Well I just wanted to see if metroriders.org was still up, and it is, not as popular as it once was but still chugging along. Of course the complaints are still be logged, but I noticed a few things.
1)Even though the board is still alive only a few topics are current, of course the metrobus, metrorail topics. One dude under the metrobus topic wonders what happened to the RTSes. Um should I tell him these things were retired about 10 years ago. Apparently he liked these things. Let's just say for most of us on this board the RTS back then is like the 2100s now. The guy also complains about the "conference" seating on the Orion VIs. Eh be glad dude if you have a one seat ride those seats will have the most space you can have on that bus.
2)Our best friend slvtr or whatever the f*** his name is is still complaining about RIDE ON......or still complaining about the complaint he had back in 2004. His last post was in 2008 his post before that was in...........2006. CTgirl got him on the fact he did that. Oh yea he changed his name also to williambrunner or brenner or bumbleclot, whatever. Hey this guy supposidly lives in Chicago doesn't he.........I repeat
DOESN'T THIS GUY LIVE IN CHICAGO
Doesn't someone else live in Chicago who used to work for RIDE ON, hmmmmmmmm. Not making any suggestions but, and I know there are a whole lot of better things to do in Chicago (BTW walking to your hotel to the nearest mall isn't one of them, f****** Schaumberg), but you know.
Anyway it is interesting that this site is still up and people are still posting on it.
Metroriders (IMHO) is just an example of the many complaints people make about transit agencies every day. If I took the time to do video interviews of passengers that hate the GRTC around here, I'd have enough material to make 30-minute episodes for 2-3 years.
That organization does make me f---en sick. But to their credit, at least them Metroriders don't hijack public policy decisions that hurt transit agencies in the long haul (***COUGH***TRANSIT RIDERS UNION IN CALIFORNIA ***COUGH COUGH****).
I think Metro could help this problem by actually having an effective venue for people to air their complaints instead of a 9-to-5 Monday-thru-Friday phone number and an email address that doesn't get responses. You can see by attending a WMATA public hearing that the public is itching and yearning to talk to someone in control of something because these meetings frequently stray way off topic with people who show up to complain that they have a problem with X-Y-Z, versus our hearings, where people say things like "We'd rather pay more than lose our service" or "Have you considered re-implementing the Day Pass and selling it to tourists at the Visitor's Center to increase revenue?" You know, stuff that is actually helpful.
I don't so much blame them for having issues as much as I blame them for not having an effective way to report those issues.