zerosleeps

An email I sent to Sydney Trains just before Christmas:

Dear Sydney Trains.

I use Olympic Park station as part of my daily commute to and from work. I use the station at what I imagine are peak hours: between 07:00 and 08:00, and 17:00 to 18:00. I use the “back” entrance to the station, which has three ticket gates.

I estimate that about 75% of people using this entrance to the station at these times do not use a ticket: they instead force their way through the wide gate, or sneak through behind those of us who do use tickets.

As a frequent user of this station this angers me. The implications are obvious if the people forcing their way in and out of the station don’t have tickets. If these people DO have tickets but for whatever reason choose not to use them, then I’m worried that the true passenger count at this station cannot be reported against, and the service frequencies could be reduced in the future.

I’d like to know what, if anything, is being done about this situation.

Kind regards,
Scott Macpherson.

What really grinds my ass is that most of the people using Olympic Park station - other than event-goers - are professionals working for one of Australia’s largest banks. It’s infuriatingly comical to watch middle-aged women and men wearing suits climb over ticket barriers.