Make your own way home: that's what passengers were told at Britomart train station this Friday evening. Not a great end to the day, but then it didn't have that auspicious a beginning either for Auckland's rail system..
I wanted to get to the City as early as I could today, being that I had to to hand in a summative for class and I still had a lot of work to do; so, what happens? I get to Papakura and they tell us 'pats' (that's their little nickname for us passengers I presume) that there will be a delay because of an 'oil spill' at Takanini. We get on the train and sit for a good 10 minutes and I wonder why I see one of the train personell opening the fusebox and looking inside it. Next announcement is that there will be no trains departing Papakura and that buses will be laid on. Roughly 20 mins later, buses do arrive and we all pack on and drive from train station to train station picking up more people until we're packed on like sardines.
Eventually we get to Otahuhu, where they drop us off and tell us we can either catch another bus (some more have been laid on) or we can wait for the next train (the one which the conductor has no idea when it might arrive). I choose the bus (better moving than standing still and not knowing) and off we go again from station to station and eventually arrive at Britomart a good 3 hours after we left Papakura.
I make it to class and only just finish my summative - not having had a chance to check my files for errors because of lack of time. I'm sure it's not great.
Then tonight I get to the station at Britomart and a voice comes over the tannoy telling us that NO trains are leaving Britomart tonight because of a points problem and that we must all find our own way home. No buses laid on this time; you had to find (and pay!) your own way, so I end up forking out $7.50 for a bus ticket and told where to go out into the street to catch it. I asked the woman behind the ticket counter if the ride was free for us who were supposed to be taking the train, but she said she hadn't been given the OK to give free rides.
I think the train service is just appalling in Auckland. I'm wondering if the whole 'oil spill' story was just a smokescreen (if you'll pardon the pun). It's a bit of a coincidence for there to be an oil spill in the morning and for the points system to be out this evening.
Get your act together MAXX!
As a point of interest, the guard at my local Park'n'Ride tells me that it soon won't be free to park, especially if the Super City gets the go-ahead as they'll "have to raise the revenue for the Super City somehow". Even if the Super City doesn't get the green light, you can still expect to pay in a couple of months I was told. So, it'll be a Pay'n'Park'n'Ride (although you're lucky if you can find a park these days - seems like everyone is doing the right thing and getting out of their cars onto public transport but the parking facilities sure aren't keeping up).
End of Rant
I wanted to get to the City as early as I could today, being that I had to to hand in a summative for class and I still had a lot of work to do; so, what happens? I get to Papakura and they tell us 'pats' (that's their little nickname for us passengers I presume) that there will be a delay because of an 'oil spill' at Takanini. We get on the train and sit for a good 10 minutes and I wonder why I see one of the train personell opening the fusebox and looking inside it. Next announcement is that there will be no trains departing Papakura and that buses will be laid on. Roughly 20 mins later, buses do arrive and we all pack on and drive from train station to train station picking up more people until we're packed on like sardines.
Eventually we get to Otahuhu, where they drop us off and tell us we can either catch another bus (some more have been laid on) or we can wait for the next train (the one which the conductor has no idea when it might arrive). I choose the bus (better moving than standing still and not knowing) and off we go again from station to station and eventually arrive at Britomart a good 3 hours after we left Papakura.
I make it to class and only just finish my summative - not having had a chance to check my files for errors because of lack of time. I'm sure it's not great.
Then tonight I get to the station at Britomart and a voice comes over the tannoy telling us that NO trains are leaving Britomart tonight because of a points problem and that we must all find our own way home. No buses laid on this time; you had to find (and pay!) your own way, so I end up forking out $7.50 for a bus ticket and told where to go out into the street to catch it. I asked the woman behind the ticket counter if the ride was free for us who were supposed to be taking the train, but she said she hadn't been given the OK to give free rides.
I think the train service is just appalling in Auckland. I'm wondering if the whole 'oil spill' story was just a smokescreen (if you'll pardon the pun). It's a bit of a coincidence for there to be an oil spill in the morning and for the points system to be out this evening.
Get your act together MAXX!
As a point of interest, the guard at my local Park'n'Ride tells me that it soon won't be free to park, especially if the Super City gets the go-ahead as they'll "have to raise the revenue for the Super City somehow". Even if the Super City doesn't get the green light, you can still expect to pay in a couple of months I was told. So, it'll be a Pay'n'Park'n'Ride (although you're lucky if you can find a park these days - seems like everyone is doing the right thing and getting out of their cars onto public transport but the parking facilities sure aren't keeping up).
End of Rant