The whole announcement about which side doors to use could be eliminated if
this whole thing about centre island platforms hadn't gained traction in
the first place, thanks to the road agencies. The Gold Coast line was
originally designed with all side platforms, until it got deeper into the
process involving other agencies and interests, then the original principle
started to dissolve.
The legacy can be frustrating. After CSELR was completed, the city planners
had further thoughts about how much of George St should be pedestrianised
and they decided to take it right down to Central instead of just Bathurst
St. In the meantime the line had been completed and, because of narrow road
width and the need for road traffic to pass by, the second-busiest stop,
Chinatown, was given a centre-island platform. This turned out to be
somewhat too narrow for the crowds and, as Tony has pointed out, it can get
to a dangerous point where crowds are forced over the edges. The platform
was also set back a distance from Hay St, which means a longer walk to
interchange with the IWLR tram. Now that it will be all in the middle of a
pedestrian plaza, there is plenty of scope to have side platforms and butt
the stop up to Hay St and the IWLR stop. But of course the tracks and wires
are now splayed and there's no way in the foreseeable future that
expenditure can be justified for the line can be straightened and the stop
rebuilt.
Tony P
On Thursday, 7 January 2021 at 20:56:46 UTC+11andrewh...@... wrote:
> Not that I catch crowded peak trains (of course none are at the moment)
> but I am sure it would be useful in Melbourne to have an announcement
> informing us which side train doors will open. While most passengers would
> know, strangers to the line would not. I often don't.
>
> V/Line (regional) trains have very verbose temporary announcements about
> service changes, often inaudible over the noise of the motors.
>
> I think I've heard, probably here, that A/B/C/E class trams have automatic
> volume control, depending on the interior tram noise level. Unfortunately D
> class drivers can control the volume level of announcements and some have
> the level set to a deafening maximum.
>
> It is too late to remind people about validating their Gold Coast travel
> card once on the tram. We walked very briskly to catch one sitting at a
> stop and forgot to validate our cards at the stop before boarding.
>
> Andrew.
>
>
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>
> On Wed, 6 Jan 2021 at 21:00, 'Richard Youl' via TramsDownUnder <
>tramsdo...@...> wrote:
>
>> I rode the first day much earlier than you did and people seemed to be
>> coping quite well with which side to alight from. Perhaps a late afternoon
>> riders were a pack of dummies.
>>
>> Nevertheless sooner or later which-side announcements were sure to come
>> as they had been a feature on the trains for years. Nevertheless people
>> seemed quite capable of pushing the button to open the doors to get out.
>>
>> My beef is the verbosity of even important announcements, let alone all
>> the trivial childish announcements.
>>
>> And as for reminding people to touch their tickets, it must be close to
>> 50% of my rides have ticket inspectors on board and they always catch
>> somebody and rarely do they seem to be innocent befuddled riders. Most are
>> people who take the risk and hope there’s no inspectors. It’s not rare to
>> see people dash on board without stopping to validate their tickets, or get
>> off the tram and walk away without touching off. They are just calculating
>> fare dodgers. And overhearing the occasional inspectors, part of the
>> conversation sometimes includes discussion about previous fare evasion
>> warnings.
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>>
>>
>> On 6 Jan 2021, at 6:10 pm, Anthony Dudley Horscroft <
>>transit...@...> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>> Mea Culpa. I am responsible for some of the excess announcements on
>> GCLR! I was on the trams the first day, and the passengers were completely
>> foxed by the oddity of having the platforms on various sides. They all
>> dashed to the left side of the tram, and waited for the door to open if and
>> when they pressed the Door Open button and I had to point out that the
>> platform was the other side. On arrive as Hospital, I mentioned to one of
>> the staff on the platform that the side on which the doors opened should be
>> in the announcements. Little did I know that this would be continued what
>> 2 years later? Incidentally, the fact that passengers had no idea which
>> side the platforms were, and many had no idea about door buttons but just
>> stood there waiting like Sydney siders, must have been responsible fr the
>> 55 minute journey, for a trip which now takes 33 or thereabouts minutes.
>>
>> regards
>>
>> Dudley
>> On 5/01/2021 10:09 am, 'Richard Youl' via TramsDownUnder wrote:
>>
>> This has just arrived from one of my contacts:
>>
>> “Hi Richard,
>> Recently you berated G:Link about the constant noise generated by
>> automated announcements interrupting private conversation. You also
>> commented that there were so few announcements on Yarra Trams vehicles, as
>> a comparison.
>> Unfortunately, that may soon change with the below article appearing in
>> our daily update this morning:
>>
>> *Problem solvers: Late last year, YT held our third annual Ideas Lab.
>> This year, we identified over 70 customer and Authorised Officer pain
>> points and brainstormed 30 possible solutions, including a number of quick
>> wins.*
>> *The quick wins were: automated audio announcements at stops to remind
>> boarding customers to give way to alighting customers, ticket compliance
>> support through updated driver announcements, and additional ticketing
>> information. Work has begun on the quick wins which are expected to be
>> delivered within the next six months.”*
>> Good Luck. Just don’t leave home without your earplugs! Don’t they
>> realise that the more blabber there is, the less anybody listens to any of
>> it?
>>
>> Regards,
>>
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