|
|
| Re: WMATA Board Approves Fare Hike (536562) | |||
 |
|||
| Home > SubChat | |||
|
[ Read Responses | Post a New Response | Return to the Index ] |
|
||
|
Re: WMATA Board Approves Fare Hike |
|
|
Posted by WMATAGMOAGH on Wed Dec 19 12:44:34 2007, in response to Re: WMATA Board Approves Fare Hike, posted by Mirai Zikasu on Wed Dec 19 12:09:25 2007. It happened in the last two months of his tenure. It was either his project or that of someone under him. News articles that I have read including that of the Washington Post, the Christian Science Monitor, and Metro's own site cited the Metro spokeswoman, a few consultants, and "Metro officials." If it wasn't White, it was at least one of the people under him. If it was neither White nor someone under him, then a little help rather than a snide "do your homework" would be appreciated when I have not offered you the same rudeness.No it didn't. It happened under Dan Tangherlini's interim management. I'm no fan of the new chimes either, I think it was silly and a waste of time to change them with a big media spectacle, but it is over, people still ignore the chimes, and nothing changed. Try out for the next contest in a few years if you want to change things. For the record, it was car 5080 on October 7th. The message was as follows. "Step back...so customers may exit. When boarding move to the center of the car." I found a press release that I had missed before mentioning this variation, and so, you're probably be right. For the most part, it just surprised me as I heard it after this year's October LunchTalk when someone else passed on a complaint about the new recordings. This other recording was slightly more curt and done in a softer tone though it seemed almost choppy as if some words had been cut out and the remainder spliced back together. It was a bit of a big deal at that moment to me as it seemed as if it was a late acknowledgment of discontent for the new recordings and an attempt to backtrack on the verbosity and forceful tone that came with the recordings' new authoritative, bossy quality sought in the voice contest. As I didn't know that Metro did test recordings and then revised them, I suppose that makes what I heard nothing more than an unchanged test. Anyway, I talk about it as I hate the new voice recordings. If there is any little issue that I take up with Metro, it is that. I understand that it is unlikely that the old, pleasant recordings will be resurrected, but change is slow, and as evident by the LunchTalk chat back in October, Metro still acknowledges discontent for the new recordings from people other than me. So there's an ever so small hope that they might change it back. You definately got the pilot for the new recordings. I do think you put too much faith in these online chats though. They are a stunt done to satisfy some whiny commuters who want accountability from Metro management. I read through those and see a bunch of canned responses to a variety of issues. Is it really worth Catoe's time to do this? I don't want it both ways. I'd rather either see the majority on the PIMS or hear the majority over the loudspeaker, not everything on both or nothing on neither. Redundant, verbose information on both is excessive and annoying. Service advisories and elevator outages seem to show well on the PIMS, and most people probably don't pay attention to the "see it, say it" campaigns or whatever is being muttered about in Spanish over the loudspeakers regardless of their audibility, anyway. If usage of the loudspeakers isn't eliminated, at least reduce the frequency so that Mister and Miss Chatty Cathy Public Service Announcement doesn't go shooting their mouths off every five minutes with the same repeated public service announcements. I don't think the announcements are redundant or verbose. Also, considering the average wait for a train off hours is 6-8 minutes in most stations, it means that you are likely to hear an announcement of some sort while waiting. No problem with that in my opinion. Most people actually WANT these types of announcement due to the large number of tourists who use the system because they are believed to discourage people from eating or standing on the left side of the escalators. Also, no, I wouldn't be complaining if they cut the public service announcements and reduced service advisories to one medium or the other. I check WMATA.com for service advisories anymore so I know beforehand what I'm getting into when I head off to the Metro. I also remember very well what the Metro was like before the PIMS system. I don't remember the announcements, but I remember waiting for a train, not knowing what would show up or when it would come. Without the PIMS system, though, at least the PA systems were the only thing used for announcements. I say lose the verbose, droning PSAs for people to "see it, say it" and Metro's "Please excuse our failure to provide you decent service, and we thank you for putting up with riding the Metrorail system." (Sarcasm) You may check wmata.com every time you ride, but many others don't. Also, it takes me 20 minutes to get from home to my station. What happens if something happens in those 20 minutes? How am I to find out about it? Also, when there was an ongoing delay when I left home, it was frequently cleared by the time I reached the station. Those announcements are essential to providing good customer service, and your proposals to limit it to a PIMS display is simply not practical. That would be because they did it wrong, and their fine first step was off a cliff. Rather than clean the lights of the existing station or replace old bulbs with new fluorescents, they ripped out the installations under the mezzanine and installed the bug zappers instead. The lighting in that station is now unequal, unpleasant, and downright jarring to the point where even Catoe himself agreed that it was bad to use those lights. (His response is to the third question from the bottom.) To me, as long as one is sure to open his eyes, there is no Metro station that too dark. If Metro MUST increase the lighting though, they have to do it properly, gradually, and with regard to station aesthetics, not by installing a bunch of bug zapper spotlights directly over people's heads. Most people agreed it wasn't an even treatment throughout the station, but how are they to determine what works and doesn't work if they don't at least try something new? They have been trying to clean light fixtures and replace bulbs for years with limited improvements, so you can't blame them for trying something new. Some stations are better than others, including Farragut North and at least until its lighting type was changed, Glenmont, while others, such as Foggy Bottom and Friendship Heights, are much worse. I've had my coffee already, thank you. And thank you for the correction in regards to White's efforts to increase Metro's funding. I was wrong about him as I forgot about the Metro Matters program. So, then, White made efforts to lobby for improved Metro's funding back in 2004. Okay. Still, the system rotted under his leadership with excessive usage of quick fixes. I never said anything about Tangherlini as it seems there was push to get dedicated funding during his tenure. As for Catoe, what has he done besides say "Cut costs and service; raise fares" is nothing. No lobbying, no "Please contact your representative to support us," just "Cut costs and service; raise fares." The system will one day be expanded further, but when? The last I checked, the Tysons Corner expansion was still amusing the NIMBY tunnel people and getting caught up in how to fully fund the project. As for service changes, eight car trains are great if one can ride at rush hour. However, when Metro balances it out by forcing more people in the off hours to cram into four car trains, that's bad. Given the problem that people who couldn't fit onto one train would have to wait up to another fifteen minutes, that really bad. So bad, that I would say it negates the extra capacity at rush hour due to the difference in frequency. A public transportation system can't run with all focus on rush hour alone. Things have happened exactly as White predicted depending upon what stance you take. Catoe needs additional cash to run things now, and thus the fare hike. He doesn't have time to wait for appropriations from Congress, it is too late for that now. Let's be realistic about what is happening. Tysons construction is to begin in this quarter, though it will probably happen early next year at this rate. Running 8 car trains off hours is a waste of resources, but running 4 car trains off hours during the winter has been done historically, and probably is still practical on some weekends. With the amount of trackwork they do on weekends now, 6 car trains may be needed due to the increased headways, and WMATA should consider doing some more detailed ridership data collection to determine what is most practical under normal weekend conditions sans trackwork. |
|
(There are no responses to this message.)
|
|