Last stop, mediocrity: The challenge of lifting the strugglers without pulling down the high performers

Steve Stannard is a former Massey University academic and small business owner in Palmerston North.

OPINION: A few weekends ago my wife and I caught the Tranz Alpine train from Christchurch to Greymouth and back.

It was most enjoyable, with modern clean carriages, and timely departure/arrival. The staff were well-dressed, professional, and obviously proud of doing their job.

The scenery was just spectacular; you could be excused for thinking you were on a tourist train in the European Alps.

We took the cheaper option without formal dining and full fare flexibility, and it was a bit less than $200 per person each way. Expensive for us, but much more pleasant than renting a car and probably a similar price.

I’ve been in NZ long enough now to have fairly low expectations on many things, including public transport. We don’t have much of it, and what we do have is mostly ordinary.

Like the Capital Connection train where, in my experience, the ride is rough enough to require sea sickness pills to get to Levin.

So the (outstanding) quality of our Tranz Alpine adventure was a pleasant surprise. It’s definitely an outlier, at the far right, the top-end of the transport experience bell-curve in NZ.

The train was full, and there seemed to be plenty of overseas people aboard. So it’s not like they have their pricing structure out of whack.

It was a great example to me that, if the service is good and the product is good, then people are willing to pay. Even Kiwis, and especially those from elsewhere.

Of course, I’m not party to the profitability of the train, or whether the line needs to be subsidised by government or another commercial activity. Nevertheless, someone involved understands the importance of doing something above average. Which is very un-Kiwi like.

That’s partly because we have a “she’ll be right” attitude, especially concerning completing the finer detail. Yet those little things can be what people remember.

The other reason, and in my opinion the over-riding factor, is that we are encouraged to strive for mediocrity.

Ensuring outcomes are the same, through policy, practice, or tall-poppy trimming, is by definition aiming for mediocrity. Which is fine when you are trying to bring the left-hand side of the bell-curve, the lesser performers or the disadvantaged, up to average.

But at the same time, you are going to bring the high performing outliers down to average levels. That is what equality of outcome is.

Just to be clear, when you are working for equality of outcome then you are looking to bring the high-achievers or the lucky/privileged/hardworking people down, as much as you are looking to bring the luckless and low-achievers up. It’s just logic.

An example would be spending most of the Government resources allocated to railways bringing the Capital Connection experience up to average. But then having no money left to ensure regular maintenance of the Tranz Alpine train.

In the end both would end up the same mediocre experience, neither likely to attract tourists or fussy commuters. And I doubt the Tranz Alpine conductor would be as motivated to polish her shoes each day. She might even leave to go to work some-place else which has higher standards.

You might rightly ask that if you improve the left-hand side of the train experience, put brand new carriages on the Capital Connection for example, it will improve the lot of all the NZ trains. In other words, move the average up or shift the bell-curve to the right. But then that’s not producing equality of outcome is it?

It’s a bit of a conundrum really, how to improve the low end of the train experience without bringing the top end down?

Perhaps all trains should get equal funding, but it was targeted at the limiting part of what is holding back passenger experience on that particular train? That would be equality of opportunity.

In the case of the Capital Connection it might be investing in better rolling stock or reducing the bumps in the line. In the case of the Tranz Alpine it might be something completely different such as overseas advertising or offering a different dining menu.

The outcomes might still be different, but each will hopefully have improved in quality in the most efficient way. It might even engender some friendly competition.

It’s been quite a while since I caught the Capital Connection, so perhaps things have improved lately.

Either way, it is good to see that funding for a fleet of hybrid-electric passenger trains, including the Capital Connection, was recently announced.

Then all we’ll need is to bring our run-down Railway Station up to a reasonable standard.