Already a bad start and it is not even 10am Monday yet

 

You would think after two weeks of abysmal failings from Auckland Transport and the Transdev Control Room (that oversees passenger rail operations in Auckland) things might be a bit sharper this week in the event of a disruption. Right?

WRONG!

It was a Pukekohe service that was cancelled which led to this situation?

Okay that prompts a please explain as well as an explanation from Auckland Transport on why Transdev did not:

1. Make announcements whether by PA system of if the station is lacking one altering the ticket office person to the situation so they can tell the people (as with the Pukekohe Station)
2. No text messages sent out on the cancellation
3. Why Twitter is not used like NZTA Auckland does for disruptions
4. Where were the back up buses (too many people for taxis with the morning peak)

 

Only last week were Auckland Transport totally oblivious to as passenger train breaking down at Homai until either I told them or someone else did, and only then did messages started going out. Now in that case (where the Southern Line was blocked just over an hour) the Transdev Control failed entirely to alert Auckland Transport to that situation which is unacceptable.

 

In Wellington the train operator (ironically Kiwi Rail) uses the Twitter Platform to get messages out there. In Auckland it is like Auckland Transport and Transdev have an aversion to it as well as other platforms apart from text messaging. This needs to change especially in this age where everything gets picked up so fast and disseminated just as fast.

Now in my former Transdev (then Veolia) days as a Service Coordinator working in that control room there was a red folder. That red folder has a list of bus stops and bus route numbers for each station on each line in case there was a failure on the rail network (and it happens). Announcements to be said and text messages to be sent were standardised when that folder was used the information was all there. The Service Delivery Managers (who oversee the control room) are trained on procedures for each type of disruption and we could reach Train Control when needed.

I learnt that folder as well as disruption procedures like it was seared into my eye lids. Heck I probably can remember most of it with a refresher needed for Electric Trains and change in Rolling Stock Allocations (including the timetable). Also with Integrated Fares now fully online (they were only starting to be rolled out when I was there) transferring passengers to buses is now much easier.

 

The point being is that the contingencies are there and even in a folder. From bus stops, bus routes, numbers to taxi companies, what to announce, what to text, what to Tweet (if the Platform was there); it is all there.

So why Auckland Transport as the overseer of the Rail Network are you not hounding Transdev Senior Management for the Transdev Control room not doing their job. Not only does not doing their job affect passengers but it affects other Transdev Staff like drivers, train managers, and ticket office staff who are the first to bear the brunt of passenger complaints when they have no information either! It is not fair.

 

Auckland Council might want to be pressuring Auckland Transport to for its failings on this saga. Patronage is growing at excellent rates and we do not need the failings of a few botching it up for the rest. So come on Auckland Council show some leadership and open a full review into Rail Operations. The City Rail Link actually depends on this!