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A Complaint That Didn't Go Unheard
Friday, February 02, 2007 5:45 PM

Don't say METRO doesn't listen. It did two weeks ago when a community group complained about a route change that it said would create hardships.

On Jan. 21, METRO implemented service changes - something it does up to four times a year. This is when routes are added or unproductive ones removed; when school trips are eliminated during the summer; and when drivers choose the routes they want to drive (based on seniority).  

In January, METRO started an initiative to redesign the existing fixed-route system from the ground up into grid-like patterns to become more efficient and better integrate bus and rail.

Karen MarshallMETRO adjusted Route 68 - and the residents of Cuney Homes, a public housing project, protested. At a community meeting on Jan. 24 where about 50 people attended, Karen Marshall, director of Community Outreach, listened to their concerns.

"We heard loud and clear, particularly from some of the senior residents about the difficulty this imposed," said Marshall. "There were lifetime riders. Their entire lives they have used METRO public transit. They have to work, they don't have cars. And they really rely on this service.

"Consider the case of 81-year-old Mary Thomas. Still in good health, she takes the bus daily for her job as a housekeeper in Brays Bayou.

"She's been doing this all her life working for this same family. She was upset because she would have had to walk or transfer on the 29," said Marshall.

The newly adjusted Route 68 involved transferring or walking a block -but that block meant walking past Texas Southern University campus.

In addition to the elderly, elementary school children were also affected by this route change. Marshall said hearing about the kids' plight particularly moved her. "I heard that because the parents didn't know about this change that there were some kids who were left stranded. They were crying when the bus dropped them off, and the driver said, 'This is your stop."

Marshall - along with METRO spokeswoman Raequel Roberts - went back to METRO, reporting Cuney Homes' concerns to the service operations people.

A week later on Jan. 31, Marshall had good news for the 40 or so Cuney Homes residents who attended the meeting. Route 68 had been tweaked to accommodate their concerns - and would now pick passengers up directly in front of Cuney Homes on Cleburne and Tierwester streets instead of Blodgett Street which had been the plan for the new 68.

Tweaking a route after it's been changed is highly unusual for METRO, said Marshall.  Route 68 Brays Bayou

"They were happy, very grateful. They were saying, 'Thank you,' she said, adding that residents applauded when she slipped out of the meeting early.

Posted by Mary Sit
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    • Comments

    Royko said:

    For these poor, minority, elderly, and handicapped bus transit dependent citizens getting back the little critical service METRO generously seems to have bestowed is a far cry from the 50% increase METRO promised in 2003 so as, many believe, to trick the voters into approving the original "Solutions" scheme.  Now, we all continue to suffer, throughout the service area at the hands of pro-urban rail bureaucrats, with an unelected and unaccountable Board, with a focus of ramming through the Orwellian "New" Solutions Phase II, squandering more than less on wasteful urban rail, sooner than later!
    # February 4, 2007 1:09 PM

    Henry Ramsey said:

    Well, this has GOT to be a first in the History of METRO!  METRO listened! Wow!  How many people complained?  And you actually did something fast?  WOW!  The people riding the 53(now 82)West Oaks route have complained about there not being enough service and extreme overcrowding,but it's gone on totally deaf ears(still!). There was a petition that had 300 signatures sent to the board in August last year and it went on deaf ears, but only 50 people complained and you finally got it right?  WOW!  I'm happy they didn't have to wait years like other rider usually have to.

    METRO has a nasty,NASTY habit of making changes to it's routes and not giving a *** about who they are affecting in the process.  METRO know who rides the busses, where they get on, and where they get off, or they should with the way they track boardings by computers on the busses.  Why wasn't there a more comprehensive study made by METRO to check whether the change of the route will affect people who really need the bus service and how much?  If METRO did it's homework before making major service changes then things like what happened to the people riding the 68 wouldn't have happened.  

    # February 4, 2007 10:59 PM

    Laurence Simon said:

    Question: When the system changes were announced, how many complaints did you get from the people along the route?

    Perhaps this is a demonstration of METRO's failure to communicate service changes clearly and effectively to the segment of the public that depends on METRO?

    I don't think adding a blog or e-mail lists to the PR arsenal isn't the best way to get the word out to the elderly and poor. Nor is putting up flimsy plastic signs on stops.

    What do other transit agencies across the country or the world to do announce service changes? How effective are they in getting the word out? Which has the least amount of complains and reversals of changes?

    If you're going to claim to be world class, it's important to see what the rest of the world is doing.

    # February 5, 2007 9:31 AM

    Matt Bramanti said:

    Hey Mary, I've got a question regarding something I've noticed on every post and Metro document:

    Why is Metro always written in all caps?

    It's short for Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, isn't it? Is it just a matter of self-aggrandizement or is it an actual acronym?

    # February 5, 2007 12:04 PM

    J. Liggins said:

    Matt, it's probably the use of the logo. Notice that Metro is in all caps on all buses, bus stops, and support vehicles as well. Anywhoodles, I'm glad the 68 is back on Cleburne (great listenining Metro) as it is MUCH easier to get to my school (TSU) this way and the schedule needed tweaking when it would run Blodgett because alost all WestBound buses would be at least 4 minutes early (well, many of them still are). Now, iif you could only take it back to Cullen so I could get to my girlfriend's dorm that much easier. :-) Oh, and speaking of which, there is a "renegade" 68, which for at least three days has been going down Cullen following the pre 1.21.07 route. I guess the driver thought that the whole route was restored instead of just the Cleburne/Tierwester portion. Fight the power I say!
    # February 7, 2007 9:42 AM

    Mary Sit said:

    Here are some answers from Karen Marshall, director of Community Outreach:

    "Advanced notices were placed on all the stops along the corridor - that is one way to communicate to transit patrons. There were also notices placed on all the buses several weeks prior to the change.

    "And yes, we do use forms of electronic communication, but we understand that is not the most effective means of communication for everybody, and even with all our efforts, some stakeholders are missed. In this particular instance, we were in communication with the University of Houston. We put the notices in the campus newspaper.

    "We make every effort to notify the community via newspaper, via e-mail, via "Take Notes" which are the pieces of collateral placed on every bus which announces every schedule change. And again, we put it on every bus stop pole.

    "The other piece that we try to do is to go to specific neighborhoods and visit that particular community in advance of proposed changes. Based on resources and timing, we got around to as many as we could, but there's always room to do better and improve. We missed reaching the Cuney Homes residents face to face.

    "To answer your other question, we did hear from several people, not a huge number. But it significantly impacted critical stakeholders who have a high concentration of transit-dependent users.

    "As we strive to improve service and reliability, it will require some changes in travel patterns, and most people don't like change. When we are most effective, we engage the community early and often and provide valuable feedback to the Authority to make a better system for everybody!"

    # February 7, 2007 11:32 AM

    Mary Sit said:

    METRO is in all caps because that is the style of the logo.

    # February 7, 2007 11:40 AM

    Mary Sit said:

    In response to a question about METRO doing its homework before making service changes, Katrina Miesch, director of operations planning, said:

    “METRO understands that many customers do not have alternative means of getting from where they are to where they want to go, and we take this responsibility seriously.  We also take our responsibility to provide a transit system that is useful to current customers and potential and future customers seriously.  The bus route changes in this neighborhood were made to provide more direct route alignments  offering better on time performance for existing customers, and providing an opportunity for additional potential and future customers.

    "METRO examined the ridership by bus stop in connection with all bus routes in the area.  The realignments still provided every customer bus service within ¼ mile of their existing bus stops.  (METRO, as do most transit agencies nationwide, uses ¼ mile as a standard distance which a customer could walk to get to a bus stop).

    "The realignment of Route 68 Brays Bayou resulted in some customers needing to use alternate bus routes and transfer to their final destinations.  It became evident upon further discussion with the community, that the ¼ mile distance and the transfer necessity was indeed an impediment to many within the community.  In response to the community discussions, on Sunday February 4th, METRO returned the section of Route 68 to serve the Cuney Homes residents.”  

    # February 7, 2007 2:33 PM

    Rorschach said:

    So in other words, you didn't ask anyone that would be affected prior to pulling the trigger on the changes, and then you were caught flat footed when the outrage hit. You could have saved yourself quite a bit of grief and bad publicity had you bothered to ask the ridership beforehand.

    # February 8, 2007 4:25 PM

    Henry Ramsey said:

    My previous point of the message that was appearently not posted was that if you'd done better research with the community then the problems that Cuney Homes had would NOT have happened.  Since this is a press release club and NOT a blog I will not be posting here again!

    # February 8, 2007 5:51 PM

    Mary Sit said:

    Henry, I'm not sure why your previous message you're referring to was not posted. I have not unpublished or deleted any of your comments. Did you see your first comment under this post?

    # February 8, 2007 6:13 PM

    Henry Ramsey said:

    [quote]So in other words, you didn't ask anyone that would be affected prior to pulling the trigger on the changes, and then you were caught flat footed when the outrage hit. You could have saved yourself quite a bit of grief and bad publicity had you bothered to ask the ridership beforehand.[quote] I couldn't've said it better! Bravo Rorschach! Mary I did post the message here but it didn't show up. Since I'd made some pretty strong comments I guessed you deleted it.  If you didn't then what happened?
    # February 9, 2007 10:29 PM

    Mary Sit said:

    Henry, I'm not sure what happened. I can ask our Webmaster to research this on Monday, but in the meantime, if you wouldn't mind, could you rewrite it? Sorry....somehow maybe it got lost in cyberspace the way e-mail sometimes does? I know one day last week, we had problems receiving comments/e-mail because of some configuration problem.

    # February 10, 2007 1:51 AM

    Poetic_Justice said:

    I find it a bit funny how bloggers seem to have their own cliques.  For instance, Rorschach seems to follow Bramanti from blog to blog ever since the Lone Star Times, but one hardly ever appears on a post without the other... why is that?  Perhaps Bramanti needs his moral support so that he can feel appreciated. Question: Rorschach are you trying to be an advocate for the people or are you just trying to flame a post as most of your comments seem to be directed not at Metro, but rather at Mary who is merely creating a bridge between Metro and the blogger community.  Are you actually representing Cuney homes?  Let me ask you this, which bus route do you currently or have you recently been riding on?  Have you even rode Metro at all... The Metro blog community is a very small representation of the overall number of actual riders in the Greater Houston area.  This is a representation to those who have access to the forum.  You have to remember that most of the people who ride Metro probably do not even have access to computers or the Internet.  I would much rather have someone from the community that the article is about stating their concerns from a Public Library computer than have to listen to someone who has no ties to the community or anything else that has to do with Metro typing out his "concerns" from the sanctity of his home PC.
    # February 10, 2007 2:21 AM

    Rorschach said:

    I would classify Matt as a friend, we do tend to run in similar circles, mainly because we share similar political and intellectual interests. At one time I even was a contributor to Lone Star Times. But I did not send Matt here nor did he send me here. We came here on our own volition for similar reasons. We do share the political position that METRO as a political subdivision is fundamentally flawed and is in violation of the spirit, if not the letter, of the constitution. METRO has taxation and condemnation powers but is not answerable to the voters. That is the very definition of "taxation without representation" to which our founding fathers fought a revolution to eliminate. And in the few instances it has submitted to the voters binding referendums, it has violated the language of those referendums. I cannot not ride METRO as I have stated several times in the past, there simply is no workable service between where I live and where I work. My wife however does. I DO however pay the taxes and that gives me the right to complain. Your assertion that you would rather read comments from someone in that community is irrelevant. YOU do not get to decide who may speak. NEITHER does Ms. Sit as we have had to constantly remind her. That in of itself is rather humorous since she used to work for the print media and they tend to be very sensitive to first amendment issues. As to my ties to the community, I happen to be Precinct chair for my precinct. I am therefore an elected official UNLIKE you or Ms. Sit.
    # February 11, 2007 9:22 PM
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