Myki glitches and Metro trains skipping stations were among commuter problems that drove a 93 per cent increase in complaints to the Public Transport Ombudsman this year.
Poor customer service from myki call centres, delayed and declined refunds, faulty or blocked cards and the inconvenience of having to post cards to have them unblocked saw more Victorians to complain to the Ombudsman than ever before. There were more than three thousand complaints this year, up from 1800 last year.
In her 2012 annual report, issued today, the Ombudsman, Janine Young, said the office’s workload doubled in 2011-12 as 568 complaints were rated serious enough to trigger an investigation, up from 253.
This year the Ombudsman managed 1600 myki-related cases, up from 775 in 2010-11, accounting for more than a third of all cases…
The annual report also notes a 54 per cent increase in complaints about Victoria’s trains, trams and buses. Cases involved trains skipping stations, trams terminating short of the end of the line, passengers in wheelchairs being left behind and the behaviour of officers.
Adam Carey, The Age, December 6, 2012