Friday, February 16, 2007

blogs come and go ( well this one isn't going anywhere )

The Friday edition of Boston Metro does a feature on our humble little blog.

One blogger making tracks on the T
by christina wallace / metro boston


I want to thank Christina Wallace for the positive tone of the article. I am quoted on the agenda of the blog

“The agenda is to try to make the T as good a public transit as it can be. If they screw up, of course I’m going to call them on it, but I’ve also tried to be complimentary as well.

“Honestly, I think people want to vent their frustration, send it out there — even if it’s not to the T — and get a response. So many people say they complain to the T and get an automated response back.”


The T was asked their reaction to the blog
When asked to comment on the blog, T spokesman Joe Pesaturo responded:

“While blogs come and go, people will always be able to present comments

and concerns directly to the T’s Customer Support Services.”
Well I am here to tell the T that this blog will be around for as long as readers continue to make it viable.

BTW it is very weird to be on a subway car and have Metro readers looking at their paper and then have them stare at you, and look back at their paper.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

BTW it is very weird to be on a subway car and have Metro readers looking at their paper and then have them stare at you, and look back at their paper.

I had this happen when I was on the front page of the metro region section of the globe, shortly before the DNC. Weirdest commute of my life!

A friend of mine has a term for it: she called it the Malkovich Effect, because of the subway scene in Being John Malkovich.

Anonymous said...

Adam over at Universal Hub has a nice reaction to this story

T to bloggers: You still suck


The Metro has a nice write-up of Charlie on the MBTA today.

The reporter also, indirectly, gets an answer to Paul Levy's question about what T officials do with complaints posted daily on Boston-area blogs: Not a hell of a lot (then again, that's hardly a policy change at the T):

When asked to comment on the blog, T spokesman Joe Pesaturo responded: "While blogs come and go, people will always be able to present comments and concerns directly to the T's Customer Support Services."

Oh, really? Let's rewrite that statement a bit:

"While MBTA flacks come and go, people will always be able to have their comments and concerns ignored by the T's Customer Support Services."

Because it was only a couple of days ago that Pesaturo's boss admitted the "Write to the Top" program didn't work, and that fixing it would require hiring 25 new customer-service employees - maybe some of whom will actually pick up the phone when people call with complaints.

Ron Newman said...

My suggestion: Print up some business cards with the address of this blog on them, and hand them out to every T employee you encounter.

I've been writing it out by hand and giving it to some of the folks I see most often, but that's not very efficient.

Brian said...

I guess Joe really is an automated computer program? They are touting their customer service department as a reason to ignore the reporting on this blog? Seriously? The customer service department even they were forced to admit was a massive failure just a couple days ago? Seriously?

Anonymous said...

This blog isn't going anywhere? Then why has it been out of commission for several weeks?

It's because of stuff like this that I don't like web discussion forums, especially those controlled by a single person.

Anonymous said...

Its been out of commission for several weeks because Kevin Vahey ("Charlie") is being accused of stealing thousands of dollars meant for a Red Sox charity. He never provided his side of the story. And we all demand answers to that. The Metro, the Boston Globe, and The Christian Science Monitor, all of whom plugged this blog should take notice.