It was a typical Monday at uni really, the only thing that was really different was the journey there and back. Yesterday, Connex and Yarra Trams took control of the entire public transport network. I knew all this was happening, but I didn’t really think much of it because we’ve had transport change operators in the past and not much changed really. Well I was shocked to see that there were quite a few changes on the system today.
It started with the train from Sandringham. Although the train still had M>Train branding on the outside, the train made announcements along the lines of “Welcome to Connex. Melbourne all over.” and something about enjoying the ride. It did this announcement as it pulled away from every station, which I must say got rather annoying towards the end, but the iPod blocked out most of the noise. I don’t know who’s idea that was, but I don’t think it’ll be around for long, maybe just a launch thing.
The trams were the big change, every single tram and stop has been rebranded over the weekend and theres not an M>Tram to be found anywhere. I think that’s quite an achievement if you consider just how many trams that would involve rebranding.
I did notice there were a lot of delays, by about 3-5 minutes, on most trains this afternoon which is unusual but apparently Connex were expecting some delays. They are going to be releasing new timetables soon so that will be interesting to see.
April 19th, 2004 at 17:40
I could be worse, you could have to listen to that morning train song from the Connex ads on the train to uni!
April 19th, 2004 at 18:15
I don’t think I know that one. The music over the PA at Melbourne Central is bad enough.