JamesX

At a time when public transport is getting such a bad wrap, this news only adds fuel to the fire. On Sunday June 3, fares on public transport will rise. It’s basically the normal CPI increase that happens each year, only this year it was delayed from March due to the whole train braking disaster.

The real question with all this is not why we have to increase the prices in line with the CPI, but why they are this expensive in the first place. To me, it seems ridiculous to pay nearly $10 for a daily ticket - especially when I’m only ever at uni for a few hours at a time. You wonder why there’s so much fare evasion - no one can afford the damn ticket prices. Has it occurred to anyone that if the prices were lowered, more people might actually buy a ticket?

The other question that has to be asked is where is all the money going? Connex claim that they money they make from ticket revenue doesn’t cover the costs of running the network, and they rely on a government subsidy to make up the difference. How is that even possible? Demand for public transport is at an all time high - with patronage up 20% over the last two years. You can barely squeeze on a train in peak hour nowadays and if there are this many people, paying higher prices than ever, how can you not cover your expenses? I just can’t work it out. At least I wont have to deal with it as much once I finish uni. It really is a sad state of affairs…

I’m bored right now sitting in the student lounge on level four waiting for my uni friends to join me. So for a change, and to fill in the time, I’m writing this on paper, so I can type it up later - scary considering I can’t read my own writing half the time. But we’ll see how it goes…

Last night I had an in depth discussion with Matt Kennedy about a lot of things, but what could broadly be described as “politics”. The fact is, politics are all around us in everything we do. Sometimes you don’t even notice it, but it’s always there. Nothing is more true than in the workplace. It’s a hard thing to describe but I suppose it’s a complex mix of emotions, power, private agendas and an overpowering sense of rules and regulations, forms and procedures. The Vogons off Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy spring to mind. I suppose it’s just one of life’s little mysteries that we all have to live with - one that is frustrating, and at the same time entertaining (when used in such a fashion!).

Anyway, the group is here now so I’ll have to continue this later… › Continue reading

It’s a momentous occasion, and if I weren’t so tired, I’d probably do something to celebrate it, but tonight my Connex train was on time! Hehe only kidding, it was my last face-to-face class for uni, but the train was also on time, which makes it doubly special. All said and done its pretty exciting stuff but the class itself was a doosey - 90 slides of applications development, usability, testing and other random principles we’ve learnt over the past four years. Even the lecturers were getting bored by the end and started skipping slides saying things like “well that’s obvious”. I wasn’t going to jump up and object as jumping up and leaving was more on the agenda - but I didn’t, that’s kinda taboo in the final class ever.

Where does that leave me now? Well there’s just a few more [self-guided] assignments to go and 12 more weeks until I officially finish. If only I could work out what to do next, I’d be all set…

It’s been a busy week, hence the lack of posts. I seem to be working longer days than usual trying to squash the backlog of outstanding jobs, but it’s all good since I now get to claim them all back. :) I don’t think anyone really thought about that for very long…

Anyway, when I finally got home from work last night (it was almost 6!) I had an email from TomTom waiting. To my total disbelief, it was the long awaited map upgrade to v13. Now it doesn’t sound like much, but considering I put the form in for the maps over 7 months ago, that’s a pretty poor effort. I mean, v14 will be due out soon, and I’ve only just upgraded.

Funnily enough I’ve been driving around with the old maps and they’ve never been a problem, except for Darren’s house which according to TomTom was on a street that didn’t exist. I’m happy to report that all of that is now fixed (about time!) and the updated POIs are really useful too. They now actually have the HRC properly documented as well as local favourites like Finz. It’s just a shame that TomTom took so long to get around to their customers.

It dawned on me the other day that I’ve had TomTom for over a year now and its something I use every day. Maybe I’ll have to look at upgrading it in the future… perhaps when they release a newer version of the 910.

It’s inevitable when you read as much as I do about infrastructure around Melbourne that certain themes emerge. There’s one word that sums it all up, and one word that can send shivers down any Melburnians’ spine… Connex. Now you read a lot of negative press about Connex, so much of it in fact, that you can’t possibly hope to read it all, but every now and then, a good story comes along.

The rest of my morning unfolded with a dull inevitability. I arrived at Seddon station in time for my 8.23 train, stood there until 8.35 in the sort of humidity more commonly associated with a Thai logging camp and, realising that the 8.23 would not be running, took a cab to work.

This excerpt is from The Age Opinion section last Thursday and it just about sums up what it means to put up with Connex. To a sceptical reader, you might presume this is a one off occurance, but I’d bet that almost everyone in this state has had an experience similar to this.

You can read the full article here.

Thursday is my new lecture day, with two, two hour lectures and an hour in between. Unfortunately they are both for the two courses I dislike the most - Commercial Law and Prices and Markets. The day is long, as uni days go, but I suppose it’s comforting knowing that there’s not long until it’s all behind me and I walk away with a B.Bus after my name.

Interestingly enough my Metcard for the day was either *slightly* out of date or way in advance with the quip, “enjoy christmas in the city - take public transport”.

I wonder what message it would send any to the 2 million visitors to our great city later this month if they purchase Metcards with such blatently out of date slogans on them. Although I suppose at the very least, it isn’t advertising the $15 tickets to the athletics that no one wants to buy.