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I just submitted this letter to Chris Zimmerman. I imagine while this is a first shot in the battle, many more arrows will be released in the next week between David's RAC meeting, the online chat, and other opportunities to inquire and protest.

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Dear Mr. Zimmerman,

I am a Contributing Blogger at GreaterGreaterWashington and an Arlington resident. I chose to live in the County for the sense of community and the convenience inherent in a locality that has spent decades on the forefront of civic planning. What makes this planning process so great here is that politicians, staff, and community members come together to jointly discuss and direct for the future.

Today, however, I'm writing you in your capacity, largely, as a WMATA Board Member, and less as one of my Supervisors.

Several years ago WMATA initiated a venture with NextBus to provide real-time arrival information to bus riders, something most helpful given the severe inability of WMATA buses to run on schedule, especially (and ironically, given the dearth of traffic) on weekends. Though there were some flukes in the NextBus system and public links to the service were taken down, I and many others have been using it for some time.

And it worked like a charm.

Sure, there were times where it would mistakenly omit a bus that was coming (I assume the GPS transponder on the bus was malfunctioning), but the information was largely accurate enough, and it totally changed how I travelled. I went from using the bus once or twice a month to using it several times a week. Most of my usage is in off-peak times where my boarding merely helps pay for significantly subsidized rides. Before NextBus, I just couldn't rely on the schedule to not have to stand in the freezing cold for 45 minutes. With NextBus, I could walk outside two minutes before it arrived, and catch the bus virtually every time.

When this information was discussed on several internet blogs in the past several weeks, WMATA apparently demanded that NextBus disable any public access to the system. This was even after a representative from NextBus posted on one of the sites, encouraging the public to use it as a test to give them feedback!

Clearly, NextBus is interested in providing this service as a work-in-progress, and many of us who have passed along the access information through word-of-mouth have greatly benefited from it.

After WMATA took it down, your spokeswoman Ms. Farbstein refused to answer nearly all questions about the details of why it was taken down, stating only that "[i]t was not intended for the public to access it because it is not ready for public use."

Unlike Arlington County, WMATA appears to be strangled by bureaucracy and a "top-down" paternalistic approach that implies WMATA staff wants absolute control and believe they know what's best for its riders, even when its riders universally disagree.

Why is WMATA concerned about allowing a "beta" or "work-in-progress" NextBus to continue as it has for many, many months? If WMATA makes it clear that it's such a work-in-progress, it allows riders to use it, test it, and offer feedback. Riders like me gain a considerable value from it, and because it would be labeled as a "work-in-progress," WMATA wouldn't suffer any damage to its brand or image for the occasional inaccuracy. From my point of view, the schedule is accurate considerably less often than NextBus was.

In recent months it has been revealed that WMATA has board members and executive staff that rarely use the system (and even more rarely the buses), has prevented Google Transit from incorporating transit information into its maps in order to protect web site traffic at wmata.com, and now disabled a much-loved rider tool, for no other reason than a bureaucrat believes it isn't ready for public testing (against the opinions of many riders and the company that provides the service!).

I expect that I will return to driving much more often until NextBus is released again, and that's unfortunate not only for me (as I like not having to have my car with me at all times) but for a cash-strapped system that could use additional riders to help pay for under-capacity buses.

For more information on the course of events, please see the joint blog post between David Alpert and me at the following URL: http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post.cgi?id=1739

I, as a Metro rider and Arlington resident, urge you to please direct WMATA staff to restore access to the work-in-progress NextBus, and to encourage staff to consult with riders, as opposed to directing from above them, when making these types of decisions.

Sincerely,

Joey Katzen

by Joey on Mar 3, 2009 6:30 pm • link • report