Attention customers

By Phoebe Legget

"This train has been cancelled so we can get a bonus from the government. Sorry for the inconvenience.”

Have you ever been in the situation when you can’t get to school because the trains are late? Have you ever had a train cancelled unexpectedly? You’re not alone.

Catching the train has become so much harder with Metro using underhanded tactics to achieve the government-imposed targets. Metro will allow drivers to skip stations or bypass the city loop in order to meet the targets. The incentive for Metro to do this is huge; Metro receives a multi-million dollar bonus for delivering over 90% of services on time. This puts profits first and passengers second. Taking the train during the peak hours is hard enough. Passengers have to deal with over-crowed trains and delays. Metro’s policy of skipping stations has added to the chaos with many passengers having to change trains in order to get home. With the focus on making money rather than on delivering a safe and reliable service, it is hardly surprising that most passengers complain about the service they are receiving.

The government has been under pressure from commuters to stamp out the practice. But despite the government’s pledge to end the practice, Metro is still employing this tactic to meet these goals. Whilst Metro denies these claims, most commuters will tell you the practice still continues. For the world’s most liveable city, Melbourne’s public transport system has some major flaws.

Metro’s problems have been confounded with the suspension of some VLine trains. The new class of VLine trains had issues with the wheels wearing out faster than expected and VLine passengers have been forced to take replacement buses for the past few weeks. Metro is finally being held accountable for this and some of the similar issues that have plagued train services.

All in all it has been a difficult 12 months for Metro with all the train drivers striking over better pay and work conditions. Metro concedes that if they win the contract again they will have to raise the punctuality expectations, which currently stand at 90% of trains arriving within 5 minutes of their scheduled time. Personally, I think that if a train arrives 5 minutes later than scheduled that really shouldn’t count as being punctual, but what do I know? I only take the train to and from school every day.

At least the government is listening, even if Metro isn’t. The Labour party has plans to introduce more stations into the CBD area and remove many of the level crossings, which are causing delays to the service. Hopefully, the government and consumers will put more pressure on Metro to deliver a more reliable service. More and more people are choosing to take public transport to get to work or school and they need a functioning service that focuses on the passengers rather than money.