by the end of the year, if no changes were made.

This week, it added three more peak services to the line, in a package of changes that included changing the run of some trains around the Loop.

But, in April, two more peak services for Sydenham did little to improve passenger satisfaction, or the peak-hours crush.

Public Transport Users Association president Daniel Bowen said western passengers got second-rate treatment.

"The western suburbs have some of the fastest-growing areas, but their train services are falling far behind, not seeing the boost in service that they should be," he said.

While most stations in the eastern suburbs get trains at least every 10 minutes in peak hour, 20-minute waits were rife in the west, he said.

Stephen Moynihan, spokesman for Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky, said the $560,000 spent annually on customer satisfaction surveys was necessary, and passenger concerns would be addressed.

"In the new train and tram contracts, operators will be held to account to a new benchmark of improvements to the customer experience," he said.

But Opposition public transport spokesman Terry Mulder said the surveys were "window dressing".

"It's a matter of the Government appearing to do something, but never coming up with a solution," he said.

The blog comments on this article are interesting ...