Poor signage and announcements inconvenience passengers

[Slappy]

Just managed to get home. I jumped on a train that was an express. Except there was no way to know. The digital boards on bowen hills only ever seem to display gibberish and the conductor only bothered to anounce that it was an express after the doors had closed and it was too late to get off. About 25 people were stuck waiting with me for half an hour before a new inbound train came.

[ozbob]

Welcome Slappy.  Sorry to read that happened.  I have noted the poor PIDs at Bowen Hills too.  Often pot luck.  You would think that the PIDs there of all places would be some sort of priority to be fixed.  Was there any announcements that you could hear prior to the train arriving at the station?  Some folks have difficulty with the poor audio quality or may not have full hearing so having the PIDs working is important too of course.  On my line, often there is a few caught on the express to Darra services as well.

It is worthwhile to give QR direct feedback as well.  You can do that easily here as well.

[Mozz]

Express to Darra services used to be express to Redbank - looks of sheer horror from those unfortunate to embark at Roma Street or Centre for the journey west was definitely in abundance (redbank being 29km from the cbd)

[Arnz]

I'm not sure if Fares_Fair has seen this, but on the odd occasion I do catch the 5:17pm train to Nambour, I've seen a few people board at Bowen Hills, thinking this peak-hr Nambour train stops at Northgate.  Unfortunately for them, they ended up at Caboolture and adding 30 minutes to their travel time.

[Fares_Fair]

Hello Arnz,

Yes, I have seen it. Quite often. Too often in fact.
It happens at least 50% of the time.
We joke that if we had a dollar for every commuter that gets on the wrong train we'd be very well off !

Occasionally they contact the driver via the Emergency button apologising, and asking to be let off somewhere closer.
Occasionally the driver will stop and let them off. It depends on the driver I am told.
Strict policy says that they cannot stop - not sure how true that is.

IMHO, and I am old school I think, it's not like it is out of our way to drop someone off - and the time lost could soon be made up.
Maybe I'm too compassionate.

Don't forget their return trip Arnz, they will miss the 6:02pm Caboolture southbound train (as we never arrive at our scheduled time of 6:01pm)
and they have to wait another half hour for the next train south.
It's a very harsh lesson.

Regards,
Fares_Fair.

[david]

Gosh. Imagine the chaos when the new timetable starts and EVERY train to Ipswich and Caboolture is an express during peak hour!

[somebody]

Gosh. Imagine the chaos when the new timetable starts and EVERY train to Ipswich and Caboolture is an express during peak hour!

People will get more used to it and be careful not to be caught out.

The limitation is that it is still all stations in the off peak.

[HappyTrainGuy]

Occasionally they contact the driver via the Emergency button apologising, and asking to be let off somewhere closer.
Occasionally the driver will stop and let them off. It depends on the driver I am told.
Strict policy says that they cannot stop - not sure how true that is.

Drivers are not supposed to stop at stations that's not on their route. Some might open the doors at stations if its safe to do so when its delayed and the Gold Coast express train has been known to do that at night. Reasons include more people could then get on the express when they were after an all stations train, more overcrowding, could then create potential problems and confusion at the station, passengers could hurt themselves but most importantly it could cause delays to the network and other services ie catching a bus after your stop.

Last year the Ipswich express train which was supposed to run express after Zillmere accidently stopped at Geebung. I watched as one guy got on with headphones the size of basketballs and the guard announces on the pa that the train wasn't supposed to stop here and that it will now run express to Northgate (There was plenty of time for people to get off). Meanwhile the guy with the huge headphones playing Johnny Cash (very surprising for someone that had to be in his early 20's) for everyone in the carriage nearly had a heart attach when he turned around and looked out the door window as it passed Sunshine at 100kph.

[petey3801]

Hello Arnz,

Yes, I have seen it. Quite often. Too often in fact.
It happens at least 50% of the time.
We joke that if we had a dollar for every commuter that gets on the wrong train we'd be very well off !

Occasionally they contact the driver via the Emergency button apologising, and asking to be let off somewhere closer.
Occasionally the driver will stop and let them off. It depends on the driver I am told.
Strict policy says that they cannot stop - not sure how true that is.

IMHO, and I am old school I think, it's not like it is out of our way to drop someone off - and the time lost could soon be made up.
Maybe I'm too compassionate.

Don't forget their return trip Arnz, they will miss the 6:02pm Caboolture southbound train (as we never arrive at our scheduled time of 6:01pm)
and they have to wait another half hour for the next train south.
It's a very harsh lesson.

Regards,
Fares_Fair.

A problem here is that if the drivers always stop for these people, they will get the hint and do it all the time so they get an express service to their station all the time. There are a few known people who do just this and push the passenger emergency intercom buttons saying they "accidentily" got on the wrong train (and have "accidently" gotten on the same train for the past few weeks) and they need to get off at Northgate.

Better to just follow policy and not stop, therefore there is no confusion on the station where the stop is made (wrongly) and noone is hauled over the coals for stopping where they shouldn't have. It is a mistake that they will only make once...

[cartoonbirdhaus]

There are a few known people who ... and push the passenger emergency intercom buttons saying they "accidentily" got on the wrong train (and have "accidently" gotten on the same train for the past few weeks)

The solution: "accidentally" fine them!

[Fares_Fair]

I have never seen continual or repeat offenders in my 10 years of travel on the sunshine coast line.
All the ones that I can recall are one-timers.
They don't do it again - it's too much of a lottery.

Regards,
Fares_Fair.

[petey3801]

I have never seen continual or repeat offenders in my 10 years of travel on the sunshine coast line.
All the ones that I can recall are one-timers.
They don't do it again - it's too much of a lottery.

Regards,
Fares_Fair.

They may not be on your train, but they are most certainly out there. Particularly for Northgate.

[BrizCommuter]

Gosh. Imagine the chaos when the new timetable starts and EVERY train to Ipswich and Caboolture is an express during peak hour!

It should be less chaotic. The new timetables will have much more homogenous service patterns.

[somebody]

I've certainly never seen unscheduled stops done in Sydney, except for CityRail employees.  Not that it should be allowed.  Heard of it being done for cops.