As they say online, "PTV just got ratioed". Not due to the usual complaints public transport gets like ticketing, inspectors, poor frequencies, crowded trains or disruptions, but over singing. Singing?
Notwithstanding major winter disruptions due to construction on some of the network's busiest lines, PTV has been running the Autumn of Adventures and Winter of Wonders promotions to drum up ridership.
Part of that includes introducing a 'surprise element' with a choir popping up on trains, stations and stops to entertain passengers. However this was not welcomed by everyone. Especially those on Twitter.
People who tweet aren't necessarily representative of the general population. But the somewhat more representative Facebook crowd didn't like it much either. So PTV might have scored an 'own goal' on this one. It seems that people value taking PT more for solitude than sociability. Especially if the latter is forced.
Even though hiring a troupe or two of singers is mere spare change in PTV's budget, people still think it's a misplaced priority when there's bigger things that need fixing, like the service itself. Or doing better at their core job of clearly telling people what's happening during the continual construction shutdowns currently crippling the network.
Others object on health grounds. Sensory overload is a real thing. Some supermarkets have 'quiet hours' to general acclaim. Transit authorities point to the quietness of new electric buses as a benefit. Yet PTV's singing promotion is deliberately introducing noise. Which not everyone likes, especially if it's in a confined space like a train carriage.
If you subscribe to the view that 'any publicity is good publicity', the fact that people are engaging on social media and it got picked up in the news is a tick for some PTV social media marketer's performance indicator.
But if you're after a good passenger experience then maybe PTV should stop the singing. They've already tried to stop the talking, with comments switched off on their Facebook and Twitter posts after overwhelming push-back.
Passenger discontent with public transport in Melbourne peaked around 2010. Though new bus services had been added, rail delays, cancellations and crowding were acute. That year's state election saw a change of government with public transport reliability a major issue.
That drove people to sing about how public transport could be better.
The Melbourne Complaints Choir was formed in May 2010. Meeting in an inner city pub, they seemed to be a mix of socialists, anarchists, artists and activists under the umbrella We Love PT (which had a website at https://welovept.com.au ). Those involved included musicians Stephen Taberner and Katrina Wilson.
They soon became the Melbourne Public Transport Complaints Choir, with a trailer to a Ch31 TV documentary here. This was understood to be the only complaints choir that sung about public transport.
They appeared at Southern Cross Station with speeches and singing. Below is a 20 min recording (link here if you can't view it below).
Despite 'complaints' being in their name, the choir saw singing as a way to raise awareness and action for a public transport network that people would use and love.
Much of the style comes from complaint choirs overseas (eg Birmingham) and then popular urban flash mobs where people would appear out of nowhere to bring performance to the streets. The term flash mob entered the dictionaries earlier that decade with the concept originating in Manhattan in 2003.
What happened later? The choir sung at other venues including Flinders Street Station and Melbourne Town Hall. There was a change of government. Then it seemed to dissipate. Trains got more reliable from about 2013. And presumably choir members went their own ways.
The unexpected appearance of the PTV singers in 2023 appear to draw a bit from this tradition.
Where else has singing made its appearance? Metlink, especially, featured singing in its marketing about 15 years ago. Here's an example for ticketing, though there was also the "highly recommend you get on the bus" campaign.
What are you thoughts on all this? Singers on the network - do they add a welcome spontaneity? Or are you more the 'quiet traveller' type? Comments appreciated below.
1 comment:
PTV should put them on the rail replacement buses, and see what sort of response they get. I think that's my only option for the next eight weekends at Oakleigh.
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