Congrats to Anna Whybird

[Mozz]

Anna has been slogging it out on the couriermail blog today from dawn to dusk and beyond in an attempt to bring some QR perspective into the March 2008 timetable and the feedback from commuters that it is generating on the blog:

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/comments/0,23836,23498720-3102,00.html

From reading the current 176 posts my understanding of the main themes:

Developing the March 2008 timetable was a complex and time consuming exercise

QR and Translink doing so without allowing commuter consultation was a serious error

The new timetable is causing serious concerns for many commuters

The new timetable has been designed to allow the incorporation of new trains when they become available between now and the end of 2010 (3 years away)

There are a lot of commuters who believe congestion on trains is to the level of being dangerous

A suggestion is because commuters can change their travel behaviours and catch the prior or next train which isn't as crowded and may only be a few minutes difference

QR suggest that communication between rail staff and commuters is significantly better than is being constantly being reported by commuters particularly with reference to delays and cancellations and platform changes

Commuters are reporting that the March timetable either by itself or combined with congestion or other factors is the catalyst for them to abandon public transport in favour of car travel
Some commuters are suggesting the new timetables impact quite heavily on those who need to travel to those stations lying in the 5km zone outside of the cbd eg milton, south bne etc
If you have some time, I suggest you have a read of this and some other other public transport related blogs created on the couriermail website in the past couple of weeks. one from last week hit around 400 posts.

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/comments/0,23836,23465921-952,00.html

[ozbob]

I think the response by Anna Whybird has been terrific in terms of clarifying issues and demonstrating corporate communication in the new media.