Tweeting daily from Metro’s Rail Operations Center are Alexia Hinton, left, and Lily Allen. Photo: Steve Hymon/Metro.
No one likes giving out bad news about your bus or train ride. And no one at Metro especially loves hearing about a rider’s bad trip or experience on our buses and trains. But Metro’s social media team are often called upon to do both.
In our latest podcast, we discuss what we tell customers, what we sometimes don’t tell riders and why we use certain language and phrases, especially when there are serious incidents. I moderate the discussion which includes Alexia Hinton and Lily Allen — who tweet daily from Metro’s Rail Operations Center — along with Anna Chen from Metro communications and Stephen Tu from rail operations.
Something important to remember: our service alerts and social media efforts continue to evolve. We’re still very much trying to find the best and easiest way to reach riders with the information they most need. So be on the lookout for changes in the weeks and months ahead. And feel free to share your ideas in the comments. Thanks for listening!
Categories: Go Metro, Policy & Funding
This is a nice, timely story, especially considering the fatal Amtrak train derailment that occurred in Philadelphia later that night. Amtrak’s and SEPTA’s Twitter accounts were very busy trying to update followers on the breaking news. [SEPTA operates the Trenton Line on the same tracks where the derailment took place.]
I know some of what he don’t tell the public like how buses are being pulled from regular service in order to provide bus bridges when there is a rail disruption.
I don’t believe that often happens.
Steve Hymon
Editor, The Source
Steve, where do you suppose the buses come from in a timely manner? And with a 10% spare factor many divisions don’t have spare buses to send out especially during rush hour.