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
Bad day, huh?
ReplyDeleteWhy on earth did you not just drive in then?
ReplyDeleteMy daughter got dumped in newmarket on about week 2 of going to Uni by train, some hassle with the computer system manning the line switches or something.
ReplyDeleteShe is 16 and had no idea how to get from New Market train station to Uni. She had no money on her and her phone had recently been stolen. Luckily another passenger was also going to Uni so they walked together.
I was very peeved at Britomart for that one. They should't just dump people when they have problems with their system.
Yes, this is the wonders of the ARC contracted and defined rail service, using trains that it owns - and this government thinks a mega council will deliver better services.
ReplyDeleteImagine if all the revenue for the rail services came from the passengers, suddenly the operator might give a damn.
Precisely LibertyScott. I was going to write a formal complaint but then I thought, why would they care? It wasn't their kid they dumped in a part of the city she was unfamiliar with, they know she is going to have to catch their train tomorrow. They would probably tell me it was my fault for not giving her more money so she could pay for a bus or a taxi - silly me, I thought ensuring she had train fare was all she needed since I was employing them to take her to Britomart and they agreed to get her there.
ReplyDeleteYet another example of what state funding does to customer service and product delivery.
ReplyDeleteJohn Q, being a poor student (again) I cannot afford the $40 to park my car in the city for the day.
ReplyDeleteFair enough. There are other options mind you. Depending on your lectures, $1 hour (yes $1 hour) street parking is still available around Graham St (near Les Mills) or Vic Park. These are usually 3 or 4 hr limit spaces (which really means 3.5 - 4.5 hours). It would be a 10-15 min walk to Auck Uni from there. The other 'Park and Ride option' is drive to Grey Lynn/Freemans Bay/parts of Ponsonby, park on the street for free, and take a $1.6o bus to the city (and even a .50c ride on the way back, just over-ride one or two stops on an inner city fare) Surprisingly few people do this. Streets off Gt Nth Rd G Lynn, Richmond Rd etc are good. I live in the city and pretty much only ever take these one stage buses, if i ever take a bus. They tend to be very frequent and becasue you're not going too far don't eat away at your life too much. The ones heading into the city are fairly plentiful as they're coming from all sorts of different directions too, so you're not required to wait long. The street parking thing is also an option around Parnell/Newmarket, you just have to scout around of a Saturday and plan it out. Worth a crack nigel.
ReplyDeleteJohn Q, thanks for the tips. I don't know the City well enough to work out any of that myself :)
ReplyDeleteStill, I will try and avoid driving into the City from South Auckland if I possibly can. It's nice to be able to hop on a train at the end of the day (when they're actually working) and not have to worry about rush hour traffic.