Unsuck DC Metro: Are Metro's eAlerts Useful?

Monday, November 21, 2011

Are Metro's eAlerts Useful?

From anonymous:

So after being stuck between Rosslyn and Foggy Bottom for over 20 minutes, missing my connecting bus, and being late to work AGAIN, I was continuously checking my Blackberry to see an email update to let me know how much longer I'd be stuck, but lo and behold, there were no email updates!

Yet, my email account got spammed overnight by 10 different email updates, reading the same exact thing, about construction on the Blue and Yellow lines.

My question is, Metro, when, if ever, are you going to get your act together? I signed up for these updates so that I can call my office and let them know when I'll be late, but since I almost NEVER get them, I'm always late, and don't call ahead.

Am I the only one that has the problem?

Here's part of Metro's disclaimer about eAlerts:

There are inherent problems associated with providing text messaging information. As such, Metro does not warrant that the service will be uninterrupted or error-free nor does Metro make any warranty regarding the reliability of information on the status of Metro operations and services. The customer who subscribes to Metro's text messaging service agrees that the use is at the customer's sole risk and expense and without any liability on the part of Metro.

Other items:
Metro and union likely to tussle over OT limits (Examiner)

Comments (18)

Logging you in...

Dashboard | Edit profile | Logout

Logged in as

+13 Vote up Vote down

ShartingExcellence · 696 weeks ago

Sigh. Once again, Metro's deeply-ingrained culture of mediocrity makes the jump from, "be careful, sometimes texts don't make it," to, "ah, to heck with it; we're not even going to try," very easy.

This is an organization that gave up a long time ago.

+8 Vote up Vote down

Guest · 696 weeks ago

They're pointless. About the only time I get them is like when the OP states. In the middle of the night when they close down for track work.

And that disclaimer...hahahha. You're right. Not even trying.

+12 Vote up Vote down

Anon · 696 weeks ago

Your poster today hits on a very important point, which hasn't gotten much attention. I watch the alerts carefully, and in recent months (although I haven't made a scientific study) there has been a marked change in them. Increasingly, Metro no longer broadcasts about a delay in progress; instead, it sends messages after events have been "cleared," typically saying something like "residual delays continue." That is, the INITIAL announcement of a problem is that it has been fixed. It seems like Metro thinks that this after-the-fact announcements meets its responsibilities for alerting the public. But the problem is obvious: By not announcing delays as they happen, people can't react or take delays into account, as is true with the poster. Who knows what lurks in the heart of Metro on this, but from the outside, it looks like sloth is winning out over making a good faith effort to inform riders. CONT....

+9 Vote up Vote down

Anon · 696 weeks ago

CONT FROM PREVIOUS.... One big thing I've noticed in particular: Metro will not infrequently announce a "major" delay, and then clear it literally minutes later. Unless Metro has acquired a competence no one suspects, it is plainly waiting until incidents are well along before announcing them, rather than as they happen. Could it be that someone's review or compensation depends on how "quickly" events are cleared?

2 replies · active 696 weeks ago

+7 Vote up Vote down

sizzle · 696 weeks ago

I've definitely noticed a significant lag in "heads up, there's a delay" alerts and a huge increase in the number of random "oh FYI there WAS a delay" alerts that I get from Metro.

Though I never considered your idea that Metro's somehow trying to make themselves look better by only posting about delays after the fact. I just assumed they were continuing to suck at life by not posting the alerts quickly enough.

+1 Vote up Vote down

n2deep · 696 weeks ago

the real issue isn't if there is a delay but the duration of said delay. no one can safely predict how long it will take to move broken trains or repair track side issues. i personally have seen and heard on my radio train delays that should have taken no longer than a few minutes to clear. but somehow some of these have dragged on 30 minutes and longer. some due to undertrained train operators and train supervisors and some to mechanical equipment that does not function properly to allow it to be circumvented. throw in both variables and it becomes a nightmare.

but also i have seen incidents that should have been "major" but were quickly resolved due to either a road mechanic or a competent fast acting train supervisor taking control of the scene and doing what needed to be done without letting central bog things down with redundant requests.

so to ask metro to give you a time frame for delays simply isn't possible.

-5 Vote up Vote down

UnSuck Fan · 696 weeks ago

Well, since Anonymous clearly knows about this blog, clearly he/she know about the "Tweets about Metro" on the left hand side of this blog too. Getting updates from both UnSuck and riders is better than getting little to no updates from WMATA.

Additionally, Anonymous should be more proactive. While it's trivial and it's seems like micromanaging their own commute, he/she should do what he/she can to CYA.

I used to have a boss who was incredibly strict about punctuality. Since I used to run into my fair share of problems with WMATA, I would call her practically every morning when it would seem like we had a problem even if the problem resolved shortly thereafter. (She, too, was subscribed to WMATA alerts so she knew about the delays. Surprisingly, the alerts came more frequently than I'm guessing they do now though I don't know because I unsubscribed from them long ago). Yes, it was tedious, annoying, time-consuming, stupid, etc. ad nauseam, but she soon came to expect my calls and to hear about the delays.

I know there's no way to forgive WMATA for making me late and even though I called my boss almost every morning, she was more understanding.

+2 Vote up Vote down

Kara · 696 weeks ago

A disclaimer about texts not always being instant is one thing, neither is email. Arriving hours late, or even not at all, is a bit outside of what a reasonable person would expect. Especially when it happens all the time.

I unsubscribed from metro alerts because they were less than useless. I never got the information I needed and was constantly having to delete messages about things that did not affect me that was by then old news anyway.

+3 Vote up Vote down

Ntash449 · 696 weeks ago

@ UnSuck Fan - I would consider myself very proactive in making sure that my commute gets me to work on time, and even early. But, since metro constantly has these delays that I can't plan for, because I don't get real time updates, I am constantly late. I don't know about your boss, but my boss has better things to do than to field phone calls from every single employee that is going to be late that morning. She just expects us to be on time.

1 reply · active 694 weeks ago

0 Vote up Vote down

UnSuck Fan · 694 weeks ago

I didn't call her directly. I left her daily voice mails so I wouldn't interrupt her, but keep her abreast of the situation.

+4 Vote up Vote down

Anon · 696 weeks ago

If you're riding Metro as a commuter and need to be on time, the only realistic solution is to pad your schedule by 15-30 minutes a day. Plan to have your coffee or breakfast, pay your bills, or get some exercise when you're early, but at this point, how can you reasonably expect anything better from Metro. And it's not like driving to work is any more reliable/consistent. If a predictable commute is important, there's really only two options: work from home, or live within walking distance.

+3 Vote up Vote down

· 696 weeks ago

Agreed. They seem to be after action items now and as such, ABSOLUTELY WORTHLESS

+4 Vote up Vote down

anon · 696 weeks ago

Metro should rename itself CYA.

1 reply · active 696 weeks ago

+4 Vote up Vote down

IamDCDG 0p · 696 weeks ago

Or WTF

+2 Vote up Vote down

Guest · 696 weeks ago

The alerts aren't very effective. Lately, the only ones I receive are regarding weekend track work closures, and they send wayyyy too many! I'll get totals ranging from 6-8 emails in addition to the signs they post inside the stations. The part that really gripes me is when the train is slow coming from Huntington to Eisenhower...to the point of making me late to work, yet no alert is sent. It seems like alerts are only sent if a delay is 25-30 minutes or longer. If they don't improve, I'll likely unsubscribe.

+2 Vote up Vote down

Frequent red liner · 696 weeks ago

I'm so thankful that my fellow riders tweet about delays as they are happening. I rarely find that any alert from metro is timely or helpful. I have waited for the red line at gallery place for over 10 minutes, watching the platform fill with people transfering enough times to know that the whole wait 10 minutes until announcing a delay is bull. I also don't care for these messages that tell me to expect residual delays due to some malfunction, when they didn't announce the initial delay. Besides, this is metro. I'm ALWAYS expecting some type of delay.

+1 Vote up Vote down

Just Me · 696 weeks ago

My office moved last week and now I don't take Metro, I would rather sit in traffic but thankfully most of my drive is against traffic. Anyway I feel bad for all of you, I rode Metro almost every weekday for 28 years and it has gotten much worse in the last 8 to 10 years. I will all of you the best, I know your pain.

0 Vote up Vote down

former employee · 695 weeks ago

Responding to Examiner: Union will not fight Metro on OT with mgmt. Union is a business, the more members, the more union dues---more elected members, who run as a "team" will have position at the union hall. Most of the elected officers there don't need to be there--- Mr. Jeter, Union President husband, who was "elected"??? 2nd vice president is sitting on his ass in an office doing... what??? More hires, the more union dues.. CORRUPTION=jETERS. Dept. of Labor and the Justice Dept. -- it quakes, it walks, must be?????