Re: My ride on a Citadis

Hi to you all

My wife and I travelled from St Kilda to Spencer St station on one of
your new Citadis trams last December. As it was still on trial the
motorman said that there was no need to look for the fare machines,it
was a free ride, so we do not know about the placement of the
machines. We were impressed with the ride which felt a bit like the
ride we get on our SLF buses in Wellington but of course much
smoother. We have not tried out your Combino's yet, but hope to have
a go this December, when we will be visiting Melbourne again. I will
contact then Graeme B. By the way thanks for all the photos of
Wellington trams, and old trolleys scenes Greame, which you have
posted on the various yahoo groups. Much appreciated.

Regards Evan






--- In TramsDownUnder@y..., "Swash" <swash@b...> wrote:

Last Thursday I had the opportunity to ride on a Citadis tram from

the City (Melbourne) to Richmond. Maybe a fifteen minute trip. I had
previously only travelled on one for one stop in the city. Here is
my opinion......

Ride: seemed ok, side to side a bit, but it was good track and it

was not too bad

They certainly have fast acceleration.

It was a mild day and the temperature inside was fine.

All good so far.

But..... the placement of the ticket validators is lousy. I had

trouble finding them and when I did, there were almost two side by
side at an entrance and none on the other side of the entrance.

Ok, not directly to do with the tram, but an after fit out problem.

After idly gazing around the tram for a while, I noticed that I

could not see a 'next stop' light near the driver, where we in
Melbourne are used to seeing it. I was then getting near to my stop
and I looked around for the cord to pull or a button to push to
indicate to the driver that I wanted to get off at the next stop.

I eventually spied two buttons in each seated passenger area but as

all seats were taken and there were some people standing, it would be
very difficult to get to them. As it was a reasonably busy stop I was
getting off at, I figured the tram would stop anyway. I made my way
to the door and someone moved a bit and I noticed there was a next
stop button at the door, and also a button with a wheelchair symbol
on it. When I pressed the button, I heard a buzzer go, presumably in
the driver's cab and a tiny red light above the button lit. Now I
had worked it out. Make your way to the door and then press the
button.

But I had to use quite a bit of mental energy to work all this

out. And I am an experienced trammie. For a casual user, it is far
from user friendly. Why they cannot have a next stop indicator near
the driver and cords and buttons on staunchions within the tram I do
not know. The Citadis tram may be much better for disabled people
and look very good, but for me I think the B class tram is much
better, and that is around a fifteen year old design.

Wonder what the Combino will be like.

Andrew.

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