I feel like a everyone else has given up on moaning online about the Auckland trains. But never fear! I shall continue to rant and vent in the hope that someone out there is listening.. and even if they're not, it makes me feel slightly better.
I hopped on the train tonight, not suspecting anything was wrong. The train turned up pretty much when it was supposed to, however I didn't realise that the network had been having problems all day. Everything was fine until Avondale. We stopped, the doors open, passengers get off, the doors close. The train wasn't moving. There have been a few delays at Avondale over the past couple of weeks, usually only for a few minutes. I wouldn't have noticed except for the fact that I've always thought it was pretty stupid that they close the doors only to not move at all. It's kinda hot right now, the air would be welcome, so how about waiting until the train is moving before seal us up?
The train sat there for about 5 minutes, only to finally open it's doors again. The driver informed us we'd be delayed here for 45 minutes. At this point most people sighed and left the train, seeking alternate ways home, however a few people stuck about making phone calls, trying to arrange alternate routes home. There were a couple of stressed teenagers which made me realise how valuable it is to have a credit card - I'll always find my way home, even if it costs me a bit. Some of these kids were getting pretty worked up about how the hell they were going to get home. About 10 mins later the driver announced we would be here 'a further 25 minutes'. Most people took this to mean 25 minutes on top of the initial 45, making a total of 1 hour and 10 mins - however I think he actually meant that we were down to a total of 25 remaining. Either way, 10 minutes later we were off again, crawling between Avondale and New Lynn. At New Lynn I decided to bail and find another way home, which I think was pretty wise. Once I was off the train, the doors closed and it sat at the station motionless for another 10 minutes before limping off into the sunset. This was made even more comical by the fact that the driver was honking his horn the whole way for some reason.
It was a pretty painful ride home and it really shows that it doesn't take much to throw the entire system into disarray. Personally, I'd rather that they cancelled the service and told me earlier so I could have made other arrangements, rather than let me get on a train which was doomed for delays and that might not ever reach it's ultimate destination. This chaos was apparently going on all day, and I didn't receive a single SMS alert - what's the use of that service if you don't use it when there are actual problems? All of this in the wake of the recent price rises, it's not exactly a good look.
At least there were no conductors asking for money on this trip. I didn't see a single one - I guess they don't pay those guys danger money to justify asking a train full of pissed off delayed people for fares!