Metro & AFL please note!

[thejiggingsaint]

One of the good things about last week up in the Harbour City was getting to and from ANZ Stadium. Our $20.00 football tickets granted us free passage on the train from Central to Homebush. After the game, the Stadium station coped with the dispersing crowd in a way that seems unimaginable at southern cross I/E: we were able to WALK to the train rather than shuffle along like cattle. When a full train left the platform, it was replaced with an empty one almost immediately, and we actually got seats!
We hear all this crap from the powers that be in Metro/connex about "extra trains for the footy" It seems that Sydney actually DO it!
I fantasise that Metro, Etihad and the AFL will note how its done!

[clarky449]

That ticket thing is good, but there is only one team in Sydney.

[WaggaSaint]

Couldn't agree more about Metro & Southern Cross, but the Homebush station was designed to cope with about 110,000 crowd - there's no reason why it shouldn't cope with 31,000...

[thejiggingsaint]

Fair comment Wagga, the point I'm trying to make is that the public transport bigwigs and labour government are constantly big noting themelves about Melbourne being the sports capital blah blah blah and how wonderfully well the trains are in getting folk to and from the game when in truth its bloody awful! and has been for years! I remember all the crap they came out with during the commonwealth games about "extra trains"...we were still herded like cattle onto the platforms at Richmond. Its really not good enough! and they've had decades to get it right! As far as Homebush station dealing with 31000, well Southern Cross struggles here with 15000!
Sorry if it sounds "sydneycentric" but the truth is they do it BETTER!

[Ice Wolf]

Fair comment Wagga, the point I'm trying to make is that the public transport bigwigs and labour government are constantly big noting themelves about Melbourne being the sports capital blah blah blah and how wonderfully well the trains are in getting folk to and from the game when in truth its bloody awful! and has been for years! I remember all the crap they came out with during the commonwealth games about "extra trains"...we were still herded like cattle onto the platforms at Richmond. Its really not good enough! and they've had decades to get it right! As far as Homebush station dealing with 31000, well Southern Cross struggles here with 15000!
Sorry if it sounds "sydneycentric" but the truth is they do it BETTER!

Southern Cross struggles due to bias against the Frankston and Pakenham/Cranbourne Lines. In their infinate wisdom they decided lets put them all on the same f****** platform for footy games even though they dont do that normally.

Richmond copes better and their are less platforms there. Those in charge of Southern Cross are just morons, with no common sense.

[On the Bench]

The price of public transport is included in the cost of all tickets (AFL, Rugby, soccer)

It's a great idea, as it makes you consider public ransport as an option as you've already paid for it.

However, there's no train station near me, and I'd have to catch 3 different buses.

[ace]

I thought Yarra Trams put on extra trams for the football.

An inspector observes massively overcrowded trams to St Kilda on a Friday night, so ensures that extra services to St Kilda are provided the next Friday night.
Only problem is St Kilda is playing interstate that next weekend.

However the inspector observes over crowded trams heading north, so this time he ensures extra services going north are providided the following Friday night.

Come that follwoing Friday the inspector observes that there is no tram overcrowding because St Kilda is playing on Saturday night and there is no game at Etihad.
He cancels all future football trams because they are obviously not required.


Ah, the wonders of public transport under Bracks and Brumby Labor.

[snoopygirl]

Fair comment Wagga, the point I'm trying to make is that the public transport bigwigs and labour government are constantly big noting themelves about Melbourne being the sports capital blah blah blah and how wonderfully well the trains are in getting folk to and from the game when in truth its bloody awful! and has been for years! I remember all the crap they came out with during the commonwealth games about "extra trains"...we were still herded like cattle onto the platforms at Richmond. Its really not good enough! and they've had decades to get it right! As far as Homebush station dealing with 31000, well Southern Cross struggles here with 15000!
Sorry if it sounds "sydneycentric" but the truth is they do it BETTER!

Southern Cross struggles due to bias against the Frankston and Pakenham/Cranbourne Lines. In their infinate wisdom they decided lets put them all on the same f****** platform for footy games even though they dont do that normally.

Richmond copes better and their are less platforms there. Those in charge of Southern Cross are just morons, with no common sense.

The trains coming out of the City Loop determine which platform will be used & unfortunately, the Frankston & Cranbourne/Pakenham/Dandenong trains all come out of platform 2. It is not so bad when trains come from Flinders St. It's not ideal though.

[Ice Wolf]

Fair comment Wagga, the point I'm trying to make is that the public transport bigwigs and labour government are constantly big noting themelves about Melbourne being the sports capital blah blah blah and how wonderfully well the trains are in getting folk to and from the game when in truth its bloody awful! and has been for years! I remember all the crap they came out with during the commonwealth games about "extra trains"...we were still herded like cattle onto the platforms at Richmond. Its really not good enough! and they've had decades to get it right! As far as Homebush station dealing with 31000, well Southern Cross struggles here with 15000!
Sorry if it sounds "sydneycentric" but the truth is they do it BETTER!

Southern Cross struggles due to bias against the Frankston and Pakenham/Cranbourne Lines. In their infinate wisdom they decided lets put them all on the same f****** platform for footy games even though they dont do that normally.

Richmond copes better and their are less platforms there. Those in charge of Southern Cross are just morons, with no common sense.

The trains coming out of the City Loop determine which platform will be used & unfortunately, the Frankston & Cranbourne/Pakenham/Dandenong trains all come out of platform 2. It is not so bad when trains come from Flinders St. It's not ideal though.

So why do they put them on 13 after an game and they are on 12 before hand?

Really piss poor design by the sounds of it.

[I Love Peter Kiel]

I didn't have a ticket for the game in Sydney until I got to the stadium, but they just saw my cap and scarf and waved me through to a free train. Awesome!

[I Love Peter Kiel]

WRT Melbourne's public transport system..it's not bad, but successive state govts of both the major parties have not 'bitten the bullet' when it comes to 'the big picture'.

When Ken Luke started Waverley off in the '60s the vision was for a direct train to what was then a semi-rural area. But the train ended up going no further than Glen waverley.

Likewise, it would have been easier to build a line or extend existing lines to Tullamarine in the early '70s when the airport was finished. Now suburbia has spread almost all the way there. The Bracks govt looked into building a special line to Tulla but concluded it was 'too expensive'. Why not just extend existing lines? Yes it would cost a sh*tload but it'd be better in the long run.

[ozrulestrace]

Fair comment Wagga, the point I'm trying to make is that the public transport bigwigs and labour government are constantly big noting themelves about Melbourne being the sports capital blah blah blah and how wonderfully well the trains are in getting folk to and from the game when in truth its bloody awful! and has been for years! I remember all the crap they came out with during the commonwealth games about "extra trains"...we were still herded like cattle onto the platforms at Richmond. Its really not good enough! and they've had decades to get it right! As far as Homebush station dealing with 31000, well Southern Cross struggles here with 15000!
Sorry if it sounds "sydneycentric" but the truth is they do it BETTER!

Southern Cross struggles due to bias against the Frankston and Pakenham/Cranbourne Lines. In their infinate wisdom they decided lets put them all on the same f****** platform for footy games even though they dont do that normally.

Richmond copes better and their are less platforms there. Those in charge of Southern Cross are just morons, with no common sense.

The trains coming out of the City Loop determine which platform will be used & unfortunately, the Frankston & Cranbourne/Pakenham/Dandenong trains all come out of platform 2. It is not so bad when trains come from Flinders St. It's not ideal though.

Actually that's not quite right, they can run the train out of the Loop and direct one to Platform 12 and one to Platform 13. Take it from a regular commuter in the morning that one train will go direct to 12 and the one behind it goes into Platform 13.

My issue with the trains after the game is that whether it be Metro or it that late but not lamented Connex, proudly announce the number of footy specials running to the game, but never the number of footy specials for each line after the game.

And don't take this the wrong way Sandringham line users, but you seem to get far more footy specials than the Cranbourne/Pakenham/Frankston lines combined.

So maybe someone from Metro Trains maybe reading this and can explain why Platforms 12 & 13 aren't utilised and exactly how many footy specials are run for each line.

[thejiggingsaint]

Now THATS what I'm talkin' about!!!! Its not just the fact that if you can't get on a train, you're waiting twenty minutes for another one. One of the consequences of there being no extra trains is that platforms 12 & 13 become so crowded, with two escalators funneling even more people onto the platforms. I'm not saying that Sydney's public transport is better than ours, just making the point that we should be better at dispersing our footy crowds than we are at present.....perhaps the solution is to stay back at the Victory Room for a while

[avid]

Surely, since the invention of computers, you'd think they'd be able to put on special extra trams and trains at the end of all footy matches.
Grossly overcrowded platforms are a symptom of dysfunctional scheduling, plain and simple.
It happens for us too with the St Kilda tram at Bourke and Spenser EVERY time.

[Ice Wolf]

The only change for the better is that they have stopped trying to get everyone to get onto trains and change at Flinders street, probably because most people worked out if they did that they wouldn't be able to get onto a train at Flinders Street cause they are already full.

[ozrulestrace]

The only change for the better is that they have stopped trying to get everyone to get onto trains and change at Flinders street, probably because most people worked out if they did that they wouldn't be able to get onto a train at Flinders Street cause they are already full.

That's the story of my every train travel-if the train before is either cancelled or delayed then there is no hope for passengers trying to get on at South Yarra, Malvern or Caulfield and passengers are left behind.

347 to Pakenham anyone? It's an embarassment a train that arrives at Caulfield at 406 and which is not even considered to be a peak hour train (the govt's thought process, not mine) leaves people behind more often that not. The next Pakenham train is not due for another 20 or so mins.

And I'm not hopeful about the so called new trains ending up on our line as the specifications are configured for Glen Waverley/Belgrave/Lilydale and that oh so packed line the Alamein line, so frankly nothing is going to change.