Didn't want to start a brand new Metrolink thread:



Seems like Metro still can't get its act together. This really burns me. I sent letters, e-mails with videos, and posts to Metro officials asking to please standardize announcements on board the train. There are still drivers who don't shut up, who think they're "on stage" the entire time, and who annoy regular commuters with their noise.



I've been told that they are "coming up" with a script and that it will be in place shortly (this for several years now)....yet I still year drivers:

• screaming into the microphone, often talking to people outside the train

• blathering on and on about making transfers

• "thank you for choosing metrolink above all other forms of transportation as your means of transportation today"

• telling the empty train at Shrewsbury at 5:30am to "yield priority seats to the elderly, the disabled, and even the elderly AND disabled" (I realize they MAY need to make this one, but why to an empty train at its first stop?)

• Stand CLEAR of the doors please! Doors are closing! All doors are closing! Stand clear of the doors! Alll doooors are CLOOOOOOsssinnngg! Stand clear, doors are closing! (generally at Forsyth where he can hear his echo).

and on and on.





Then this morning, a co-worked who is trying out Metrolink, mentioned that he found it very distracting and annoying, because the driver, in his words, "...thinks he's a tour guide", saying things like:

• Union Station was the largest station in the country during the passenger train's heydey.

• now arriving Busch Stadium, home of the 2006 World Champions, the St. Louis baseball Cardinals

and others at Delmar and Forest Park. I told him to hang in there, but it was enough for him to think that he won't ride the train if it's "always like that".



Those of you who take Metro to ballgames and the occasional other event may not realize how utterly annoying this is when one takes the train every day. I've never heard another bus or rail system in the country (or really, the entire world) with the variety of nonsense that ours does. It is very unprofessional; why can't this be fixed in ONE DAY? There is no excuse, IMO.





[/rant]

I absolutely disagree with the part of your rant about the Metro tour guides. I think it's wonderful that some of the operators give some information about each stop. If you don't need it, ignore it.



I'm not trying to flame, but, complaining about safety announcements? Come on. Nothing you said is really worth even mentioning, in my opinion.

bprop wrote:
Then this morning, a co-worked who is trying out Metrolink, mentioned that he found it very distracting and annoying, because the driver, in his words, "...thinks he's a tour guide", saying things like:

• Union Station was the largest station in the country during the passenger train's heydey.

• now arriving Busch Stadium, home of the 2006 World Champions, the St. Louis baseball Cardinals

and others at Delmar and Forest Park. I told him to hang in there, but it was enough for him to think that he won't ride the train if it's "always like that".



Those of you who take Metro to ballgames and the occasional other event may not realize how utterly annoying this is when one takes the train every day. I've never heard another bus or rail system in the country (or really, the entire world) with the variety of nonsense that ours does. It is very unprofessional; why can't this be fixed in ONE DAY? There is no excuse, IMO.

[/rant]

Ok, how do I put this nicely????? IMO Your co-worker sounds line an old grump! I mean for the love, if it bothers you that much get an Ipod or something to listen to while you peruse the moring Post.

• Union Station was the largest station in the country during the passenger train's heydey.

• now arriving Busch Stadium, home of the 2006 World Champions, the St. Louis baseball Cardinals

I lost it when I read this, this guy needs to get out more. Honestly, if this is going to turn him off to metro, he wasn't to open to the idea in the first place.



That said, If this really does bother a number of people, then I would support a standardized script.

In DC the metro drivers just say the upcoming stop. That is it. The "door's closing" warning is pre-recorded and automated. There are no statements about yielding seats to anyone. I guess I agree that I would prefer the metrolink drivers to shut up and drive, but I hate any kind of unnecessary noise. I can definately understand how a chatty driver at 6:00 in the morning would piss regular commuters off.

The tour guide stuff would drive me nuts after awhile. Let them get jobs driving jitneys around Atlantic City.

I actually kind of like the tour guide stuff as well - shows a real love of the city.

markofucity wrote:I actually kind of like the tour guide stuff as well - shows a real love of the city.

To some tourists, maybe, though as a tourist, it would not be particularly enjoyable to me either. I prefer to ride on public transit, not some analog to a rubber-tire tour trolley. And to the proverbial bread-and-butter riders - i.e. commuters -- it's outrageous.

Doug wrote:Headphones? Maybe take a car? Possibly move away from other human beings?

Take a car -- great idea.

bprop wrote:

bpe235 wrote:

bprop wrote:
Then this morning, a co-worked who is trying out Metrolink, mentioned that he found it very distracting and annoying, because the driver, in his words, "...thinks he's a tour guide", saying things like:

• Union Station was the largest station in the country during the passenger train's heydey.

• now arriving Busch Stadium, home of the 2006 World Champions, the St. Louis baseball Cardinals

and others at Delmar and Forest Park. I told him to hang in there, but it was enough for him to think that he won't ride the train if it's "always like that".



Those of you who take Metro to ballgames and the occasional other event may not realize how utterly annoying this is when one takes the train every day. I've never heard another bus or rail system in the country (or really, the entire world) with the variety of nonsense that ours does. It is very unprofessional; why can't this be fixed in ONE DAY? There is no excuse, IMO.

[/rant]

Ok, how do I put this nicely????? IMO Your co-worker sounds line an old grump! I mean for the love, if it bothers you that much get an Ipod or something to listen to while you peruse the moring Post.

• Union Station was the largest station in the country during the passenger train's heydey.

• now arriving Busch Stadium, home of the 2006 World Champions, the St. Louis baseball Cardinals

I lost it when I read this, this guy needs to get out more. Honestly, if this is going to turn him off to metro, he wasn't to open to the idea in the first place.



That said, If this really does bother a number of people, then I would support a standardized script.

Then I guess I'm a grump too, because it would drive me nuts listening to some jerk broadcast himself over a loudspeaker. I made a youtube video (although I can't get the link now because it's blocked from work) of a driver talking the entire distance between stations, filling it up with his nonsense.



btw, the guy this morning was doing the above in addition to the touristy stuff; it was not just brief announcements but also all sorts of filler in between.



When you take 400+ rides a year, half of them early in the morning, let me know how you feel when you get a chatty driver. It's not my responsibility to purchase in iPod when the guy can just do his job and shut up.

I hate that driver. He talks so much I've waited 5 minutes to catch the next train because I don't want to listen to him talk all the way from Delmar to downtown.



Seriously: the worst stretch is from Forest Park to Union Station. He talks all the way from Forest Park to CWE mentioning every single attraction and business center in the CWE: I don't need to be told three times about every facility in the BJC Complex. Then from CWE to Grand you'll get every attraction in the midtown area and easily accessable by the Grand bus. Then from Grand to Union station you get the entire history of Union Station of how it used to be the busiest train station in the United States and is now home to over a hundred unique shops, stores and restaurants.



Yes, I'm a big grumpy grump in the morning.

Then it's your job to take a car or get an iPod.

Here are real reasons why the drivers should shut up. The PA system in a public transit vehicle is there for two reasons.



Reason 1: It is used to facilitate people getting on and off at the right station, and otherwise using the service properly.



Reason 2: Safety. It is used to relay safety information and, in the event of an emergency, give important directions.



If a driver is constantly yacking away, people will inevitably start to tune him out. If people get used to nonsense coming from the PA and stop listening, the PA ceases to be effective for its intended use.

Gotta come down on the side of the grumps.



I think the guy's heart is in the right place. He really loves his job. He's excited by Metro, and wants to extol its virtues to all. That's great. In theory. But when you ride it to get to work and school on a regular basis, it's vexing, and it does give the impression that you're riding on what amounts to merely a really cute choo-choo toy, not a professionally run mass transit system.

bprop wrote:
Then I guess I'm a grump too, because it would drive me nuts listening to some jerk broadcast himself over a loudspeaker for an entire trip..EDIT: it did drive me nuts and the director of operations agreed with me. I made a youtube video (although I can't get the link now because it's blocked from work) of a driver talking the entire distance between stations, filling it up with his nonsense.



btw, the guy this morning was doing the above in addition to the touristy stuff; it was not just brief announcements but also all sorts of filler in between.



When you take 400+ rides a year, half of them early in the morning, let me know how you feel when you get a chatty driver. It's not my responsibility to purchase in iPod when the guy can just do his job and shut up.

Look, if these guys are chatting peoples ears off and buggin the hell out of ya'll... then i'm all for some type of reform.

TGE-ATW wrote:Here are real reasons why the drivers should shut up. The PA system in a public transit vehicle is there for two reasons.



Reason 1: It is used to facilitate people getting on and off at the right station, and otherwise using the service properly.



Reason 2: Safety. It is used to relay safety information and, in the event of an emergency, give important directions.



If a driver is constantly yacking away, people will inevitably start to tune him out. If people get used to nonsense coming from the PA and stop listening, the PA ceases to be effective for its intended use.

That's a really good point.



My favorite driver is a lady who has this wonderful Eastern European accent. She speaks deliberately so that all the announcements are very clear, but doesn't add anything. My ears would definitely perk up if she made an out-of-the-ordinary announcement.

My only compaint are those drivers I can't hear/understand. Generally fellow passengers are much, much more distracting than anything the driver says.

Grover wrote:My only compaint are those drivers I can't hear/understand. Generally fellow passengers are much, much more distracting than anything the driver says.

I'd say about 80% of the time passengers are just background noise to me; they don't have amplification. Other times, it's like a zoo...literally...people swinging on the overhead handrails, yelling, playing 'tag' in and out of the doors at every stop.

it does give the impression that you're riding on what amounts to merely a really cute choo-choo toy, not a professionally run mass transit system.

well said. Metro is NOT the train at the zoo. Sounds Hooshy, midwestern small city. Obviously, it annoys people who use this DAILY to get to work. Metro can be more professional. This is the 7th (?) busiest/largest light rail system in the country- act like it.

If you're willing to avoid a train because a guy is talking over the P.A., whew...I won't even complete that sentence.



So I guess carpooling where people like to listen to the radio is out for you. I just wish the people inside the radio would SHUT UP every once in a while.