James King

I catch the train to work on the days that I am in the office.

If you asked me to point of catching a train, I would say that it is to get to a destination

But having said that, I also enjoy the journey itself. Or, at least, I enjoy the journey when the train is on time and there is room to sit and I do not encounter hyenas who recently learned to dress like humans but never learned to share space with civilised humans.

Anyway – one of the things I enjoy about the journey is reading a book. I am lucky because the time for my trip is enough to get into the book but still a short enough trip to get to the destination quickly.

Of course not everyone values the same things in the journey as I do, which I realised when the Sydney Metro opened a new line.

The new Metro line is easy to get to for me and also runs into the city. It is a lot faster and so I get to work in less time each morning.

On the downside, the Metro is more crowded because most people seem to prefer the fast travel and because it links to a line that goes out to other suburbs.

I also noticed that the journey is just too short to get into reading. I can open a book (if I have a seat) and I can try to get a NYT puzzle done on the trip, but seem to stop just as I get focused.

It means that here are two passenger “segments” who choose between the two customer journeys:

• The busy person with an active life who values a quick trip over reading will rush to the Metro and speed to work with 1,000 of their closest friends. And when I say closest, I mean standing toe to toe with people.
• The old, sedate, traveller meanders to the train, takes their time to find a seat and then sits down to relax for the slower trip to work.
• Their would be a 3rd segment but for the moment at least, uncivilised hyenas in human clothing are still encouraged to walk. They don’t seem to fit the crowded speedy crew nor the relaxed slower paced crew.

But what about error handling? What about when the journey is interupted.

If you ask Sydney commuters, then you will learn that there have been some appalling delays on the trains. It is nice to be able to use the Metro when that happens, but it is always frustrating when you can’t get to your destination or get stuck half way.

But I had an unusual experience with a self-induced problem, that most Sydney commuters will probably not experience.

Somehow I left my library book on the train when I got off.

Leaving your library book on the train is not recommended because it creates a cascade of problems:

Firstly I was at a really good spot in the book, so I wanted to find out how the story came together in the end.

Then there is the cost of replacing a book, which totally defeats the idea of borrowing one from a library for free.

Worst of all, for me at least, is the likely embarrassment when I have to front a librarian to explain that I lost one of their books.

A bad experience all around.

The next day, without my book, I caught the train to work.

On the way, I spoke to someone official looking at the station, to tell them of my woes. They kindly pointed me to the office that I didn’t realise was at the station.

So, without much hope, I went to the office to tell them I had lost a book. They asked me the name of the book, entered it into their computer and then told me that the book was now at Epping Station.

Good news, but also bad. I was glad to hear that my book had been found, but I didn’t fancy a trip to another station to get the book.

But there was more good news to come. The guy in the office told me they could send the book to another station on the network, so the book would travel instead of me doing it.

He gave me the phone number for Epping Station and I called the number.

I explained that I would like the book back and they said they could send it to Town Hall.

I assumed there must be someone who travels around at the end of the day and so I asked if it would come the same day or later, but the man I spoke to seemed surprised at my assumption.

He said that they would just put it on a train and it would arrive in an hour or so.

I guess I should have expected they knew how to move a book by train when they can move a million passengers around each day, but I hadn’t thought about it.

An hour later I went back to the station and found that my book was indeed in the office. It was still in perfect condition and I was able to read it on the way home later in the day.

I have no idea how the book was passed from station to train to station to office, but from the outside it seemed seamless.

Anyway – I probably enjoyed the journey of my rescued book as much as any of the journeys I have taken myself. I did not like losing the book and I am lucky it didn’t disappear.

But the process of getting the book back was easy and it exceeded my expectations. It also made for a nice story I could tell people at work.

It would be good if all products had different journeys for the hectic and sedate travellers and if all error handling worked so well.

But what I can say is that it was a good journey.