Get with the timetable, QR
Who's in charge of the rail network and why does it suck for some passengers?
For my most previous newsletter, I handed authoring duties over to ChatGPT and asked it to name some good and bad things about Brisbane.
In the second category, it noted, between cyclones and the high cost of living:
Limited public transportation options: While Brisbane does have a public transportation system, it is not as extensive or convenient as in some other cities. This can make getting around the city more difficult, particularly for those without access to a car.
That’s very perceptive for an artificial intelligence that doesn’t even have to deal with the issue on a day-to-day basis.
Now, I’m a great fan of railways, but I’ve become slightly less so now that I have a job that requires my presence in the CBD three days a week and I have to commute to and from my southern suburban bolthole.
It’s only been a few months, but I already have a good sense of how worn-down some long-term daily commuters must be with the system.
My usual morning service is very often late, so Queensland Rail’s go-to solution is for it to skip a few stations on its way to the city to make up time. Which is fine — unless you’re a passenger who wants to get on or off at one of those stations.
There’s another “special” service — and empty train presumably returning inbound to the Mayne railyards — that passes my station, Cannon Hill, most mornings just a few minutes before my usual train.
On one occasion, we were told that because the normal service was running late, the “special” train would stop to pick up passengers and then proceed all stations to Bowen Hills. Which was great — except that it didn’t.
It just whizzed past as usual, baffling everyone on the platform, including the station master who had made the announcement that the train would stop.
The dial turned up to ballistic when it was announced that the usual train, already 4 or 5 minutes late, would (by no means for the first time) run express to Park Road, missing several stations along the way.
A male passenger, who needed to get off at one of those stations and had experienced this kind of thing too many times before, exploded and gave a verbal spray to both the station master and a woman who, quite rightly, pointed out that one should not blame the staff in such instances.
For a moment, I honestly thought fists would be flying.
I’m in no way excusing the passenger’s rage— and I’m glad to report that he quickly calmed down and apologised — but he did have a reason to be annoyed.
As he tells it, he arrives at work late too often simply because Queensland Rail can’t run an advertised service on time.
When the correct train is late (as often happens) and QR pulls a last-minute switcheroo, turning an all-stops train into an express, that makes passengers like him (and many school kids) even later.
A few minutes here and there may not seem like a big thing. But other public transport systems elsewhere manage to keep it together, so why can’t a “world-class city” that’s hosting the Olympic Games in less than a decade? (Yes, I know rail is a state responsibility, not council.)
QR either has to find a way of sticking to the existing timetable as a rule rather than a surprise exception — or come up with a timetable that it can honour almost all the time.
Which leads me to the question: Do the people who run the public-transport system ever use the public-transport system? I’m going to go out on a limb and say No but would be gladly proven wrong.
TALKIN’ ABOUT ABC
Regular followers of this newsletter and my previous media adventures will know that I used to write a column about radio, and that I have frequently used MSM and social media to comment about the radio ratings.
Then, for a while, I actually worked in radio, so I either refrained from comment altogether or was more measured in what I said.
It’s been a year since I was employed by Nine Radio’s 4BC and I’ve recently been a party to a bizarre contract with the ABC, where I was available to do work but was never actually called in to work (except for a half-day seminar which I enjoyed very much and was paid to attend!)
The contract was ended by email a few weeks ago, but the message hasn’t reached all parts of the public broadcaster, and this past week I’ve been receiving emails and text messages urging me to participate in the staff ballot on the ABC Enterprise Agreement.
As much fun as that may be, it doesn’t quite seem right for me to have a say on how much ABC employees are paid.
[Update, 4.55pm April 22: It’s been suggested to me that I’m eligible to vote as some of the pay rise would be backdated, providing a valuable windfall on that half-day’s pay!]
As for the ratings, the latest survey was pretty good for 4BC, not so good for ABC Brisbane. But, of course, it was better for the FM stations, with B105 besting Nova 106.9 and KIIS 97.3 at the top of the league table, although Triple M is drifting down towards potential relegation territory.
Assuming I don’t get any more work offers in radio, I’ll have more to say as the ratings year progresses. Without the football analogies.
THIS IS BRISBANE
What’s the most Brisbane thing one can do? Have a steak in the Spanish Garden at the Breakfast Creek Hotel, of course. And that’s exactly what I did over Easter. Yes, I had the oysters, and the classic bread roll, Idaho potato and coleslaw sides.
I also enjoyed the company of some friends who I’ve known for a long time and see less frequently than I should (and that’s entirely my fault).