MetroRiderLA

In response to recent controversies, arguments, and heated debates in the comments section, I’ve integrated a new system in order to establish a user-moderated defense against “trolls”. According to Wikipedia, a troll is someone who intentionally posts controversial or contrary messages in an on-line community such as an on-line discussion forum or group with the intention of baiting users into an argumentative response.

Obviously people are are going to have differences of opinion, and the whole point of this site is to encourage discussion, but keep in mind that the site is called MetroRiderLA. It is written for, by, and with Los Angeles Metro riders in mind. And by “Metro riders” I mean those who ride the public transporation in Los Angeles because they like to, because they want to, and/or because they have to. Obviously anyone, including those who do not ride Metro and even those who hate Metro, can read, but keep in mind who is writing and who the target is.

It would serve no purpose for an atheist to go onto a website that promotes a religious lifestyle and post “proof” that God does not exist. It serves no purpose for a Windows user to post reasons Macs suck in a forum for Mac enthusiasts. Likewise, it serves no purpose for someone who believes that cars are the best mode of transporation to disrupt a community of people who believe exactly the opposite.

With this in mind, I’ve established a new system of rating comments in order to keep the conversation relevant and on-topic. From now on, at the end of each comment there will be a and a , representing a negative vote and a postive vote, respectively. If you approve of the comment, click the or don’t click anything, but if you dissaprove of the comment and feel that it is trolling, click the . Remember, having a different perspective on an issue is different from trolling. The should be reserved strictly for comments that you feel are baiting arguments. For example, if someone says “cars are better” that’s irrelevant because we are Metro riders not car riders. Flag it.

After a comment gets five negative flags from unique users (you can only flag a comment once), the following icon will apear underneath the comment: . This icon will remain with the comment and serve as a reminder that the commenter has been moderated by the other users as a troll and therefore not to engage in further conversation with the commenter.

The purpose of this system is create a fair system of moderation where the readers decide whether a comment is worthy of discussion or whether it’s just flamebait. It offers the user to opportunity to deal with a trolls comment by simply modding it down rather than dignifying it with a response (which only serves to empower the troll). Once a comment has been modded down to troll level, the icon alerts every reader of this fact - hopefully encouraging everyone to simply ignore it and move on to more constructive conversation. In the end, I hope this will reduce the uneccessary time and energy spent on arguments that can never have a conclusion and eventually silence the trolls without having to resort to more draconian measures like banning IP addresses just to keep everyone sane.

[tags]san diego, megabus, bus[/tags]

An important addendum to the Megabus Ride Report. In the comments, Matthew mentions that Megabus has already moved its San Diego bus stop to a downtown location on 13th street. This one offers far better connections to Trolley and bus services.

The information in the Ride Report of the stop being the Goodall’s bus yard near City Heights is accurate but now outdated.

[tags]yelp, metro rider la[/tags]

It’s been a while since one of these has been done. But here’s the progress report:

• 309 reviews (220 are firsts)
• 487 useful, 30 funny and 191 cool votes
• 63 friends
• 48 compliments

Also, the lists section has grown with Metro Rail and Metrolink line maps.

If you sign up and get your own Yelp account, link up Fred C. in your friends account.

Today I will be posting as a special guest editor over at LAist.  Check out my Metro oriented posts as well as posts from the rest of the LAist crew throughout the day.  There’s even an interview with yours truly!  Thanks to Zach Behrens for inviting me on for the day!

It dawned on me today that I haven’t written a MetroRider article in a month. Much thanks goes out to the other authors who continued to contribute in the face of my unexplained absence. Where have I been? First and foremost I got slammed with billable work this month (I work as a freelance graphic designer) and since MetroRiderLA doesn’t pay my bills I had to put it on the backburner. I feel guilty because I actually had big plans for MetroRiderLA this month, specifically because on June 7th 2006 I wrote the first MetroRiderLA post ever. That’s right, this blog is a year old this month. My plans were to reveal an updated look and feel as well as a retrospective and a tighter posting schedule. Alas, the opposite happened. I still plan on doing these things once my schedule lightens up (which may not be for another month unfortunately), but until then I’d like to go ahead and thank every reader and contributor and entity that links to MetroRiderLA. This blog started at as just an experiment, a place where me and my roommates (who all live car-free/public transit oriented lifestyles) would write silly stuff that no one would really read. It grew into much more. Transit gurus like Wad came on board to write some of the most informative articles. Others came onboard to share their opinions or talk about transit in their neck of the woods. A great number of people participated in heated discussions in the comments section, furthering the ideas brought up in our articles. Prominent Los Angeles and national blogs linked our posts and opinions. We even got the attention of Metro itself, and the Metro Librarian has become a great resource for information and support. In other words, MetroRiderLA became sort of legitimate.

MetroRiderLA set out a year ago with the ridiculous mission to change the culture of Los Angeles. To create and promote a Public Transit Lifestyle in a place where the Car Culture pervades every aspect of life and public transportation is seen as little more than a sad joke. We’ve still got a long way to go, but thanks to the continued support of the minority that do believe in the Public Transit Lifestyle, we’re going to continue pressing on.

My apologies once again for my absence, hopefully in the near future I will be able to contribute fully again.

Since I went to the trouble of checking out one of the new Metro Rapid Express lines, I’ll give you faithful readers a Ride Report.

The line was line 920, which has terminals at Ocean Boulevard in Santa Monica and at Wilshire/Vermont. This is an even faster version of the very popular Metro Rapid line 720, or at least a portion of it.

Right now the line only runs during rush hours, from 6-10 AM, and 3-7 PM, but when it does run, they’ve got one coming every five minutes. This is about a 13 mile line. Riding the 720, along (almost) this same route, takes 1 hour 16 minutes, according to the published timetable. Riding the 920 took me one hour exactly: 60 minutes. 16 minute savings.

Along the 720, the line has 18 stops. On the 920, the same distance has only 7 stops. (The local stop route 20 probably has…gee, I don’t know…150 stops? It stops every other block.)

I got on at 4th and Wilshire in Santa Monica, the second stop, mere steps from the Pacific Ocean. As I boarded the bus at 3:58 P.M., only one other person was on board the bus with me. I stretched out and luxuriated in comfort, taking up three seats. The next stop was Westwood Blvd., miles away. I waved out the window at the queue of people trying to wave down the bus at Bundy Drive, Barrington, and at the VA Hospital, where almost 50 passengers were waiting to board. Their shook their fists and ground their teeth at the passing bus. The driver had to stop at Barrington due to a red light, and a few upset passengers banged on the door. The driver would not let them on. It was only the first day of service, so I guess they’ll adapt.

At Westwood Blvd., well over 50 people boarded the bus, quickly filling it to near capacity, at least as far as seated passengers went. Some more people boarded at Beverly Drive, maybe 20, and about 10 at Fairfax. A few people disembarked along the way. By the time the bus arrived at its end terminal at Wilshire/Vermont, it was still fairly crowded. The bus driver had to announce several times it was the end of the line. About a dozen people continued sitting on the bus until the driver waved them off in person after walking to the back of the bus. They probably didn’t understand English. It was 4:58, exactly one hour after I had boarded.

I would find this ride to be a near-perfect trip to Santa Monica for me, if only it continued on to one more stop in downtown Los Angeles, either 6th/Hope or 6th/Broadway. As it is, I had to transfer to the Red Line to continue downtown. I would imagine that people using it to go to work downtown from the westside would have the same complaint, and that this line will be extended to downtown some time soon.

SUMMARY: Exactly as I had thought. Speedy, not too crowded and does what the Rapid Bus is supposed to do: save time. My only quibble is the end point at Wilshire/Vermont. That has to be changed.