So, Metro responded to my feedback of Feb 10. It's certainly nice to see some money being spent on PRIDE and the PIDS, though how long this might take and how effective it might be remains to be seen. I'm unsure if this is already common knowledge or not. Feel free to comment or tweet me if you know more about this.
Dear Mr (my surname here)Thank you for your email received in this office on 10 February 2013. Please accept our sincere apologies for our delay in responding to you.You have expressed concern regarding the provision of customer information via the Passenger Information Display Screens (PIDS) in the Degraves subway at Flinders Street station on 9 and 10 February 2013.Your feedback is important to us and we welcome the opportunity to respond.By way of background, our Passenger Information Display Screens (PIDS) are run by our train control computer system, PRIDE. Each train has a specific train designation number and PRIDE uses this information, along with information from the signals the train passes, to update the estimated time of arrival for each service. The current computer system is nearing the end of its operational life.Regrettably, as the current system does not allow for real-time tracking of trains, the time displayed on our PIDS is an estimated time of arrival and therefore, can change prior to train’s actual arrival. This may also impact the accuracy of information regarding departure platforms.We recognise that on rare occasions the information displayed may be incorrect, blank or unable to ‘keep up’ with the services travelling through the station.As such, train controllers at Metrol (our train control centre) update staff at Premium stations with real time information which is then manually relayed to customers on the platform, however, we acknowledge that due to the current limitations of the communications system, it is not always possible to relay this information to customers as quickly as may be expected.We are pleased to advise that the State Government has announced an $88 million upgrade of Metrol. This will include the replacement of the PRIDE system and the improvement of our customer information systems will also be a major part of this upgrade.We again sincerely regret any inconvenience you may have experienced as a result of inaccurate or incomplete information displayed via our PIDS at Flinders Street station and are confident an improvement in communications standards across the train network will soon be evidentWe appreciate you taking the time to contact us as your feedback plays a vital role in the monitoring and improvement of our service standards.Yours sincerely(name of friendly Metro responder)Customer Relations Coordinator
Yep, much the same as I complained about once I was at Flinders Street. The info should show at Richmond. http://highriser.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/my-complaint-to-metro-trains.html
ReplyDeleteSo, if the system is so inept, how come Richmond and Parliament can provide such useful info and FSS is so %*%^*ing useless. Just a "next loop", "next richmond", "next Nth Melb", - one for each group would be a huge improvement. Just like at Richmond & Parliament.
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering when the announcement for the $88 million was made. The response from Metro doesn't state when it was announced. Nothing in recent memory rings a bell.
ReplyDeleteIf you do some digging, the Victorian Government did promise a figure of $88 million. Back in 2006.
http://news.theage.com.au/national/new-rail-control-system-for-vic-delayed-20070311-1oq.html
If indeed that is what the Metro response is quoting, then that is a bit late isn't it? Who knows what happened to that funding in the years since then.
-V