Sunday, November 11, 2007

worth repeating by daycode

Nicely put together, "b." All the nattering about
light rail and streetcar and funding and blah blah
blah in the papers.... and nothing about the working
folk who get ripped off by bad machines and a worse
service ethic.

I need to take another look at that pamphlet, "How To
Ride the Bus." Is it all about making things
convenient for TriMet (how to be a good little rider),
or is it also about how to make the best use of the
system?

For instance, how many people are aware that you can
buy passes at the grocery stores? Many times I've told
this to folks who I'd figure would know this, but
don't. Are stores still selling half-price passes
after the 15th of the month?

Transit Tracker has been in place for over a year, and
it's only now showing up in the chat columns of the
paper - like "wow, it really works!" What has TriMet
done to promote this on the local TV news?

Who in Corporate is reaching out to Spanish language
radio and TV stations with helpful information like
this? We could be doing so much more to make this
easier for passengers (and thus for operators), but
all we get are the "sexy" news about accidents and
altercations. (And of course the obligatory
chaining-up scenes every time it snows. [yawn] )

Granted, there will always be those clueless
passengers among us. I had more than my share on the
road today. [sigh] But there are plenty of other
riders who are smart and savvy enough to make use of
information that's *provided* through appropriate
channels.

Not everyone reads pamphlets. Hell, *I* don't read
'em. But I turn on the car radio, and I watch the
stupid local 10 o'clock news for bedtime
entertainment. Let's get this stuff out there where
people are looking and listening!

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