Unsuck DC Metro: Sick of Marketing

@VeggieTart · 675 weeks ago

Maybe it's supposed to represent the L'Enfant Plaza station?

As for the OP, thank you, thank you. I fully agree. It would be nice if Metro listened to is riders--excuse me, "customers".

anon · 675 weeks ago

The day they call us passengers instead of customers, I might begin to take them seriously. The latter means I am a dollar sign to them.

Arnaud · 675 weeks ago

In France, the Train and Metro companies (SNCF and RATP) use the word "user" instead of "customer" so they don't have to follow the laws regulating exchanges between customers and providers... We are actually militating to be considered as customers and not passengers or livestock, so the companies would have obligation towards us...

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RGG · 675 weeks ago

Oddly enough.......Metro used to use the term "passengers" as opposed to "customers" as they do now. Several years ago the terms were changed. I think the "powers that be" decided "passengers" was too cold and insinuated the ridership was just a number on the train/bus.

"Customers" just makes it sound all warm and gushy, doesn't it?

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n2deep · 675 weeks ago

isn't "customer" a retail term? the subway is not a retail business. it should be 'riders" or "users"

sdfsdf · 675 weeks ago

To be fair, my twelve years of exposure to metro employees has led me to believe their previous jobs were in the retail sales field.

Anti-TB Guy · 675 weeks ago

In retail, the motto is "The customer is always right" (although I was once emphatically told by a very inebriated salesman that the motto should be "The customer is *never wrong*..." ;-) In either case, it would be nice if customer appreciation was part of the training philosophy for Metro employees.

Matt G · 675 weeks ago

I'm pretty sure there is no red line because the red line service isn't being changed by the blue/yellow/orange realignments. Green line service is affected vis a vis the yellow extension to Greenbelt.

Anony · 675 weeks ago

Regarding a survey asking for your address, the value in that is WMATA knows the profile of Metrorail riders and could potentially better tailor bus schedules/routes/parking/bikes/etc.

But this is WMATA. They aren't going to do anything good with the data.

1 reply · active 675 weeks ago

Kara · 675 weeks ago

Do the same thing as you do on the web when someplace asks for your address/DOB/whatever that does not need it: lie.

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@savemetro · 675 weeks ago

I just saw this: See a Rush+ logo car? Tweet a pic with #rushplus for a chance to win prizes. Pics including the ceiling & side ads most awesome...

Really? Prizes? Like a trip on Metro without dying or being robbed?

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Vienna Bound · 675 weeks ago

Well stated Ray!

Your slogan should be the Unsuck communities contribution to the advertising campaign. Or, the poster could list all the salaries, seemingly uncessary expedenitures against a backdrop of esclastairs, out of service elevators, eroding platforms, and year-long, unfinished stair projects (Vienna metro). I'll throw in $25 for an Unsuck ad.

4 replies · active 675 weeks ago

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@FixWMATA · 675 weeks ago

Don't forget all the internal theft...

K-anon · 675 weeks ago

Here here Vienna! I'm totally on board with an add that calls out metro execs with inflated salaries that don't contribute to getting "customers" from their origin to their destination with safety and realiability.

Virginia Ron · 675 weeks ago

Speaking of the Vienna stop, did you see the tweet today that said each stair on the as yet unfinished stairway cost over $33,000? I keep wondering why did they make it out of granite which costs way more than reinforced concrete. What a huge waste of money!

Vienna Bound · 675 weeks ago

$33,000 each?! That's just absurd, and it's probably due ot overtime labor charges. I heard once that a parking space was around $25K and that's why we don't have more garages.

I doubt that those stairs will ever be completed and will instead be dedicated as a monument to all Metro 'customers' who've since passed on from over exertion on the esclastairs at Dupont, Rosslyn and other torturous mountains.

fed up · 675 weeks ago

Why even do these surveys? This is a such a waste of money.....

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Arnaud · 675 weeks ago

I was particularly pissed off by the advertising for the Track Maintenance "Spring Break"... Everyday in the newspaper, and all the posters in the station... How much did it cost?
And why the h### are you advertising that! You're just doing your job!
It's like a butcher advertising that for 3 weeks, he will be selling meat without Salmonella and Listeria in it...

And then went back the Track maintenance announcements, with that word... that word upsetting me at any time: EFFORT.
Dear Metro: You're not doing any effort, you're doing YOUR JOB! And you're doing it wrong!
The only one having to make a special effort during your track maintenance is the customer, when we are still charged a regular fare for a worst service!
What Metro is doing is unfair and insulting!

2 replies · active 675 weeks ago

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@Hell_on_wheelz · 675 weeks ago

+1,000,000

Anon · 675 weeks ago

Well said!!!

UnSuck Fan · 675 weeks ago

Quite frankly, I’m more fed up with WMATA and their overall wastefulness as well as their incredible lack of safety. If they would take care of both, they wouldn’t be stuck in this stupid predicament. Of course Hell has yet to freeze over so that’s never going to happen!

As for the “poster combo pack”, I guess they’re trying to make up for those truly pathetically lame candy canes at the totally worthless “escalator party”!

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mthack · 675 weeks ago

Here's a marketing slogan: We suck but you're stuck with us. Now give me mny $182 K, thanks.

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Guest · 675 weeks ago

Well said. Unfortunately they don't really have any incentive to provide an acceptable service when they know most of us have no other choice but to use Metro, no matter how badly it sucks or how much they charge.

On one hand, I appreciated the spring break from track work (although not the marketing campaign - that was dumb). On the other hand, I was thoroughly annoyed that they put so much effort and money into trying to give tourists a great experience while they neglect their regular riders' needs the rest of the year.

1 reply · active 675 weeks ago

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MetroRider · 675 weeks ago

I hear you. As a daily rider, I feel like Metro screws me over the rest of the year so it can look pretty and efficient for the tourists during the Cherry Blossom season.

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hrh king friday 13 · 675 weeks ago

If GSA and Charlie Manson could have a baby it would be WMATA.

Brian · 675 weeks ago

The new Rush Hour thing especially pisses me off. I'm going to be of those inconsequential metro riders who will suffer from less service, while they they keep touting it as an improvement.

1 reply · active 675 weeks ago

Metro Ryder · 675 weeks ago

I am sorry others will get less service, but I'm totally psyched my commute will (hopefully) suck less.

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Stan Dessel · 675 weeks ago

You should be happy we even have a marketing department! You're welcome.

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Trollopian · 675 weeks ago

Marketing slogan? With apologies to Lily Tomlin as Ernestine, "We don't care. We don't have to. We're the phone company."
http://snltranscripts.jt.org/76/76aphonecompany.p...

1 reply · active 675 weeks ago

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Anti-TB Guy · 675 weeks ago

Big, big thanks for the Lily Tomlin / SNL link -- I got a BIG chuckle out of that walk down memory lane!!

And, so apropos for WMATA, too!

pete · 675 weeks ago

surely someone saw this

"Defibrillator failed on Metro due to weak battery" http://wtop.com/?nid=654&sid=2834165

slb · 674 weeks ago

has anyone seen the new ads in the station for metro alerts? They say things like "I postponed my dinner reservation"--basically advertising that Metro is going to screw up and it could mess up your plans.

I don't know if I want to give them props for honesty, or punch someone in the face for spending money on these ads instead of, I don't know, fixing metro so people don't have their plans messed up (because sometimes, you're using metro for more important stuff than a dinner date).

ghldk · 674 weeks ago

So improve yellow and orange but keep red the same and make blue worse? Backwards as it is it actually makes sense for the insanity known as metro