Public Transit Archive
Commentary by blog and social media consultant Josh Hallett on the use of blogs for public relations, media, marketing, communication & branding and from time-to-time the unsolicited opinion.
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You remember the Spirit Airlines story I blogged about a few weeks ago. Well it just keeps getting better. Yet another paper has mentioned it, this time the Chicago Tribune. What is Spirit's response? I'll let them speak for themselves:
"We wouldn't respond to a blog post," said spokeswoman Alison Russell, who noted that their original tickets cost a little more than $35 each and they turned down the offer of $100 in travel vouchers. "This goes back to the larger question of the veracity of everything you read on Internet blogs. Our customer service is great."
Nice. Spirit says their customer service is great. Well Alex has about 400+ people who have commented that don't agree.
UGA professor Karen Russell updates their progress on updating the PR curriculum:
I was hoping for revolution, but I got reform.
The PR faculty had our curriculum meeting, and rather than dumping it all and starting from scratch, as I had hoped, the faculty chose to use the current curriculum as our starting point.
If you remember Karen
started her quest a few weeks ago.
Over at Forward Blog Ashley writes about corporate politics. There is always a certain loss of innocence when you start your first job, see a great idea that can really help the organization, only to see it killed because of internal politics. Too many times it's because a particular person did not come up with the idea or some other petty thing. Ashley writes:
But as professional communicators, you would think that the people in the business communications/marketing/PR profession could avoid it. Yet I am still hearing all of the stories of how different, yet very related, departments in a company may never even discuss the company’s goals, strategies or their implementation. The flawed division of power and inability to communicate freely with those in charge seems to resemble the same complaints we have about the “politics” we find everywhere else, whether it is the politics that govern our country or the social politics that seem impossible to avoid in day-to-day life.
The comments for her post provide some great insight to young minds not yet spoiled by corporate backstabbing.
That's one of the things I like about being an outside consultant, sometimes I can cut through all that because my job is not at stake. If I push too hard against the internal politics would I lose the contract? Perhaps, but it's better to walk away than compromise what you were hired to do. By running your own shop one of the greatest powers you have is the ability to say no.
Perhaps as the final 'wrap' to my public transit experiment I swung by the Citrus Connection office to exchange my useless Ride Picker pass. If you remember from my wrap-up post I had purchased a Ride Picker pass in Winter Haven that turned out to be useless on the Lakeland Citrus Connection. I was told I had to visit the main office to exchange the pass for a new one.
With some time to kill in Lakeland on Tuesday I visited the office. The young lady at the front counter exchanged the pass without question. She even 'credited' me two rides :-)
Old n' Busted on the left, New Hotness on the right.
Later that day during lunch my friend Barry asked if they recognized me at the Citrus Connection office. They didn't. He then asked if anybody from their office ever contacted me regarding my experiment. They haven't. Looking at the web server logs though some people from the Board of County Commissioners and the Polk Fire Department have stopped by, in addition to a few hundred other folks from around the country.
The following post serves as a wrap-up and discussion of my Public Transportation Experiment on Wednesday, November 16, 2005.
In addition to this write-up I have posted a photoset and some audio from my day.
What to say?
If you would have asked me how things were going at the mid-point of my day (around 2:30 p.m.) I would have said, “Great, everything has been perfect so far.” Ask me the same question at the end of the day (7:00 p.m.) and I would have said, “A complete disaster.” Take the sum of those two responses and you have a balanced look at public transportation.
At the end of the day I spent 7 hours and 37 minutes using public transit to accomplish my transportation needs. Had I driven it would have taken me 1 hour and 10 minutes.
Here’s the story:
Continue reading "Public Transportation Experiment (PTE) - Wrap Up & Discussion" »
Update: I have posted the final wrap-up/discussion.
I am still traveling for work but will post the full wrap-up of my public transportation experiment in the next two days. I'll be reviewing my entire day in detail and provide information on the pick-up/drop-off times, rider volume and other interesting highlights.
For a control I did drive to the same meeting locations a few weeks ago to compare travel times via my own vehicle to public transit. All those comparision will be in the wrap-up as well.
In the meantime you can review the photos and listen to audio/comments from the day.
In advance of my comprehensive write-up I have posted an MP3 from my public transportation experiment. I carried my MP3 recorder with me and saved a number of thoughts/comments during the day. The file is all of those snippets compiled in chronological order. The file is 9.3 MB as runs around 10 minutes. You can click on the link below to listen.
PTE.mp3
What a day. Everything was going great, then I left my last appointment shortly before 3:00 p.m. and it went downhill from there. I arrived home at 7:00 p.m. Four hours to get home, when I had estimated that it would take two hours.
Short synopsis: Late Bus, Missed Connection, Late Bus, Missed Connection, Late Bus
I have a whole series of short posts ready to go, I just never had wifi to upload them. I have uploaded all my photos and put them in the photoset. I would love to post the other items but I need to get ready for my trip to Tallahassee, FL in the morning. I'll be leaving around 5 a.m. The plan is to write my wrap-up sometime tomorrow afternoon in Tally when I have time.
It was an experience.
I plan to post what I can and then fill in all the blanks later tonight.
After my morning meeting in Winter Haven I needed to head to Lakeland for two meetings. A lunch meeting at Café Roti near LRMC and then another meeting at Panera Bread in South Lakeland.
I left Clark/Nikdel/Powell and walked to the Winter Haven Terminal. While waiting at terminal for the 10:15 connection to Lakeland I noticed a Santa standing by one of the buses.
They were filming a commercial for WHAT. I overheard something about ‘Ride Saturday Free.’ There were a few people from the BOCC overseeing and acting in the segment. I say acting because they were sitting in the bus as passengers. One of the staff circulated around the terminal to ask if anybody wanted to come be in the commercial. She asked me but I told her that I needed to be in Lakeland by noon. Obviously, if I hung around to be in the commercial I would have missed the 10:15 to Lakeland and would have needed to wait till 11:15. This was a similar answer she received from a number of other bystanders. They had someplace they needed to be.
Continue reading "PTE: Lakeland Update #1" »
Many have told me that you have to work your schedule around public transportation. How true.
Originally I had a 4 p.m. meeting scheduled in Winter Haven this afternoon. That worked out great for my 'plan' but earlier this week the meeting got shifted to 8 a.m. My original plan was to take the second run of the #30 route then transfer to #12 to head to Lakeland. All buses on the system arrive downtown at :10 past the hour. With an 8 a.m. meeting I needed to arrive in Winter Haven at 7:10 a.m. and then spend some time at the coffee shop till my meeting.
Just got out of that meeting, posting quickly before I need to catch the 10:15 a.m. connection to Lakeland. More details soon.
I have udpated the photoset though.
My public transportation experiment has begun. For the background on what/why I am doing you can read the initial post. I'll also be posting photos to a Flickr photoset:
First update coming soon.
In advance of my public transportation experiment tomorrow here is an item from Bob O'Malley, Public Affairs Director of METROPLAN Orlando about the need for public transit:
A reliable transportation system cannot rely on just one mode of travel. All modes must work together as one cohesive system to meet the diverse travel and transport needs of a region’s residents, visitors and businesses.
Certainly, roadways are the major component of any transportation system, but mass transit is also critical to ensuring mobility. A transportation system without mass transit cannot operate effectively. A significant portion of Central Florida’s workforce depends on transit to get to their jobs or to school. If the transit connection between employment centers and labor did not exist, the economy would suffer. You may not use public transportation, but someone you know, work with or do business with does.
In addition to fixed-route bus systems, another vital aspect of public transportation is paratransit service for senior citizens and people with disabilities. Like the citizens who ride the bus, these people depend on public transportation for trips to work, school and healthcare facilities. Those who advocate only for road improvements are ignoring the needs of their fellow citizens who rely on public transportation.
Throughout Florida, we need to improve public transportation. More buses are needed to provide more frequent service and expanded routes. However, these improvements cannot be made without additional funding. The question we need to ask of ourselves is: Are we willing to invest in public transportation?
Last week I outlined my plans for a public transportation experiment, but did not know which day I would be doing it. Well it looks like it will be this Wednesday (11/16/05).
One day in the next two weeks I am planning an all day public transportation experiment. My plan is to use nothing by public transportation to travel between my home in Winter Haven, FL and a few meetings in Lakeland, FL. I'll document the entire experience and post a follow-up report. Why? How? When? Read below:
Update: You can follow the posts on the Public Transit page.
Continue reading "Upcoming Public Transportation Experiment" »
