Have an opinion about Metro service? Here is a chance to be heard! Photo by Steve Hymon/Metro.
I know that many readers of this blog have strong opinions about Metro and the agency’s transit service and highway programs. That’s great. It’s your taxes and fares that keep Metro rolling.
With that in mind, I wanted to give everybody a heads up that Metro’s Research department is in the midst of creating a group of riders, stakeholders and non-riders who would be willing to take occasional online surveys about specific issues facing the agency (fare changes, route changes, TAP, projects in the works, etc).
If you’re interested, please click here. The survey is also available in Spanish. And, if at any time, you want to leave Metro’s survey panel, simply send an email to research@metro.net with “Remove from Survey Panel” in the email’s subject line.
I think this is a very good opportunity to have your voices heard. Leaving comments here is great, too — and I regularly pass along comments to Metro staff. But the blog comment board is hardly scientific and the new online surveys also hold the promise of being easier to conduct than expensive, time-consuming surveys done over the phone.
Please check it out if you’re interested. As far as I’m concerned, the more public participation the better.
Categories: Feedback, Inside Metro
“collecting names and contact info”
How secure is this in the age that we live in where even the CA DMV is prone to hacking of vital information and credit card data?
As Steve mentioned, this was not a research survey, it was a demographic and email collector, and no one is required to participate. In order to quickly obtain data (and make any objective sense of it) we need to have a pool of riders/non-riders that is representative of Metro users and LA County as a whole. Most large organizations with diverse groups of stakeholders are moving towards online surveying, and keeping this project in-house will drastically decrease the costs of the project.
***Metro R&D would never collect sensitive information for the purposes of any of our surveys or focus groups (ie: credit card info, bank info, social security #, etc.)
Matthew Kridler
Metro Research and Development
All this survey did for me was take personal information without giving me an opportunity to answer or voice an opinion on issues. Bait and switch?
No bait and switch. As the post explained, bold added for emphasis:
This isn’t a survey. They’re trying to create a group of people to take future surveys by collecting names and contact info.
Steve Hymon
Editor, The Source
The e-mail announcement I received stated “The research can be anything from being paid (and fed) to talk about new or existing Metro programs to filling out short surveys”. So in some cases it won’t be simply an online survey.
75th anniversary on May 3rd will include Amtrak’s exhibit train: http://www.amtrak.com/ccurl/69/845/ATK-14-021-Exhibit-Train.pdf
I’d like to see them hose down the Civic Center Station shown in the photo once in a while. It always reeks of urine.
When will the subway stations be open 24/7?
When is wifi coming to metro busses? I know the subway wifi is in the works but is a long way off.
Metro needs an easier trip map app for users. I use a combination of Google Maps (to actually route my trip on a physical map and to show where I am) and NextBus.com (to show when my bus is coming using GPS real time on the next bus itself). Metro’s proprietary app is useless. It’d be nice to have something useful that combines both google maps and nextbus.com features.
These surveys are usually made to skew the vote to a certain direction so as to benefit one way versus another.
Pick one:
1. Choice A
2. Choice B
There’s no “none of the above” or “other: please describe” choice in these survey questions.
I want to get paid for my work giving feedback. How much are you offering?
What’s being planned by Metro for the 75th Birthday of Los Angeles Union Station? Will there be a giant cake shaped like LAUS for everyone? There was one at the 100th Birthday of Grand Central Station NY last year. Will there be a parade of trains? Will there be steam engines? The world wants to know!
Hey Tom,
Things are in the works, and we should be able to let everyone know more as we head in to April. In the meantime, picture a super beefed up National Train Day (booths/tables, model trains, train tours, children’s play place).
Anna Chen
Writer, The Source
As the nerdy demographer who gets to pour through all of this data, I am excited to say we have 650 respondents signed up in less than 24 hours . This is a huge step forward in our ability to collect detailed information on how riders/non-riders feel about proposed changes/improvements to Metro.
This survey panel will allow Metro to serve all of you (transit riders and non-transit riders) in a more efficient, equitable, and objective manner. Over the next six months, we will be sending panel members brief (1-10 minute) surveys on a variety of topics. These surveys can be filled out at your leisure from a home computer, smartphone, or tablet, allowing you to voice your opinion on your schedule, not Metro’s.
For those who have asked, most of the research is not paid, but we will have random drawings for some of the longer surveys. The paid research opportunities involve focus groups, which Metro hosts every so often on a variety of topics. We start by selecting a random sample from the pool of volunteers, and those willing to attend will receive compensation (usually a check is mailed to your home address) and a free catered lunch in exchange for a couple of hours of open conversation on certain topics.
Matthew Kridler
Metro Research and Development