About This Blog

This blog is about recurrent problems with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority's public transit system. My particular crusade involves flagship line 910 (the "Silver Line") and its persistent, institutional unreliability after 9 PM.


I have been dealing directly and in good faith with Metro for some time now on this issue, but that private dialog has not resulted in any improvement in service. I started this blog in an attempt to provide another more public source of motivation for Metro to address their systemic failures.


Below I have posted my entire email exchange with Metro on this subject, and I will continue to update as the saga continues. The correspondence begins in November of 2011 only because that is when I discovered how to contact customer service. The problems with the silver line (and its transitway predecessors) started well before then. This email chain is unedited, except that I redacted my own name and contact info, and I removed redundant quotes of previous messages. Names and email addresses of Metro personnel have not been removed. I encourage you to contact them with your own thoughts. Also, feel free to leave comments here. I will probably delete anything vacuous or off topic, but if you have other complaints that aren't getting any traction, or if you have any suggestions that might improve service, please let me know.


For new visitors, the best way to read this blog is chronologically from bottom to top. The earliest entry is dated 2011-11-30. Since I can't seem to force all the posts onto one page, you'll have to start by clicking "2011" in the "Blog Archive" just below, or scroll all the way down and click "Older Posts."


Enjoy...

2012-03-13

From: fixmetro
Subject: RE: silver line MIA
Date: March 13, 2012 18:10:28 PDT
To: HorneT@metro.net

The problem here lies solely with metro --- the drivers and their managers --- NOT the patrons.

I already knew that "patrons are supposed to wait on figueroa". That's what I've been doing. The problem is that the drivers don't seem to know that BUSES ARE SUPPOSED TO STOP ON FIGUEROA. The policy is clear to any patron that can read. Please tell the service planning manager to train the drivers on the policy. They must be on figueroa after 10 pm. The transition time has nothing to do with when caltrans decides to put up the detours on any given night. It is 10 pm. Period. Very simple. Please let me know when this training has occurred. Thank you.
Posted by fixmetro No comments:
From: HorneT@metro.net
Subject: RE: silver line MIA
Date: March 13, 2012 15:32:58 PDT
To: fixmetro

Dear Mr. FixMetro
Our Service Planning Manager responds to your question with the following:

Patrons are supposed to wait on Figueroa and 117th St. stop.  This stop is located under the 105 Freeway.  It is a regular stop location for Line 81 as well.

Tom Horne
Manager, Customer Relations
(213) 922-7015

-----Original Message-----
From: Horne, Tom 
Sent: Monday, March 12, 2012 12:44 PM
To: Page, Scott
Subject: FW: silver line MIA

Scott
Where is the bus suppose to stop???

Tom Horne
Manager,Customer Relations
213.922.7015
-----Original Message-----
From: Customer Relations 
Sent: Friday, March 09, 2012 10:27 AM
To: Horne, Tom
Subject: FW: silver line MIA

FYI


Metro Customer Relations
Karen Kern
213-922-2345

[...]
Posted by fixmetro No comments:

2012-03-08

From: fixmetro
Subject: Re: silver line MIA
Date: March 8, 2012 02:08:01 PST
Cc: customerrelations@metro.net, HorneT@metro.net, BoardSecretary@metro.net, borja.leon@lacity.org, SOTOPA@metro.net, ALARCONR@METRO.NET

So in the end it cost me about an hour and a half. That's on top of what is normally over a two hour (one way) commute. 

You might say I'd have been better off just waiting another hour at harbor freeway station for the 11 pm silver line, but as we all know there's no predicting whether that would be on the freeway or on the street. If I guess wrong, I miss the last gold line. 

Out of curiosity, how many metro employees take metro to work? 
Posted by fixmetro No comments:

2012-03-07

From: fixmetro
Subject: Re: silver line MIA
Date: March 7, 2012 23:31:32 PST
To: customerrelations@metro.net
Cc: HorneT@metro.net, BoardSecretary@metro.net, borja.leon@lacity.org, SOTOPA@metro.net, ALARCONR@METRO.NET

I'm just going to keep sending emails. I guess it's therapeutic somehow. 

Just now, march 7, 2012, I waited for a silver line bus scheduled to stop at harbor freeway station at 10:02 pm. Foolishly, I was out on Figueroa (street level), which is where the bus is supposed to be after 10 pm. You can probably guess where this story is heading. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that the bus probably did actually come, but it certainly was not on the street level. I wrote an email complaining about this very thing the very last time I tried to take the 10 o'clock silver line (feb 7). Not that I really thought anything would change, but I guess I held out some faint hope that some sort of management structure might be in place. I won't be so naive in the future. 

It's gotten to the point that I've started to just cut my losses and take the much longer green-blue-red route preemptively, rather than take the 50-50-at-best crap shoot that is the night time silver line. Right now I'm sitting at Washington blue line station because I and the other cattle got kicked off the northbound train we were on and now have to wait another 20 minutes for a train the rest of the way to 7th. I tell you this in case anyone at metro is capable of empathy. 

So anyway, throw me a bone here. Tell me what to do. I'm all ears. Should I wait for the 10 o'clock bus on the freeway level? Is someone there going to actually talk to the silver line drivers and tell them that when the signs say street level after 10 that paying customers might actually be gullible enough to wait on the street level after 10? Should I just drive? Should I start a blog and take every other public opportunity to discourage people with choices from considering metro a viable transportation option? I know a lot of voters. 

Update: I am now on my second blue line train. We are currently stopped at San Pedro station for "10 to 12 minutes." I commend the driver for communicating this, but he then went on to suggest that passengers feel free to get out and smoke a cigarette. Just thought you'd like to know your drivers are suggesting illegal activities. 

Anyway, please ask the night time silver line manager to give me a call (310-XXX-XXXX). We have a lot to discuss. I'll send you all another email when I get home with the final tally of how much time your incompetent silver line driver cost me. I'm sure you can't wait. 
Posted by fixmetro No comments:
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