Catoe Responds to NextBus Complaints
Last week, DCist's Andrew Wiseman reported that a NextBus beta site that had been operational for a brief time was removed after inquiries from DCist as to its authenticity. A couple of weeks before, we had asked Metro whether the information we found on the NextBus beta was old or new, and they told us we were looking at old data. Andrew then posted about the site on his personal blog, and a NextBus official responded in comments, announcing that the site was in fact a beta site for the future WMATA NextBus site, expected to formally launch later this year.
At that point, DCist went back to Metro, to ask them whether what they had told us before was true, or whether the NextBus official was right. Metro then admitted the site we had seen was indeed a test site. A short time later, Metro ordered NextBus to take the beta site offline. Even more intriguingly, NextBus later asked Andrew to remove the comment their official had left on his blog. He declined to do so.
Since then, annoyed Metrobus passengers have been complaining. A lot. They've complained that they had been using the beta site for a while, and that Metro has ruined their lives by taking it down. They've complained that Andrew and/or DCist ruined their lives by doing our jobs as reporters and asking Metro to verify whether the site we had seen was authentic and/or accurate. They've railed against Metro's long history with NextBus, how they yanked the service back in the fall of 2007, and were now seemingly yanking it again.
In his weekly live chat today, Metro General Manager John Catoe responded to some of those complaints.
It's disappointing that Catoe feels he has to protect Metro's interests to the point that a beta test site can't remain online. Web sites are only improved by thorough testing and user feedback, and Catoe's lack of understanding of this process suggests he doesn't quite grasp the power of online tools to help improve the transit experience.There has been a lot of talk lately about Next Bus, which is a good thing because we expect Next Bus to be back up and running this July.
The return of NextBus is highly anticipated by many bus riders, and by many who were able to gain access to an internal test site over the last few months. We have restricted access to that test site, which has disappointed a number of people. Those people who were using the system have reported in blogs that the system was working well for them, and I’m pleased to hear that.
However, I have to take a much wider view of NextBus and the accuracy of its predictions. Launching a “beta” version may make sense for software developers, it doesn’t make sense for Metro. Before NextBus is fielded again, I have to be sure that it will work well for all of our bus riders. If we allow access to a test site, then we are in effect launching that site and service. That means we need to be ready to give anyone and everyone using that site our full attention if they have problems and complaints. All the disclaimers in the world won’t make any practical difference. If we were to allow access to the site, then, potentially, there would be hundreds of thousands trying to use something that just isn’t ready for prime time, yet. That means a flood of complaints, and we take every complaint seriously. If we allow the system to be used before we’re confident that its ready, then, although, it may be convenient for some, it just won’t work for everyone the way we envision it should. I would also take more resources, both financially and in terms of manpower that we aren't ready to commit yet.
When the system went off-line on October 31, 2007, we estimated that it would take up to 18 months to bring it back. That estimate was fairly accurate. Just be patient a few more months, and the service will be back up. There’s a saying “measure twice and cut once.” That’s what we are doing with NextBus to make sure we have everything in place to meet our goal of 95% accuracy on bus arrival times. This will be a significant improvement, and worth the wait.
Given Catoe's promise today that the site will return, fully operational in July, you can be sure DCist will be the first to ask on July 1 where the NextBus service is.