Moving Metrorail's Mountain

Thousands of commuters are daily faced with train delays and cancellations, if only there we proper communication those delays and cancellations would not make you so frustrated.

Although I’ve pointed it out before their confession, Metrorail have admitted to me communication is their biggest weakness. I have to give it to them though that the past two years they have made some improvement on this field, and that is an ongoing thing.

For three years now I have been their biggest critic, this led to me being privy to some internal information. Having a better understanding of the network, operations and challenges – although I learn something new every week – it gave me and them the advantage of taking a look at things from an outside view and making proposals with realistic solutions. And May has thus far seen Metrorail accepting two of my proposed solutions.

Case 1:

My big issue is proactive customer communication, and I fail to understand why this cannot be done. See Metrorail cannot control passenger-related incidents, broken rails or faulty signal due to the old infrastructure, and because they operate in an open environment they are also not immune to criminal activities [this is a separate blog]. Metrorail can however ensure that they do proactive customer communication and not leave commuters stranded with more questions than answers.

Recently I invited senior Metrorail managers to join me for 10/15minutes just walking on the platforms of Cape Town station and witness the lack of [proactive] communication. The Regional Manager was on official business and could not join but the Customer Service HOD and Marketing Manager met up with me.

Normally when management make an appearance there are no problems, not even a delay. This unannounced visit showed them the reality we have to face daily though. There were platform changes with no announcements and staff on the floor was not informed. This led to the 15 minute observation turning into 40 minutes, notes were made and certain actions immediately implemented. The two even made time to assist commuters who were confuse where their train is.

Days after this various inter-departmental meetings were held and remedial action will over the next few days and weeks be implemented. Many of the suggestions I made have also been accepted and implemented.

Case 2:

If you have never been in an overcrowded train, you have probably never traveled via Metrorail. Recent arson and vandalism incidents caused train cancellations, adding pressure to the already overcrowded trains.

Metrorail’s TrainOps made some adjustments to ensure not a lot of peak trains are cancelled. Two things they might have missed are that (i) atleast the first two peak trains will be overcrowded and (ii) they don’t travel in commuter peak time and are not squashed like sardines.

I took one line, went to the drawing board and by scanning I made a proposal to Metrorail to lift the burden on one of the first peak trains of the line. Making the proposal I had to keep in-mind limited available number of sets, other options available for commuters when cancelling another train and the pressure that would add to trains after it.

While I understand their challenges, I refuse to negotiate on two things:

1. Metrorail’s operations cannot be business as usual,

2. There should be proactive communication with synergy across all platforms

I’ve started moving Metrorail’s mountain, and there’s no stopping now.