The Amsterdam Tram network vs Yarra Trams
Been in Amsterdam for the last few days (home of the second largest tram network behind Melbourne) and the experience has definitely made me appreciate Melburnian trams a hell of a lot more!
Amstertrams (as they'll henceforth be known) board from a single door about 3/4 of the way down the tram. They also have a 'conductor' in a customer service booth at this entry, although their role was a little lost on me as they weren't being particularly helpful in any form other than sitting there watching videos on their phone every time I got on.
I think the idea is you board from this one door and filter down the tram to alight from the other doors. However, a lot of the stock appears to be identical models to our D-Class trams, so narrow passageways mean that you can't alight as intended. You have to be quite firm and sometimes physical to get off as no one will move for you, and aforementioned conductor will not tell the driver to hold the tram. I saw several passengers get stuck for multiple stops unable to get off in the crowd crush and got caught out once myself.
There is lots of erratic acceleration and hard braking on the routes, seemingly not for a lot of cause. I'm pretty used to "tram surfing" and worked on ships for a while and I struggled to maintain balance.
The overall standard of cleanliness and rider behaviour is better, but Yarra Trams is far and away a smoother and more comfortable ride. And, as a funny observation, the furious "dingdingdingdingding" of Melbourne's trams in response to hazards isn't replicated here - it's a very polite (and a lot less noticeable) repeat of x2 dings spaced a few seconds apart.