February Yelpcast update

Boy, MetroRiderLA has been very busy with its Yelp reviews. Since a soft start in December 2006, MetroRiderLA’s Yelp presence has greatly expanded. As of February 1, there are 95 reviews, 34 of them firsts.

We have 17 friends, 4 fans and 15 compliments. Our review votes have earned 110 useful, 59 cool and 6 funny votes.

For February, MetroRiderLA’s next big push to combine Yelp lists with public transportation is to enter and review Metro Rail, Orange Line and Metrolink stations on Yelp! Our reviews have included nearby transit connections to the establishments we have reviewed. Now, by entering the stations themselves, this allows Yelp users to see what establishments are near stations at various radii (half a mile, one mile, etc.).

Following the jump is the methodology used in station star ratings. Only the nerds need to continue.

Each review must contain stars, and for the stations, they will by and large be based objectively on the number and frequency of connecting buses and rail service. Lines receive a star based on how frequent the service is: buses or trains per hour for urban transportation and number of round trips per day for commuter and intercity trains.

For instance, a bus running every hour receives 1 star (one trip per hour), while a service running 12 minutes or more gets 5 stars. Buses are evaluated on trunk service (combined frequency on the common part of the lien), not by frequency per individual route. Further, the ridership is broken down into parts of the day: three for weekdays (the rush hour periods of 5:30 a.m.-9:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., the midday period of 9:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. and post-afternoon rush hour service, and the night period of 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.) and two for weekends (start of service to end of day service and night service from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.). Stars are deducted for partial service, for example a bus that runs until 1 a.m. but not a complete 24-hour schedule, or a line that runs Saturday but not Sunday.

One extra point is added for speedier services (rail, a limited-stop or Rapid bus, express bus and Orange Line buses).

Quantity of lines, on the other hand, factors in each individual route without regard to how frequently it runs. A station served by more routes allows for more connections, and the frequency scale takes care of service actually provided.

For commuter and intercity rail, Southern California does not have service frequent enough to produce “clock headways” (hourly or better service). So the scale is based on how many round-trip trains are available at each station per day. One point is given for the higher quality of rail service, but none of these lines will earn a 5-star rating.

Local transit connections for these stations are only factored based on quantity of routes. Los Angeles County, for instance, tends to only route buses to Metrolink stations only when there’s a connecting train, not with every trip, unless of course the station is also a city’s major bus transfer center. Neighboring counties usually tie in their bus transfer centers with their train stations, so usually all trips serve the stations.

Subjective measures to affect ratings are rare and will be noted. Union Station, for instance, receives a deduction because of the horrible connectivity between modes. A simple transfer involves very long walks and requires a lot of time to make proper connections. While Union Station is one of the best served transit destinations in the county, it is the transfers that make the station complicated to navigate.

Mostly, the ratings reflect what is there, not any perception of customer satisfaction. We’ll leave the rest of the Yelpers to give the stations single stars.