Consumer Review: Melbourne Eastlink toll system, impossibly stupid.

The occasional h1bpositive blog visitor might recall the fine Winter's day out Matthew, Jamie and I had on the motorbikes back in June. After riding to Noojee, we came home via the much lauded Eastlink, Melbourne's new tollway, hailed as the poster-boy of public-private infrastructure funding.

We'd each organised our pre-paid tollway passes to travel on Eastlink, a bit of a bureaucratic nightmare as the rules and processes for motorcycles and cars vary considerably, and the Eastlink/Breeze web page would count among the worst possible User Interface designs ever created.


I eventually bought 4 passes over the phone (figuring we'd ride again out that way sometime soon), and had the foresight to email myself with the order details, just in case something went awry in future. Call it intuition, or call it twenty plus years working with computers and customers for a living.

To my amazement, in September, I got an overdue notice for riding on Eastlink without a pass. One trip, 12:32pm on June 20, 2009. Clocked riding into the Melba Tunnel in an unauthorised fashion. Outstanding Debt:

Toll charge $1.04
Invoice fee $8.45
Lookup fee $1.40
GST $1.08
TOTAL $11.97

I rang Breeze to seek an explanation. Now - quick caveat to my rant here - the lady I spoke to was sensational with her service, but, she's working for bozos. $2.5b bozos. First I had to quote the 12 digit invoice number - not the reminder notice 12 digit number, but the original invoice number buried in fine print of the letter on page 1. Man, these guys are planning for the future - no Y2k-like character limit for their invoice numbers. Not real easy to communicate over the telephone however.


That number, along with my registration plate, motorcycle type and colour, enabled her to see the infringement notice. Then, she logged into a second screen that enabled her to see if that license plate number had any purchases registered against it. Tick, tick, tick, one moment please caller, tick, tick... and yes ... there they are, 4 passes purchased on 19 June.

So... the 'computer' could see my registration plate had 4 passes credited against it, and the computer could see that I had made a trip on 20 June, but somehow the computer had recorded that at 12:32 on 20 June, the mighty Gixxer was without passes on the tollway. The pass ordering computer and the traffic tracking computer seem to be different computers.

I guess that could happen - the road construction consortium would have outsourced vehicle tracking, invoicing and administration to the lowest bidders, as they all do nowadays. There might have been a momentary glitch in 'the computer' as the Gixxer roared by? So maybe it's actually 3 computers? One on the road, one for ordering, and one for billing? Or 4? Road, ordering, billing, infringing? Or 5? Road, order, bill, infringe and reconcile?

As an IT professional, my mind boggles as to how these things happen, and it's an embarrassment to the profession. So, who are the chumps who put together this computer system, and how much did it cost? Perhaps they did it on the cheap?

The billing infrastructure was part of a much trumpeted $2.5b (yep, billion) traffic management system for this tollway. The winning bidder was Traffic Management Systems - a listed rollup of various Australian traffic signage and control systems companies, which is listed under the TTI stock code.

TTI's publicly stated turnover has only been in the range of $57m - $95m, stating turnover of $57m in the year the tollway system was built (they only had 6 months to bill between the contract being let in November 2005 and end of financial year in June 2006), then $81.5m in 2007, and $95m in 2008 when the roadway finally opened. Thus they clearly didn't get all of the $2.5 billion. I'm going to guess a mere $100m for the computer system over the 2+ years.

A $100m computer system then. Reckon they would only give that contract to a really proven and solid software development company, that had a track record and long term profitability. So let's check out TTI's track record of success during Australia's largest infrastructure boom from 1998 to today:

WTF? Peaking at $46 at the end of 1999, these guys are an unprofitable penny dreadful trading at not more than a few cents a share for years on end. Have been since a year before they got the Eastlink contract. At 6c a share, I could own the whole damn company with the money I'm paying in bogus $11.97 tollway fines.

Chances of them having the smartest IT people to make that system work? Not good.

Customer Service have promised to get back to me with how this all happened. I won't hold my breath, as without doubt that's yet another computer system they were recording my complaint details into when I rang.

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13.10.2009 Result!

Product Review: Suunto T1 Heart Rate Monitor

Suunto - Finnish for 'Disappointment'?

After my little heart problem in 2008, I decided to return to the Heart Rate Monitor market after several years in absentia, years spent muttering like a crazy person about pathetic battery life, interference issues, fragile chest straps and repeated disappointment.

In the 1990s, most bike shops were pretty reluctant to sell them, as they delivered way too many opportunities to test out the warranty service of the manufacturers.

The actual NEED to have a new gadget was too much of an opportunity to miss in life. The main result of my 5+ hours of internet research was the conclusion I really wanted a Power Meter of some kind instead. At several thousand dollars I was able to resist that temptation with ease.

My friend Glen has been a Polar stalwart for many years, valuing the data functions, the big watches, and the software for his PC. He was not loving the need to send them away to get batteries changed, which seemed bizarre in this day and age. Nor was he loving the data loss every time we rode under the power lines outside the Scienceworks museum on our Altona rides, but he'd worked out how to join 2 broken training sessions again on the computer.

I just couldn't get my head around their range of products. The ideally featured Polar HRM (for me) came as a bike computer, not a watch. I don't like a big hulking bike computer, I prefer my little minimalist unit. And I wanted something to wear in the gym.

Not to mention there was no way I was paying THAT much for an HRM!

With plenty of time on my hands recovering from open heart surgery, I finally concluded that the new Suunto range of HRMs, provided they lived up to the other products developed and sold by Suunto (avionics included), were a fine-looking, 12 month warrantied, and well featured product for a great price.

So, to cut a long review short, I'm here to tell you they're rubbish.


The critical flaw is the plastic watch face, and the lack of a protective bezel. Within weeks this watch becomes unreadable in normal use. It's not something you think about, how much you bump your watch. Now I know why the Japanese watches with plastic faces have such monstrous surrounds (think G-Shock). And why expensive watches have glass faces.


The flaw that actually killed by T1 was the screws in the back coming loose in Month 13 of ownership (I lost 2 before it became obvious) rendering it open to the elements, and subsequently ... dead.

Desperate to keep the standout cool factor of the Suunto range, I went back to the catalogue to find the unit that would overcome these problems - surely the really expensive ones had glass faces? Nope - 100% plastic across the range. Disappointment, thy name is Suunto.

Review Score:

Function: 7/10. While it held together (for 13 months), it proved to be an easily understood HRM. Unreadable, but easily understood. Battery life acceptable, and ability to change batteries in the watch and chest strap yourself highly prized.

Form: 2/10. Despite looking very cool in the box, life in the real world overwhelmed the Suunto - the plastic face became decrepit in no time, and then the screws that held the back in came out, rendering it ... dead.

Price: 3/10. Part of the reason for buying was the low price. I could buy 2 for the price of a Polar or similar unit in a mainstream brand. Then again, I would have to buy 2 (or in fact 3-4) if they have this lifespan.

Product Review: Oxford OL630 Motorcycle 'Sports' Tankbag

Hero to Zero in 3.2 seconds. Definitely not for sports-bikes.


The only thing I've experienced in recent times to come close to matching the speed with this product whisked me from infatuation to disappointment was a spin round the Bays (back in Wellington) on Robbo's new GXR1000 K9 with 4 into 1 Yoshi pipe. 140kW on a bike no heavier, longer or larger than my GSXR-600 was sense-blistering, faster than a blink of an eye. Stupid fast, and utter disappointment I don't own one.

First sight of this Oxford sports tank bag had me salivating too. I go way back with tank bags (nearly 30 ears) - unable to afford one like my big brother on his RD400, I was reduced to occy-strapping a bin bag on the tank for a year or so - check it out!

There is a gadget under every zipper on this handsome bag - faux carbon fibre and titanium bits, magnets that stick to the tank with a very satisfying 'ker-dmp' sound, flaps that are scalloped to fit a typical modern sports bike's petrol tank, wet weather cover (would have been useful last weekend!), GPS and iPod suitable spots and map pockets. A fang in the Victorian countryside doesn't justify putting the Ventura rack pack on, and the Oxford looked just the ticket for camera, iPhone and wallet.

Just look what it does too!



Jamie's wry smile when he handed it over should have been a clue. He'd bought it to fit his VFR400 - the classic low seat, big tank sportster. "I'd need arms like a gorilla and a torso like an alien to fit round it" he'd lamented, looking hopefully at my 6'3 frame with XXL arms to match.

One advantage of the VFR is that being slightly old school, it has a squarish metal petrol tank all the way to the handlebars. These days that space up front houses everything but a gas tank - on the gixxer it's a plastic cover sloping dramatically down to the triple clamp. Plastic... magnets... right.

Never mind though, because the side flaps were not compatible with any area of the tank apart from the knee scallops.

Now, you'd be forgiven for wondering why I rate this product so poorly.

Let's cut straight to the chase.

In low-rider mode, with the bag on the tank, I can barely reach the bars. Even without a bulky riding jacket, or the snazzy rear pocket in place on the bag (it unzips as fortune would have it). Let's try another shaped rider (remember, we've already eliminated 5'9 Jamie).

Fail.

Happily enough, we found the Oxford's true place in the garage and retreated for Friday drinks.


If you've got a sportsbike, and you fancy a tank-bag, I'm afraid you should avoid the Oxford 'Sports' tank bag like a white line in a spring downpour. Try one of these instead. Oh, and watch out for a 1 owner, brand new Oxford OL630 on eBay sometime soon.

Review Score:

Function: 1/10 when attached to a Sports Bike. Maybe with a time machine I could go back to the RD400 for a proper fit?
Form: 10 (gadget heaven) - awesome design, shame no-one tried it on an actual sports bike. Mounts on a large mini-skip superbly.
Price: tbd - I didn't buy it, much to Jamie's disappointment.