Matangi’s Slow Rollout

 

By the end of this week 40% of the new Matangi fleet will have arrived in Wellington.

The rollout of the Wellington trains is still a very long drawn out affair.

They are operating on the Hutt line at peak times.

15 2-car units are in Wellington. Of those, 9 2-car units are in service.

The rest are being used for training.

3 more 2-car units are about to arrive by ship.

Only 11% of Wellington rail commutershave ridden on a Matangi

On the good news front, Greater Wellington  Council estimates that 78% of Greater Wellington residents have used PT in the last three months. This is a statistically significant increase on 70% in 2010.  89% of residents have used PT in the last twelve months.

67% of Greater Wellington residents have used a bus in the last three months (up from 51% in 2009 and 58% in 2010).

47% of Greater Wellington residents have used a train in the last three months, continuing an upward trend (38% in 2009 and 46% in 2010).

In the Council’s latest satisfaction survey, 49% of recent users are either satisfied or very satisfied with the train service overall but the last fare increases are the biggest cause of dissatisfaction.

But the Council says only 11% of  Wellington rail passengers have yet to ride on a Matangi.

It will be interesting to see how long it takes for Auckland’s new electric trains to get into service across all the lines.

 

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7 Comments

 
  1. George D says:

    Why does it take so many months to get trains, which already here and in working condition, in actual service?

    It seems to me that the lack of consequences for performance, both positive and negative, is a problem.I think people should lose their jobs

    However, I’m probably a little on the negative side this evening after an unspecified fault on Auckland’s Eastern Line this afternoon combined with three (yes three) buses not turning up for their scheduled service caused me serious problems - I had to be somewhere to do important things, and this made me two hours late. Their incompetence screws up my life, but they don’t feel the consequences.

  2. Matt L says:

    I find it interesting that they are reporting on how many people would have used at least one PT service instead of what their PT numbers are, is that because they haven’t seen any real growth in a long time and have even seen numbers decline. This is especially important when the “city of cars” is growing at a huge rate and makes them look bad.

  3. Carl says:

    Jon - we have to pick the trains, then get get them, let alone test them =P

  4. Ian says:

    There were issues with the first few Matangi but they have been sorted and the roll out rate has climbed to about one per week. In fact this roll out compares favourably with most other systems. The issue now is training drivers at a rate to keep up with the present roll out. Passengers like the new trains and Auckland can only benefit with what has been learned in Wellington.

  5. George D says:

    Ian, one per week seems reasonable. Hopefully we learn and roll-outs happen on schedule in future.

  6. Lee Begg says:

    I’m not sure the number in service is 9 units. I know 6 units (12 cars) are in service, with at least one more unit used for training staff. The GW Matangi News page was last updated 13 July and the notice in Wellington Station showed 6 units in service the last time I looked (Thursday). Will check again tonight.

    Still waiting for them to start on the Johnsonville line - 4 months late and counting.

  7. tim says:

    Good planning and management would have gone a long way here IMHO :(

 

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