MetroRiderLA

Pam from Santa Monica took a break from chatting with us last month as Metro’s software gurus worked on improving the
chat interface.  It seems the work is done and Pam is returning tomorrow to chat about toll roads, congestion pricing, taxes, and public transportation.

Also returning is the ill-fated Anti-Pam Chat held by none other than MetroRiderLA.  The APC started last month, but failed to attract many chatters, most likely because there was no actually Pam Chat held.  Hopefully if you’re tuning into Pam’s chat tomorrow over at Metro Interactive you’ll open up the MetroRiderLA Forum in another tab or window and chat with us concurrently.  The plan is to critique the questions asked and Pam’s answers to those questions, and perhaps come up with some good questions of our own.  In addition to the Shout Box located on the sidebar, I’ve started a new thread on the forum where you can share your thoughts for the Anti-Pam Chat.

So tomorrow at noon make sure to load up your browsers and head to both the Pam and Anit-Pam Chat for some chatteriffic Metro chatting.

Today was supposed to be the day that Pam from Santa Monica was to hold her monthly Live Chat via Metro Interactive. I had planned to hold what I dubbed “The Anti-Pam Chat” (not that we have anything against Pam per se, she did a bang up job on public access television) to coincide with Metro’s oft maligned experiment in interactive communication. The idea was to provide a live chat forum where we could sarcastically discuss and make fun of the Metro Chat, MST3K style, while presenting Pam with our own questions and awaiting the usual canned responses. Unfortunately, the Metro Interactive Chat for April has been canceled. Apparently Metro is testing out a newly redesigned chat tool and it’s not ready for prime time yet. On one hand it’s great that they’ve decided to try a new chat program, since the one they’ve been using was interactive only in the very broadest of definition of the word, but on the other hand it means The Anti-Pam Chat kind of loses its purpose.

Regardless, I’ve decided to go for it anyway, so today at 12:30pm MetroRiderLA will hold its first last-minute impromptu live Anti-Pam chat over at the MetroRiderLA Forum. There’s a little chatbox on the left-hand sidebar which is where the live chat will take place, and we’ll discuss whatever the hell comes to mind. Forum topics, recent blog posts, transit news, MetroRiderLA, Pam’s haircut, whatever. Plan your lunch break around it, we’ll try to talk for half an hour or so. If it works out, then The Anti-Pam Chat will return in May, hopefully along with Pam, for some interactive Metro fun.

See ya there!

I know that as MetroRider’s you’ve been waiting with bated breath to find out who your new Miss Traffic is going to be. Well, today Metro proudly announced the finalists in the much mocked loved Miss Traffic Contest. The finalists are featured on a page on Metro’s new Interactive website. Rather unfortunately, no men made the final cut, and it’s down to three lovely ladies who are fighting for your vote to crown them the next Miss Traffic. Let’s take a closer look at our contestants:

• Roz Brown: She’s been going Metro for over 20 years and raised a child on Metro. She’s also got a rad side ponytail.
• Sharon Butler: She likes the peace and quiet the Metro offers. The zen candidate. Sassy.
• Stefanie Perez: Looks 10 years younger thanks to Metro. Her voice makes her sound even younger than that.

I voted for my girl Miss Sharon Butler, I like her style and she’s not afraid to sass if need be. Unfortunately, it seems that the internet has pretty much chosen baby-faced Stefanie, because with 513 votes so far, she’s burying the other contestants. But the results aren’t written in stone, and there’s still six more days to vote! That is unless this contest is rigged. Diebold!!!!

Good luck girls, but remember, there can only be one winner. Budgetary constraints ($60 million going to fare gates) prevent Metro from providing each of these ladies with their own Metro t-shirt.

Metro has officially launched the first phase of what it calls its “interactive video wall”, or Metro Interactive. Currently the site features various videos intended to “help customers and visitors more easily navigate Los Angeles”. It is also the new home of Metro Board Chair Pam O’Connor’s infamous online chats. Future plans for the site include: blogs, polls, user uploads, and live streaming video. Metro views Metro Interactive as “a tool to help us reach out to our customers”. Let’s see how phase one fares with this discerning customer.

First Impressions

Thankfully, Metro decided to go with a unique domain (or at least a subdomain) with Metro Interactive. Unlike Miss Traffic, which was hidden three directories deep in the Metro site, Metro Interactive can be reach by simply typing multimedia.metro.net into your web browser. Doing so will lead you to a site with the clean visual design that has been successfully standardized throughout Metro. Bold colors and imagery on a clean grid are complimented with the serious but friendly Scala Sans font. The header pays homage to the silhouettes of th now iconic iPod advertisements, portraying an image of a person holding a video camera. The site seems a little barren, with a sizable chunk of empty space in the top right corner, but keep in mind that this is the first-phase. Plus, less-is-more is always a good philosophy when it comes to design. One strange visual flaw is an unnecessarily low resolution Metro logo at the top of the page.

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