Regarding maintenance, Nexus owns the rolling stock and therefore get a set amount from the ITA budget for maintenance. This is then passed onto DB Regio. Nexus are the ones that pull the strings. Hard to tell whether it is a lack of maintenance, or no doubt it is a lack of time to do maintenance due to the 3/4 life refurb.
I've got a feeling it's lack of time. My train this morning didn't show on time and was 12 late so we ended up with two trains following each other on exactly the same timetable.
There was no apology for the delay from the driver and all we got was a mumbled 'If you don't want to force your way onto this one and get all cramped and sweaty, then you should get the next train which is right behind this one.'
The train was ridiculously busy, more so than normal. And this in the end resulted in all hell breaking loose at Central. The barriers were in full operation, but there was an inspector blocking two barriers whilst she gave someone a penalty Fare, they had three gates closed off because they weren't working, so that's 5 gates gone, leaving around 5 or so. Since almost everyone of my train got of my train at Central there was a good 200 or so people waiting. They eventually released the barriers, when someone screamed, 'we're getting held up on the escalators you incompetent f***wits'. A Nexus manager was there seemingly watching over it all too, I think she got a pleasant eye opener to what happens on the system even during the peaks. If these delays remain and people are getting rammed into trains like we are currently because we just don't know when the next train will be - there was no announcement, and the information board was switched off - then I can imagine the barriers will be kept open during the peaks because of the sheer pressure. One train tends to empty at Central in the AM and this results in huge swarms of people filling the area between the ticket barriers and the escalators which I would say is really dangerous. Why the barriers weren't moved further forward, same at Monument, is beyond me.
Also, Metro staff aren't helping, they are blocking the way to the barriers and whilst I understand they are there because a lot of people are confused, what they should do is set up one side, so at Central the three barriers on the left hand side (opposite the travelshop) for those who aren't 100% confident, this can then mean those that do know what to do can keep moving fairly freely. What also hasn't helped is that some days they are closed and some days they are open. A week (at most) should be spent on a station with the barriers closed, after that week 3 inspectors will stay on that gateline until all barriers are active. This should help make sure those who use it during peak hours know what to do, people will then quickly get into the swing of things because they don't want to be held up.
