Saturday 9 November 2013

Weekend Reflections: Trouble on the tram tracks @metrolinkFAILS


Taking part in Weekend Reflections.  Rant alert... The first frost of autumn came on the 3rd November and no trams ran on the entire network (the same thing happened in 2011 according to this week’s Manchester Evening News). On one memorable early morn October adventure it took me 75 minutes on a tram from Altrincham to get to the city (instead of 20 minutes). At least you can apply for a refund when such failings occur.

There seem to be regular breakdowns despite new stock and track and point issues. There have been weekend replacement buses since the summer and these seem to still be going, well into autumn.  Why? 

Do the Metrolink/Transport for Greater Manchester head honchos use the system themselves I wonder? I feel for the staff on the front line who have to deal with an irate public. I hope that Metrolink directors all have regular stints as part of these teams to deal with the flak in person (unlikely I suspect?).

Metrolink's not much more than a clockwork railway really and other underground and tram systems seem to run more smoothly despite worse weather and/or higher passenger volume: Stockholm and Moscow (severe winters), London (270 tube stations) New York (450 subway stations), Chicago etc. My experiences in these cities are that their networks don't crawl to a halt or are overcrowded every time the temperature drops to 0°C, or when there is a small festival in town or a solitary football match on ;-)

Every weekday at the rush hour peak of 5.30 there is a tram driver shift change at Old Trafford station- A driver has to leave his cab, squeeze through the packed trams to get out and a replacement driver clocks on- the drivers themselves apologise for the shift change being at “such a stupid time” A little tweaking here wouldn’t go amiss?

I know that compared to some North American cities and Third World countries we are lucky to even have a half decent public transport system, but even so...


A possible acrostic for Metrolink?:

Making 
Even
Trivial
Routes
Overly
Late.
Is
Network
Kafkaesque?

5 comments:

  1. I still like your image a lot. ;) I don't want to tell you how many complaints the DC's subway system gets.

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  2. And why is always the points the Cornbrook? I've used the new route from Ashton a few times now and it really isn't all that fast. The last time I went into Manchester I got to Victoria just before a train was due to leave and got to Ashton in less than half the time the tram would have taken.

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  3. Eye catching image Chrissy, were you shaking with indignation at the trams when you took it ;)

    ReplyDelete
  4. A perfect blury composition... Nice participation !

    ReplyDelete

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