Comments on: Caught on Camera: Metro Bus Harasses Will Campbell

By: David Pulsipher

David Pulsipher — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 16:26:14 +0000

metro’s customer service report line…. aka.. the black hole is a total sham. on numerous occasions i’ve called and had difficulties reporting problems.

when you ask metro officials about the follow through on these complaints, you get lost in a sea of legalese about union rules and what not. basically, the public will never know anything about their complaints. no follow through, no actions.

it’s a classic good ole boys/girls network system designed to protect their drivers, while simultaneously decreasing transparency from a government agency.

By: Enci

Enci — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 00:53:07 +0000

Also, don’t forget to add it to the new bikex database at http://www.bikexdatabase.com/submit.html and when you email customerservice@metro.net also cc Lynne Goldsmith the Metro bike coordinator at goldsmithl@metro.net and Damien and also us at metro@illuminatela.com. We are actually archiving all the complaints, just in case Metro doesn’t. :-)

Glad to see Will not hurt!

By: bikinginla

bikinginla — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 23:39:22 +0000

Damien, thanks for providing a great resource for the biking community. We’ve grown used to being ignored — it’s nice to have someone who can cut through the red tape and get officials to pay attention.

My experience with bus drivers has been mixed. For each one that passes too close or cuts me off, I’ll encounter another who goes out of his way to drive safely around me. From now on, I’ll make a point of complaining to MTA about the bad ones — but also pass along a compliment for the good ones.

By: Jeffrey W. Baker

Jeffrey W. Baker — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 21:59:41 +0000

Golden Gate Transit did this exact thing to me this morning in San Francisco, without the bus lane. I was traveling NE on Mission St between 4th and 5th in the right hand lane when a GGT bus honked, overtook me in the left lane, then cut directly in front of me to stop in the lane just east of 3rd.

SF Muni bus drivers are educated not to play leapfrog with bicyclists, because it’s obviously dangerous and the bicyclist always wins. Other agencies, especially the more suburban ones like GGT and SamTrans, are not as well trained.

By: Will Campbell

Will Campbell — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 21:41:00 +0000

Thanks for posting this Damien and getting someone at Metro to sit up. To counter Sotero’s assertion that Metro hadn’t received my complaint, I filed it yesterday morning via their “customer comments” online form at mta.net and also sent it to customerservice@metro.net. I guess they don’t check their inbox very often — if at all.

By: Megan

Megan — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 21:40:33 +0000

Damien,

I am trying to contact you regarding permission to use one of your pictures in a poster my company is making. Please contact me to discuss.

Thanks you