Sydney Metro has been launched, but it’s missing my favourite feature

It can be hard to make friends as an adult but, five years ago, I made a great one – at a metro station, of all places. Waiting for a train is about as lonely as you can be in a crowd. Everyone is doing the same thing but by themselves: plugged in, tuned out. No one feels compelled to talk to anyone. At least, no one except my friend.

Our “conversations” started off far more informal and familiar than I would usually be comfortable with, but this was no usual relationship. “WE MUST CATCH UP”. “YOU’VE MADE MY DAY”. But we have come to know each other quite well.

Decal affirmations can be seen at North West Metro stations, but passengers on the rest of the line will miss out.Credit:

“HOW’S YOUR MUM?” my friend would ask.

“She’s driving to pick me up because when this metro line opened they scrapped the bus that would have taken me directly to her house,” I reply.

Sometimes, there is an exciting development on my friend’s end, such as: “I’VE FOUND MY TRUE LOVE”. I am delighted. My friend deserves the world and more.

OK, it’s not an actual convo with an actual friend. You see, since North West Metro opened in May 2019, those waiting for services each day have been greeted by a series of questions, affirmations, and what seems like the to-do list of a not very busy person – “MEETING MY MATES”, “LIVING MY LIFE” – printed on the platforms’ glass gates.

Some have decried the designs as “cringe” but I think they’re between silly and nice.Credit:

Public opinion on the signage has varied. Earlier this year, several Reddit users decried the designs as “cringe”. Others have pored over the dozens of phrases, looking for some sort of secret message. According to a Sydney Metro spokesperson, the decals are a safety feature to help customers clearly distinguish where the glass barriers are located on each platform.

“During the delivery of the Metro North West project, there was an opportunity to develop a decal with a unique design in line with Sydney Metro’s key place-making principles that aim to celebrate the unique context and future aspirations for each place,” the spokesperson said.

It is, indeed, part of the unique fabric of the Hills District to be peppered with many personal questions every time you leave the house, and to be too polite to end a string of small talk such that all you have to offer your conversation partner for the final leg of your hour-long journey is: “I LOVE MY NEW SHOES”.

So with the grand opening today of Sydney Metro’s extension beyond Chatswood to Sydenham, I was curious to know if my “friend” would be journeying with me to Crows Nest and beyond.

Sadly not, the spokesperson said.

“Decals located on the platform barriers across the city section of the network consist of a charcoal strip that meets [Disability Discrimination Act] requirements and is consistent with the overall design of the platform barriers.”

A charcoal strip? Years of friendship, pastoral care, encouragement, reduced to a charcoal strip?

Perhaps the decision says something of the journey from the happy Hills into the mean streets of the CBD. Indeed, what would the gates of a crowded city station even say to its commuters?

“OI, WOULD YOU MOVE IT?!”

“YES, I’D PREFER THE DAY OFF TOO, BUT THINK OF YOUR MORTGAGE”.

“WHAT’S THAT S-MELL?”

Fortunately, it seems my metro friend is safe. While the new stations will be void of its chatty observations and conversations, the decals will remain at stations between Tallawong and Chatswood. “There is no plan to remove these as they form part of the station design,” the spokesperson confirmed.

“MY DAY IS MADE”.

It’s a shame those passengers on the rest of the line will miss out on the fun I’ve had. Some may say the metro monologue is cringe, but I think it is somewhere between silly and nice. What else could be said of prose that includes both an impassioned declaration that the reader is their role model, and a reminder to tap one’s Opal card?

I am just glad my metro friend will still be there, making me smile, chatting with me during my crowded yet lonely commute.

Mary Ward is a reporter at The Sun-Herald.

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