Comments on: Metro Service Alerts

By: Steven Vance

Steven Vance — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:52:56 +0000

From a user experience perspective, I would recommend against using in-page windows like the RATP one you show.

Not all visitors are interested in service alerts. And not all visitors are interested in service alerts for routes they won’t be taking. It’s less likely that this technique is accessible to all users. To remove the alert, it takes an extra click and the close button is small. It’s annoying to users when webpages change or when the experience changes.

There are better ways to display service alerts. On the King County site, where it says “Are you ready?,” a large red icon (with an exclamation point) could “hijack” that space and the user could click through to get the service alerts.

Look at Chicago Transit Authority’s website. It lets the user decide for which routes they want alerts.
http://www.transitchicago.com

By: Comment of the Day: The Wife’s Cell Phone - Seattle Transit Blog

Comment of the Day: The Wife’s Cell Phone - Seattle Transit Blog — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:55:09 +0000

[...] been harsh on transit websites recently, but what about Link’s speaker systems? Link’s still working out its [...]

By: Oran Viriyincy

Oran Viriyincy — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:23:12 +0000

And crippled them because of FRA safety regulations.

By: Ben Schiendelman

Ben Schiendelman — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:09:48 +0000

We’re using their trains in the NE corridor. :)

By: Adam B. Parast

Adam B. Parast — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:17:41 +0000

I completely agree but they are in the process of redoing both. They have asked for public input on both.

By: Erik G.

Erik G. — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:12:21 +0000

But, but, but…IT’S FRENCH!!!

And you know we Americans could never learn from them.

By: Joseph Singer

Joseph Singer — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:06:32 +0000

I’m not 100% sold on ST’s forays into the web yet either or at least as it relates to ORCA. The site’s very confusing and if you try to buy product like refill a card with either e-purse or monthly pass it’s a real PITA to enter CC data. Whoever coded the page didn’t know what they were doing.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:18:52 +0000

That is right ST was NOT on holiday. I point this out because the drivers for that route are Metro drivers.

By: Bernie

Bernie — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:59:26 +0000

I didn’t think ST was on a holiday schedule?

By: Adam B. Parast

Adam B. Parast — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:38:02 +0000

Haha. :-)

By: Patrick

Patrick — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:35:50 +0000

Yesterday when I was riding route 522 I heard the dispatcher come on and said that he kept getting calls asking weather they were on holiday schedule and stated that they were not. He said something else about yesterdays schedule but couldn’t understand it. If Metro can’t even get proper information out to there own drivers it is unlikely that they are going to be to successful with the general population.

By: TomK

TomK — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:13:51 +0000

LOL. For a second before I went “below the jump”, I thought the answer to “What’s the matter with King County Metro’s service alerts?” was “Well, it’s now in French, for starters!”

By: Cam

Cam — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:03:44 +0000

I like the popup idea, but it would have to be customized per rider, since there is always service alerts on routes in the system.

By: Adam B. Parast

Adam B. Parast — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:52:40 +0000

Metro just launched a new service that Martin reviewed a few days ago. I’m cautiously optimistic about that. It looks well thought out. The big test will be how well Metro maintains it. On Wednesday I got my first e-mail alert for the Veterans day service reduction. It would be nice if they sent it out a few days before and then maybe the day of too.

By: barman

barman — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:37:15 +0000

Not only that, but RATP will post information in every single station and most bus stops. I was always aware of every service interruption, no matter how severe or temporary, well in advance. You can also set up sms alerts or email alerts.