Improving X (Twitter) service disruption tweets

Quote from: ozbob on September 01, 2019, 05:06:22 AM
Sent to all outlets:

1st September 2019

How TransLink could streamline its Twitter service disruptions

Good Morning,

We have had a think about how TransLink could do twitter service disruptions.

First, this the present set of hashtags that TransLink uses, sometimes in a very inconsistent manner.
It is too complex and confusing for most.

Our suggestion would be independent twitter accounts using this framework.

This would improve the utility of TransLink twitter considerably, reduce complexity and we think make it easier for TransLink to be timely and accurate with the service disruption tweets. It would also make it a lot better for passengers as they could simply follow the accounts of relevance and interest to them.

Thoughts?

Best wishes,
Robert

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org
RAIL Back On Track https://backontrack.org

Attached: http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=13649.msg226559#msg226559

ozbob · January 31, 2020, 16:25:48 PM

https://twitter.com/QueenslandRail/status/1223123642415906816

ozbob · February 01, 2020, 06:41:31 AM

https://twitter.com/TrainsInfo/status/1223323206666182656

ozbob · February 04, 2020, 17:13:30 PM

https://twitter.com/ozbob13/status/1224590771434610688

ozbob · February 04, 2020, 18:20:30 PM

https://twitter.com/QueenslandRail/status/1224599708037009408

ozbob · February 05, 2020, 05:17:08 AM

It is time Queensland Rail did their own direct tweeting. Outsourced TransLink is a joke ...

https://twitter.com/metrotrains/status/1224769742038126592

ozbob · February 05, 2020, 05:26:02 AM

https://twitter.com/railbotforum/status/1224775962761383937

ozbob · February 07, 2020, 04:47:00 AM

Sunshine Coast Daily --> Commuter fury as train delays leave them stranded

QuoteCOMMUTERS say they were left stranded, without warning, when afternoon trains were cancelled and delayed this week.

Beerwah business owner and Caboolture resident Lee Allemand said no information about the changes was given to travellers, and he said updates were only provided after TransLink was alerted to the issues via tweets from frustrated passengers.

Mr Allemand travels by train from Caboolture to Beerwah and back every day, and was left waiting for the 5.03pm service on Tuesday until he said it arrived at the platform at 5.47pm.

A trip home which usually took less than 45 minutes on a bad day took almost 90 minutes.

He said about 10 travellers were on the platform when he was there, and a number of them had told him the previous service, a 3.41pm train heading south from Beerwah, had failed to arrive at all, meaning some customers had been waiting for more than two hours to make their departure.

A Queensland Rail spokeswoman said the 3.41pm service had departed about two minutes early.

Mr Allemand said there'd been no information provided or announcements at the station about the delay with his train until he tweeted about the issue, which he said prompted an automated announcement about the delays.

The spokeswoman said the service Mr Allemand was waiting for had been delayed by a signalling fault after a tree fell on overhead powerlines and a "train fault".

The spokeswoman said customers were advised via a station announcement of the delay and crews had attended within 20 minutes, while TransLink was investigating online notifications "during this instance".

"Because it's a small, rural town ... there is no alternative," Mr Allemand said.

He said frustratingly, the northbound services had been running on-time all afternoon.

"It was basically a case of 'you're heading the other way, so tough luck'," he said.

Mr Allemand said for those who had been headed back to Brisbane, they'd lost "half a business day" trying to get into the city from Beerwah.

The Hinterland Computers owner said the lack of updates on websites or on the platform was not acceptable for commuters left in the dark, and he was concerned that it had taken his social media activities to prompt action.

"That's just scary," Mr Allemand said. "It's (poor rail services) just been like this for 25 years on the Coast."

The spokeswoman recommended commuters arrived five minutes before departure.

====

https://twitter.com/railbotforum/status/1225490831873904640

https://twitter.com/railbotforum/status/1225491737726111744

ozbob · February 09, 2020, 05:05:08 AM

Sent to all outlets:

9th February 2020

It is time TransLink acted to improve service disruption communications

Good Morning,

Frankly, we have had enough of the poor service disruption reporting on the SEQ TransLink network. Passengers understand that unplanned disruptions will occur from time to time, but simply abandoning passengers languishing ' in the dark ' at bus stops and stations throughout SEQ is not acceptable.

The Sunshine Coast Daily recently highlighted yet another communication failure.

7 Feb 2020: Commuter fury as train delays leave them stranded
https://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/commuter-fury-as-train-delays-leave-them-stranded/3938526/

These days there are a variety of communication tools that can used to reliably inform passengers of disruptions to normal services. TransLink twitter needs an urgent review and improvement. We have suggested previously how this could be done.

1 Sep 2019: How TransLink could streamline its Twitter service disruptions
https://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=13649.msg226627#msg226627

These constructive suggestions for improvement appear to be ignored. We are tired of being ignored.

This is typical of TransLink twitter:

https://twitter.com/TransLinkSEQ/status/1224588378206851072

" The 4.33pm Central to Ferny Grove train is running express from Mitchelton to Ferny Grove station due to a control decision. The next Rosewood to Central train is due to depart Oxford Park Station at 5.04pm. "

I think most residents of SEQ would realise this tweet is utter babble. It is also a major embarrassment for our rail operator.

There are many examples of more bungles here:

Improving Twitter service disruption tweets ( a forum discussion thread at RAIL Back On Track ).
https://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=13649.0

In Sydney and Melbourne the rail operator does their own direct tweeting. This results in much more timely, accurate information being made available to passengers. Clearly TransLink cannot cope under the present arrangements, time that Queensland Rail was tasked with their own direct service disruption reporting as for Melbourne and Sydney.

The TransLink twitter feed has service disruptions from Cairns to Toowoomba. It is a confusing mess of miscommunication. It needs a major overhaul as to its structure. We have shown how that could be achieved, and at no consultant cost.

We expect our elected political representatives and the transport authorities to act to improve. Simply ignoring the facts is unacceptable.

Best wishes,

Robert

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org
RAIL Back On Track https://backontrack.org

ozbob · February 09, 2020, 05:12:27 AM

https://twitter.com/railbotforum/status/1226222166468780033

ozbob · February 09, 2020, 05:16:44 AM

Facebook ...

ozbob · February 10, 2020, 04:30:16 AM

Letter to the Editor Queensland Times 10th February 2020 page 13

TransLink needs a rethink

ozbob · February 10, 2020, 06:30:22 AM

In Sydney you can follow only those lines of interest.

https://twitter.com/TrainsInfo/status/1216516402502230017

ozbob · February 12, 2020, 06:34:28 AM

https://twitter.com/ozbob13/status/1227330315280158721

ozbob · February 12, 2020, 06:38:38 AM

ozbob · February 12, 2020, 06:56:27 AM

https://twitter.com/railbotforum/status/1227335466938241026

ozbob · February 13, 2020, 01:28:01 AM

https://twitter.com/ozbob13/status/1227615139249053696

And they don't know the correct time format either.

Utter cluster-fuk this ...

ozbob · February 13, 2020, 01:36:17 AM

https://twitter.com/ozbob13/status/1227617224908660737

ozbob · February 14, 2020, 01:22:08 AM

Sent to all outlets:

The communication failure continues ...

14th February 2020

Good Morning,

Yet another example of the feeble service disruption reporting.

https://twitter.com/TransLinkSEQ/status/1227609107877724160

This tweet was sent at 1.03am Feb 13 2020.

The first time should read 12.12am, but importantly the hashtag #Beenleigh is wrong. It should be #TLBeenleigh. Because of the hash tag error the tweet was not auto-retweeted by Queensland Rail twitter. The error was reported to both TransLink and Queensland Rail with no response. Do they care?

Despite raising our concerns with the mess that is TransLink twitter, nothing happens. In fact it seems to be getting worse. Little wonder that the public transport network is breaking down when even the simple things are unable to be sorted.

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org
RAIL Back On Track https://backontrack.org

Quote from: ozbob on February 09, 2020, 05:05:08 AM
Sent to all outlets:

9th February 2020

It is time TransLink acted to improve service disruption communications

Good Morning,

Frankly, we have had enough of the poor service disruption reporting on the SEQ TransLink network. Passengers understand that unplanned disruptions will occur from time to time, but simply abandoning passengers languishing ' in the dark ' at bus stops and stations throughout SEQ is not acceptable.

The Sunshine Coast Daily recently highlighted yet another communication failure.

7 Feb 2020: Commuter fury as train delays leave them stranded
https://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/commuter-fury-as-train-delays-leave-them-stranded/3938526/

These days there are a variety of communication tools that can used to reliably inform passengers of disruptions to normal services. TransLink twitter needs an urgent review and improvement. We have suggested previously how this could be done.

1 Sep 2019: How TransLink could streamline its Twitter service disruptions
https://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=13649.msg226627#msg226627

These constructive suggestions for improvement appear to be ignored. We are tired of being ignored.

This is typical of TransLink twitter:

https://twitter.com/TransLinkSEQ/status/1224588378206851072

" The 4.33pm Central to Ferny Grove train is running express from Mitchelton to Ferny Grove station due to a control decision. The next Rosewood to Central train is due to depart Oxford Park Station at 5.04pm. "

I think most residents of SEQ would realise this tweet is utter babble. It is also a major embarrassment for our rail operator.

There are many examples of more bungles here:

Improving Twitter service disruption tweets ( a forum discussion thread at RAIL Back On Track ).
https://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=13649.0

In Sydney and Melbourne the rail operator does their own direct tweeting. This results in much more timely, accurate information being made available to passengers. Clearly TransLink cannot cope under the present arrangements, time that Queensland Rail was tasked with their own direct service disruption reporting as for Melbourne and Sydney.

The TransLink twitter feed has service disruptions from Cairns to Toowoomba. It is a confusing mess of miscommunication. It needs a major overhaul as to its structure. We have shown how that could be achieved, and at no consultant cost.

We expect our elected political representatives and the transport authorities to act to improve. Simply ignoring the facts is unacceptable.

Best wishes,

Robert

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org
RAIL Back On Track https://backontrack.org

ozbob · February 14, 2020, 01:27:59 AM

https://twitter.com/railbotforum/status/1227977631812898816

ozbob · February 15, 2020, 05:02:37 AM

Letter to the Editor Queensland Times 15th February 2020 page 17

TransLink tweet fail is a sign of a greater malaise

ozbob · February 15, 2020, 05:07:03 AM

https://twitter.com/railbotforum/status/1228395079934435328

ozbob · February 15, 2020, 05:11:07 AM

ozbob · February 16, 2020, 09:35:55 AM

https://twitter.com/QueenslandRail/status/1228824945423257606

ozbob · February 16, 2020, 09:53:48 AM

ozbob · February 16, 2020, 10:08:17 AM

Sent to all outlets:

16th February 2020

The communication failure is not getting any better ...

Greetings,

TransLink tweeted last evening at 7.01pm to the effect that the 7.05pm Rosewood to Ipswich was cancelled. They went on to state that the next service would be the 9.05pm Rosewood to Ipswich service They clearly didn't look at a timetable, there is a service that leaves Rosewood at 8.05pm. Why is TransLink allowed to continue to tweet nonsense? Come on Minister Bailey, time to step up to the plate.

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org
RAIL Back On Track https://backontrack.org

Quote from: ozbob on February 14, 2020, 01:22:08 AM
Sent to all outlets:

The communication failure continues ...

14th February 2020

Good Morning,

Yet another example of the feeble service disruption reporting.

https://twitter.com/TransLinkSEQ/status/1227609107877724160

This tweet was sent at 1.03am Feb 13 2020.

The first time should read 12.12am, but importantly the hashtag #Beenleigh is wrong. It should be #TLBeenleigh. Because of the hash tag error the tweet was not auto-retweeted by Queensland Rail twitter. The error was reported to both TransLink and Queensland Rail with no response. Do they care?

Despite raising our concerns with the mess that is TransLink twitter, nothing happens. In fact it seems to be getting worse. Little wonder that the public transport network is breaking down when even the simple things are unable to be sorted.

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org
RAIL Back On Track https://backontrack.org

Quote from: ozbob on February 09, 2020, 05:05:08 AM
Sent to all outlets:

9th February 2020

It is time TransLink acted to improve service disruption communications

Good Morning,

Frankly, we have had enough of the poor service disruption reporting on the SEQ TransLink network. Passengers understand that unplanned disruptions will occur from time to time, but simply abandoning passengers languishing ' in the dark ' at bus stops and stations throughout SEQ is not acceptable.

The Sunshine Coast Daily recently highlighted yet another communication failure.

7 Feb 2020: Commuter fury as train delays leave them stranded
https://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/commuter-fury-as-train-delays-leave-them-stranded/3938526/

These days there are a variety of communication tools that can used to reliably inform passengers of disruptions to normal services. TransLink twitter needs an urgent review and improvement. We have suggested previously how this could be done.

1 Sep 2019: How TransLink could streamline its Twitter service disruptions
https://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=13649.msg226627#msg226627

These constructive suggestions for improvement appear to be ignored. We are tired of being ignored.

This is typical of TransLink twitter:

https://twitter.com/TransLinkSEQ/status/1224588378206851072

" The 4.33pm Central to Ferny Grove train is running express from Mitchelton to Ferny Grove station due to a control decision. The next Rosewood to Central train is due to depart Oxford Park Station at 5.04pm. "

I think most residents of SEQ would realise this tweet is utter babble. It is also a major embarrassment for our rail operator.

There are many examples of more bungles here:

Improving Twitter service disruption tweets ( a forum discussion thread at RAIL Back On Track ).
https://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=13649.0

In Sydney and Melbourne the rail operator does their own direct tweeting. This results in much more timely, accurate information being made available to passengers. Clearly TransLink cannot cope under the present arrangements, time that Queensland Rail was tasked with their own direct service disruption reporting as for Melbourne and Sydney.

The TransLink twitter feed has service disruptions from Cairns to Toowoomba. It is a confusing mess of miscommunication. It needs a major overhaul as to its structure. We have shown how that could be achieved, and at no consultant cost.

We expect our elected political representatives and the transport authorities to act to improve. Simply ignoring the facts is unacceptable.

Best wishes,

Robert

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org
RAIL Back On Track https://backontrack.org

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Improving X (Twitter) service disruption tweets