From: MCano@lacbos.org

Subject: FW: metro issue

Date: July 24, 2012 22:16:18 PDT

To: fixmetro

Cc: SNemer@lacbos.org, SCruz@lacbos.org

FixMetro:

We are following up on your issue – FYI.  The next few days will be busy ones with the MTA Board meeting coming up but let’s make sure we get you some answers by the end of next week.

Regards,

Michael

From: Alejandro, Frank [/src/compose.php?send_to=AlejandroF@metro.net]
Sent: Tuesday, July 24, 2012 10:11 PM
To: Cano, Michael
Cc: Soto, Patricia; Corral-Lopez, Diane; Woodson, James; Holland, Robert; Cheung, Conan; Horne, Tom
Subject: Re: metro issue

 Will do.

Sent from my HTC on the Now Network from Sprint!

----- Reply message -----
From: "Cano, Michael" <MCano@lacbos.org>
Date: Tue, Jul 24, 2012 8:15 pm
Subject: metro issue
To: "Alejandro, Frank" <AlejandroF@metro.net>

Frank:

When you have a moment could you please have staff contact Mr. FixMetro directly and please provide a good solution for what is going on?  Let's talk if there is more to discuss.

Thanks,
Michael

[...]

From: fixmetro

Subject: RE: metro issue

Date: July 17, 2012 20:06:06 PDT

To: MCano@lacbos.org

Cc: snemer@lacbos.org, kbarger@lacbos.org

Hi Michael (and Sussy). Thanks for getting back to me so quickly. I appreciate your conscientious offer to keep me anonymous, but that will not be necessary when dealing directly with metro. They all know my name already, and I said in my last message to them that I was going to contact my supervisor's office (incidentally, I also mentioned resorting to the internet and driving my single-occupant vehicle to work, both of which I have also followed through on). Anyway, Mr. Alejandro was already copied on most of those emails on the blog, and he appears in the email chain dated 2012-07-02, ordering James Woodson and Robert Holland to get back to me. So feel free to forward all of this to anyone at metro.

Although I am generally a very private person, the blog is deliberately very public. I removed my name and personal email address because my identity is irrelevant. That said, since you are a public person, I hope you won't mind if I end up posting our correspondence as well...

From: MCano@lacbos.org

Subject: RE: metro issue

Date: July 17, 2012 19:11:57 PDT

To: SNemer@lacbos.org, fixmetro

Cc: KBarger@lacbos.org

Mr. FixMetro:

I will let Mr. Alejandro, with whom we have a good working relationship, know that this is an item we would like addressed with specifics on fixing the problem.

Usually I would forward information to him about you and your request, but I noted that your blog posting was anonymous.  Do you want us to protect your anonymity?

Please advise and I will take the next step with Mr. Alejandro.  

Thank you,

Michael Cano

Transportation Deputy to Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich

From: SNemer@lacbos.org

Subject: RE: metro issue

Date: July 17, 2012 11:03:46 PDT

To: fixmetro

Cc: KBarger@lacbos.org, MCano@lacbos.org

FixMetro-

Thank you for your email regarding Metro.

By copy of this email, I am asking Michael Cano, the Supervisor's transportation deputy, to look into this for you.

Regards,

Sussy 

Sussy Nemer, Senior Deputy 

Office of Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich

215 North Marengo Avenue, Suite 120

Pasadena, CA 91101

(626) 356-5407

(626) 568-0159 FAX

snemer@lacbos.org

From: fixmetro

Subject: metro issue

Date: July 16, 2012 16:47:17 PDT

To: snemer@bos.co.la.ca.us

Hello Ms. Nemer. I am a constituent from ******. I am writing about a protracted problem I (and others) have been having with Metro, and I am hoping the supervisor's office can help get things moving in the right direction.

The problem involves chronic unreliability on the silver line (bus line 910) after 9 PM. This is not about on-time performance; this is about scheduled buses not showing up at all about 50% of the time (by my recent sampling) at harbor freeway station, where the silver line connects to the green line. I have had a long dialog about this with metro customer service and senior management. They have apparently attempted to address the problem, but their efforts have been halfhearted and unsuccessful, despite this issue apparently having the attention of "the 25th floor." Since nighttime riders tend to be more disenfranchised, I suspect that many stranded patrons are not contacting customer service as I have, and that metro is disinclined to take the problem seriously enough to fix it.

In addition to customer service, I have corresponded directly with Bob Holland (Service Operations Superintendent) and I know Frank Alejandro (Chief Operations Officer) is aware of the problem. And yet it persists. I am sure that involvement of Mr. Antonovich would go a long way towards achieving some final, constructive resolution.

If you would like more details, I just posted my entire email chain with metro on a blog:

fixmetro.blogspot.com

If you have a few minutes, please check it out. I promise, it's an entertaining read.

Thank you for your help.

-FixMetro

Subject: FW: silver line MIA

From: HorneT@metro.net

Date: July 16, 2012 15:47:21 PDT

To: fixmetro

Dear Mr. FixMetro

This is a follow-up to my previous reply and designed to keep you abreast of our efforts to make this service responsive to your needs.  I am cautiously optimistic that our most recent efforts will have a very positive impact of service delivery.  Firstly, there has been some confusion by operators as to where the detours apply; one operator was thoroughly confused due to two different detours on the line; he has been instructed.  The other operator was off FRI/SAT and will be interviewed later by the Asst Manager.

We have taken additional steps to prevent future incidents by having an Asst Manager research the operator(s) assigned on a DAILY basis and place a personal note on their check-in message and on the paddle board (this is the listing of stops and special instructions as needed).

Please keep me posted in terms of on-time performance.  Again, my apology for the hardship you have experienced.

Tom Horne

Manage, Customer Relations

Subject: RE: silver line MIA

From: HorneT@metro.net

Date: July 13, 2012 15:42:48 PDT

To: fixmetro

Cc: Hollandr@metro.net, WoodsonJ@metro.net

Dear Mr. FixMetro

Words fail to express how deeply I regret that the Silver Line service has again failed to perform as expected.  You have probably already received an email from Bob Holland as he begins his investigation as to why operators are failing to make this stop.  He will no doubt have specific information as to the cause for your report below.  Please don’t lose faith in the system we do indeed value your patronage.  In closing on behalf of Metro we extend our apology for any hardship experienced.     

Tom Horne

Manager,Customer Relations

213.922.7015

Subject: RE: silver line MIA

From: Hollandr@metro.net

Date: July 13, 2012 09:31:56 PDT

To: fixmetro, HorneT@metro.net, GALVANJ@metro.net

Cc: AlejandroF@metro.net, borja.leon@lacity.org, GreenwoodM@metro.net, CustomerRelations@metro.net, BoardSecretary@metro.net, SOTOPA@metro.net, WoodsonJ@metro.net

Mr. FixMetro-  I want to apologize for any inconvenience you experienced last night.  We value our customers needs and will investigate the circumstances that occurred.  If you would like to discuss further, please call me at 213-922-4437. I will provide a follow-up e-mail of our findings.  Again our apologies.  

Thank you.

Bob Holland

Service Operations Superintendent

From: fixmetro

Subject: Re: silver line MIA

Date: July 13, 2012 01:30:30 PDT

To: HorneT@metro.net

Cc: AlejandroF@metro.net, borja.leon@lacity.org, GreenwoodM@metro.net, CustomerRelations@metro.net, BoardSecretary@metro.net, SOTOPA@metro.net, ALARCONR@METRO.NET, Hollandr@metro.net

Since you implemented your "fix" I have only attempted to take the nighttime silver line a few times. This is partly due to vacation and travel, and partly due to obvious trust issues. I think I successfully caught it twice at harbor freeway station after 9 pm in the last couple of weeks. 

Tonight, July 12, the 9:03 bus did not arrive at harbor freeway station. Since my green line train was plenty early, I actually went down to the freeway level first, just to verify that the temporary signs were still up indicating that buses after nine come on the street level (they were). I was on Figueroa at about 8:50 at which time nextbus said the nine o'clock was 17 minutes out. It never came and eventually disappeared from nextbus. 

So I hung around for the 9:33. That never came either. That, too, was on nextbus, but never arrived on the street level. 

Purely out of indignant curiosity, I continued to wait for the 10:02 bus. It arrived at 10:20. I think at that point I was actually hoping it wouldn't show up. At least I was able to write most of this email during my hour and a half wait. I hope you will also be hearing from the poor SOB who could not get his bike on the rack and had to wait ANOTHER hour (you know... assuming the 11 o'clock actually showed up). 

I trust metro is not happy with ~50% reliability, but clearly you're not THAT bothered by it. If I did my job that poorly, it would cost billions of dollars, and possibly human lives. Actually, I'd certainly be fired for incompetence long before it ever went that far. I'm having a lot of trouble wrapping my head around how difficult it could possibly be to keep a bus line running. I'm not even talking about on time. I mean how hard is it just to get buses to show up AT ALL? This ain't rocket science. 

No doubt the drivers are unionized and require 300 completely missed shifts before you can fire them. But what level of dereliction is required to fire a manager? Something drastic needs to happen. 

I must admit you did raise my hopes there for a little while, but I am back to writing just for catharsis. Please do keep me in the loop as to what further half-assed measures you plan to try in hopes of herding your silver line cats. In the meantime, I'll be resorting to the internet and my county supervisor for satisfaction. And I'll probably go back to driving my single-occupant vehicle... not all the time, but a lot more often than I do currently. 

From: Hollandr@metro.net

Subject: FW: silver line MIA

Date: July 2, 2012 10:37:41 PDT

To: fixmetro

Here are the results of our investigation.   Please call me if you have any questions.  Thanks

Bob Holland

213-922-4437

From: Harris, Barbara 

Sent: Friday, June 29, 2012 6:18 AM

To: Horne, Tom

Cc: Harris, Barbara; Greenwood, Michael

Subject: FW: silver line MIA

I hope this will help some of the issues with no shows on the Silver line.

Barbara Harris

Assistant Transportation

Operations Manager

626 454-3003 office

From: Galvan, Jorge A
Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2012 7:42 PM
To: Harris, Barbara
Cc: Greenwood, Michael; Walker, Trynett; Edgley, Rodney; Walter, Scott; Rank, Stephen; Triche-Williams, Nadine; Baumgartner, Donald; Trudeau, George; Karpman, Cynthia
Subject: RE: silver line MIA

Hi Barbara,

I spoke with TOS Walker and she informed me that last night’s check revealed that Cal Trans is closing the Harbor Transit way at app. 9:20pm, instead of at 10pm as agreed and as noted in detour notice number 11-0082 (6^th Revision). Consequently, the buses are detouring early via Figueroa and leaving people waiting upstairs on the transit way. Ms. Walker was there last night to make one of the buses get on the transit way at the Green line station, where the operator was able to pick-up the patrons at the Harbor Station. She is posting the revised notices as we speak, informing patrons to begin waiting for buses down on Figueroa beginning at 9pm, instead of 10pm. She will be there tonight to monitor the situation as well.

I have contacted BOC Controller # 12 and she is revising the detour start-time in ATMS to 9pm. She will also have a Controller put out a verbal code-1 message reminding operators to use the detour route beginning at 9pm.

Don, Can you please revise the detour on Friday morning to reflect a new start time of 9pm.

Thank you,

Jorge

From: Harris, Barbara
Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2012 2:50 PM
To: Galvan, Jorge A
Cc: Greenwood, Michael; Harris, Barbara
Subject: RE: silver line MIA

Good Afternoon Jorge,

I left a voice mail, just would like to do know the findings of your team regarding the 910 line.

Barbara Harris

Assistant Transportation

Operations Manager

626 454-3003 office

From: Harris, Barbara
Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2012 9:12 AM
To: Galvan, Jorge A
Cc: Harris, Barbara; Greenwood, Michael
Subject: RE: silver line MIA
Importance: High

Jorge,

It appears this matter is getting worst and its imperative that I get some support as soon as possible with the 910 line in the evenings, please review the email below.  The emails have the ears of the 25^th floor and it needs to be addressed right away please call or email Mr. Greenwood and me today to advise how we can tackle this problem together.

Thank you

Barbara Harris

Assistant Transportation

Operations Manager

626 454-3003 office

From: Greenwood, Michael
Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2012 8:43 AM
To: Harris, Barbara
Subject: Fwd: silver line MIA

This is getting ugly. What have you got on this?

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Holland, Robert" <Hollandr@metro.net>
Date: June 27, 2012 8:21:40 AM PDT
To: "Little, Curley" <LittleC@metro.net>, "Greenwood, Michael" <GreenwoodM@metro.net>
Cc: "Horne, Tom" <HorneT@metro.net>
Subject: FW: silver line MIA

Did either one of you get this?  I am getting contact info from Tom.  Please investigate what Division is the 9:33p bus. Thanks

From: Alejandro, Frank
Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2012 7:34 AM
To: Woodson, James; Holland, Robert
Subject: Fwd: silver line MIA

Get back to this customer ASAP.

Frank Alejandro

Begin forwarded message:

From: FixMetro
Date: June 27, 2012 1:44:49 AM PDT
To: "Horne, Tom" <HorneT@metro.net>
Cc: Customer Relations <CustomerRelations@metro.net>, BoardSecretary <BoardSecretary@metro.net>, "borja.leon@lacity.org" <borja.leon@lacity.org>, "Soto, Patricia" <SOTOPA@metro.net>, "Alarcon, Roman" <ALARCONR@METRO.NET>, "Alejandro, Frank" <AlejandroF@metro.net>
Subject: Re: silver line MIA

Tom. Please don't read this email now. For full effect, please stay up
until 1 am and read it then.

[...]

From: HorneT@metro.net

Subject: RE: silver line MIA

Date: July 2, 2012 10:10:46 PDT

To: fixmetro

Cc: AlejandroF@metro.net, borja.leon@lacity.org, GreenwoodM@metro.net

Dear Mr. FixMetro

This follow-up information I just received this morning.

Division staff has interviewed each Silver Line operator and also sending electron messages.  Rest assured we will get these on-time performance problems fixed.  

Tom Horne

Manager,Customer Relations

213.922.7015