Baralier ([info]baralier) wrote,
2005-07-28 11:24:00
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  • Mood: thoughtful

"Learn from London"

When I arrived at my train station this morning there were banners and balloons and signs stuck all over the walls. It seems the Rail, Tram & Bus Union (Victorian Branch) had used the normally unmanned station as a point of protest on the current public transport operation.

They'd opened the office, the toilets, and were generally being helpful with queries.

The banners all had the words "Learn from London" on them and the flyers they were giving out said that unmanned stations make the rail system less safe and gave the details of the Federal Transport Minister to contact: Funding has been provided for Airlines and the maritime industry to upgrade security but John Howard has not committed any funds to improve safety for rail passengers ....WHY?

And while I think they're laudable sentiments I think they should have also added the STATE Transport Minister as well. But I've asked before: how is it that the NSW rail system is able to staff it's stations and have platform guards while the Victorian system claims it's too costly?

I've still waiting a satisfactory answer.
Tags: politics

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  • 23 comments

[info]greylock

July 28 2005, 01:43:17 UTC 6 years ago

Heh. You should see security on Perth's public transport service.

[info]sootysmudge

July 28 2005, 01:49:04 UTC 6 years ago

Police have been noticeably visible at my City Loop stations recently,(but l suspect this is a 'knee jerk' reaction). l travel from a so-called Premium suburban station (which means it is staffed), however l'm not sure that makes me any safer than any other station. My experience of station staff (in general) has not been terribly good. That said however, l'd much rather that ALL stations were staffed.

[info]kythys

July 28 2005, 02:13:24 UTC 6 years ago

I would have thought that in this day and age of high unemployment, manning train stations would have provided productive and 'rewarding' (at least in the taking care of one's self by being employed way) jobs for low skilled people?

[info]jeds

July 28 2005, 02:32:26 UTC 6 years ago

Victorian metro public transport, being a privatised industry, is not interested in unemployment rates. They are interested only in what will make them the most money. Thus all the expense of automatic ticketing systems etc and the recent high-profile campaign to shame people into buying tickets.

Certain staffing levels I'm sure would help them increase revenue but I'm sure they have paid some very expensive consultant to determine which is the cheaper, better revenue raising service. Thus the high number of roving ticket inspectors travelling in packs of up to a dozen, while station offices sit empty and closed.

Working in an industry that has gone from public owned to private enterprise, I've seen this process from the inside. The only important thing is the bottom line. Anything that is detrimental to the bottom line is to be stopped/sold/removed/destroyed.

[info]leadgend

July 28 2005, 06:51:13 UTC 6 years ago

Well the privatised PT companies actually tender for the right to run their bit of the PT network every few years, competing on the basis of how small a subsidy they need. It would not be difficult for the goverment to insert a clause requiring all train stations to be manned as a condition of the contract.

[info]jeds

July 28 2005, 07:10:34 UTC 6 years ago

This I did not know. Obviously there would be clauses regarding opting out of the industry etc or I'm sure, if the government took too much a heavy hand, the remaining companies would run for the hills if they couldn't maintain/improve their bottom line.

[info]leadgend

July 28 2005, 07:38:06 UTC 6 years ago

If the clause was in the RFT documents then the tenderers would just bid a little higher to make up the difference. The goverment fines the companies if they don't meet performance targets so it wouldn't be that heavy handed.

[info]jeds

July 28 2005, 02:26:23 UTC 6 years ago

What, exactly, are these staff going to do that would stop a London-style attack anyway?

These staff may help in the usual ways, but in London four normal blokes carrying normal backpacks got onto trains and buses like so many million other normal people, and then the bags exploded I gather while still in the possession of these men.

They weren't bags left unattended. From all reports they weren't "shifty looking" individuals. They even bought return tickets.*

Airlines and the Maritime Industry do, I believe, come under Federal jurisdiction and thus receive their funding from the Federal Government. As you say, public transport is a State-based thing but funnily enough the State (Labor) Transport Minister is left off. Anyone contacting the Federal Minister would, I'm sure, be told to talk to their State Minister.

While I too would be happy to see staff back at stations for the general security of passengers (having been the victim in an attack by a drunken yobbo though the bus driver sitting ten feet away did nothing to intervene) linking that campaign to London is scaremongering in the best John Howard form. I guess whatever gets the funding...

(* Doesn't all that just say to you that these four guys were tricked by their controller(s), told to carry the bombs and leave them on trains and then get off. Then the bombs were detonated by remote earlier than they thought. No more bomb carriers, no one left alive to tell the story.)

[info]baralier

July 28 2005, 02:36:03 UTC 6 years ago

Pretty much most of the "anti-terrorism measures" that have been suggested recently are pretty much useless. Having more CCTV cameras *might* help you work out who the bombers were *after* the fact but the bombs will still have gone off.

Same with the stupid Australia Card. So far no bombers of the London or New York attacks were using fake ID.

And Ruddock's comments about suspending Civil Liberty for the good of all can get jammed into Baxter.

I'm sure if his offsring had been a Brazilian electrician he'd be whistling a different tune.

[info]kythys

July 28 2005, 03:22:06 UTC 6 years ago

Doesn't the lack of fake ID indicate that they *weren't* expecting to return?

[info]baralier

July 28 2005, 04:01:41 UTC 6 years ago

Possibly. Though if a suicide bomber uses their own name it doesn't stop them being a suicide bomber. Working out who they were later on is of little consolation to the people they killed at the time.

[info]kythys

July 28 2005, 04:09:38 UTC 6 years ago

Yes that's what I mean. If I don't care that you know who I am, I am clearly not thinking that any consequences that you will hand out as a result of my actions are importnant, probably becasue I expect to be dead.... but then why buy a return ticket? To avert suspicion & make me look like another victim? In case the bombs didn't go off?

[info]baralier

July 28 2005, 04:18:34 UTC 6 years ago

Riiiight. So how is bringing in the Australia Card going to stop this?

[info]lokicarbis

July 28 2005, 10:15:05 UTC 6 years ago

The Australia Card will prevent you from getting AIDS!

Really.

You know, 'cos for all the good it'll do you, you might as well shove it up your arse :)

[info]jeds

July 28 2005, 12:27:33 UTC 6 years ago

The Australia Card wont achieve anything unless it comes in the shape and form of a fride magnet.

[info]lokicarbis

July 28 2005, 13:04:48 UTC 6 years ago

And even then, we'd all need frides to stick them to.

[info]jeds

July 28 2005, 05:59:34 UTC 6 years ago

Or they were not expecting to die, thus would have their own ID on them because it wouldn't matter.

Alternatively, they were told they would get fake IDs and be hidden, or transported out of the country, once the deed was done.

All speculation of course. Possibly they were told by whomever was giving the orders to buy a return ticket simply to avoid suspicion.

[info]sootysmudge

July 28 2005, 02:39:08 UTC 6 years ago

Both of your posts are spot on, private companies only care about how many $ they can save by NOT employing people, they care nothing for the safety, security, convenience of the paying passenger. I, too have witnessed incidents when staff have not intervened, when clearly they should have.

[info]enrobso

July 28 2005, 07:59:52 UTC 6 years ago

You obviously haven't been paying enough attention. Otherwise you would have noticed that all stations now have a "Safety Zone".

Now I'm not quite sure how painting a yellow rectangle on the platform makes anyone who stands inside it impervious to harm; my best guess is that it works on the same principle as a pentagram but with a high-tech element from the same people who created our magical anti-terrorism fridge magnets. Nor am I sure why they don't just paint the whole platform with the amazing yellow paint instead of just a ten foot square, but I'm sure they also protect anyone standing inside them from suicide bombers.

[info]starlet_chance

July 28 2005, 09:09:30 UTC 6 years ago

And i just thought the yellow was for people who didn't know where to stand when a train comes. you know how people love to jump infront of them and try and give the train driver a hug. ;P

[info]lokicarbis

July 28 2005, 10:13:51 UTC 6 years ago

Do you think magical yellow security zone paint grows on trees, or something? Surely a moment's reflection would have led you to the realisation that in fact the zones are as small as they are because they only take in the areas where the Force is sufficiently strong?

[info]enrobso

July 28 2005, 13:05:55 UTC 6 years ago

Actually, it had occurred to me that they were actually emergency teleport zones, but knowing the reliability of Connex's services, I'd be expecting either being told that I'd have to wait forty minutes for the next service or being immediately transported to Bagdhad or Kabul.

[info]sootysmudge

July 28 2005, 23:01:48 UTC 6 years ago

Yes, well l'm hoping the 'safety zone' will save me from anyone wielding an egg beater and frying pan!!!!
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