Rolling out commuter info
IN RESPONSE to the Member of the Provincial Legislature and DA provincial spokesperson for the Petitions Committee Ricardo MacKenzie’s letter “Communication centre of Metrorail fails”.
Metrorail’s train fleet does not have on-board announcement facilities. The lack of communication technology presents a huge challenge, to keep more than 300 000 daily train-users simultaneously informed of delays and cancellations of trains.
The control centre functions as an integrated operational and contingency planning centre; staffed 24/7 by a multi-disciplinary crew functioning as the primary source of information to be relayed to customers.
From this hub centralised announcements are made to stations and information provided for electronic display boards. Four Joint Operations Centres operate at Cape Town, Rosebank, Bellville and Langa stations during peak hours.
During phase one of our Integrated Station Announcement Management System roll-out, 19 stations (mainly in the central service corridor) received electronic display boards.
During phase two another 30 stations will receive similar technology. Customer feedback indicates great appreciation of this.
Public address systems at stations also announce delays, cancellations, platform changes and other operational arrangements. More than 28 000 registered commuters receive personal text alerts relating to their trains/service lines.
The City of Cape Town’s Transport Information Centre also operates 24/7, serving public transport users in the three regional languages.
Our weekly custom publication myline and our blog http:/capetowntrains.freeblog.site/ provide more detailed information.
A significant portion of our user base are online and our social media sites Facebook and Twitter provide instant updates on the train service during peaks. A mobile app GoMetro also has an “E-mail my boss” function which can be activated to alert employers to delays.
Passenger information is a priority and we constantly receive user feedback and constructive criticism to improve our communication abilities.
We value passengers’ feedback and will continue to work towards international best practice. Metrorail Western Cape is a member of the International Suburban Railway Benchmarking Group (ISBeRG). RICHARD WALKER Regional Manager Metrorail Western Cape