Heads up: the Twitter pilot will continue to the end of January 2011
Heads up: the Twitter pilot will continue to the end of January 2011
Update, February 11, 2011: Yay: our Twitter pilot has been permanently extended!
Update, February 1, 2011: The Twitter pilot has been extended to the end of February 2011! Things are looking positive for the indefinite extension of the pilot—stay tuned for more!
Just a quick note to let you know that the TransLink Twitter pilot will definitely be extended until the end of January 2011!
We are still in the process of getting approval funding for the project to keep it going indefinitely, but so far, the month of January has definitely been confirmed.
In the meantime, you can still help show your support for the pilot by sharing your feedback in our Customer Feedback Form.
Again, the Twitter pilot has been a ramped up level of service delivered by our call centre workleaders monitoring and responding on Twitter from 6:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Check out our TransLink Twitter account here: twitter.com/translink
As well, you can check out past posts about the pilot, including a deep dive into the stats and results from the first month!
Congrats! It’s a great service…just wish the important tweets were shown on the screens in the stations. Also, are they hiring? :P
I agree w Brandon, and tweeted something to that effect, even before the Twitter pilot, if I recall.
Good work, transit tweetrs!
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by The Buzzer and others. The Buzzer said: New blog post: Heads up: the Twitter pilot will continue to the end of January 2011 http://ow.ly/1aKaC7 […]
Good job, Translink.
I knew what it was for quite some time, but never really needed it, so I thought. I finally tried it out seriously, and even though it hasn’t helped me directly, I love it. I love the way that it gives me a sense of confidence that I’ll most likely be alerted to problems.
Here’s a tip for those who are still very new to Twitter: I discovered that we can turn off Translink’s phone texts when we do not need them, while staying subscribed to them. This helps us to avoid unnecessary disturbances, and prevents us from wasting time. Some of you probably pay to receive texts, so that could save you a few dollars.
I’m glad to see the pilot is being extended. I find it to be more timely than the operating conditions & alerts section of Translink’s website.
It’s useful to know if there are any problems currently affecting routes I might intend to take, but am not subscribed to receiving alerts for because they’re not regular (i.e. habitual) ones.
I’ll also join in the chorus to say it’s really nice to know someone is being empowered within TransLink to assist people with the service. Instead of burning my valuable minutes while I’m on hold on the customer service line, I have a conversation, and the people who care about the issues both around service and larger questions of transit service can weight in with their thoughts as well. It makes for a downright friendlier city.
[…] Jan 10, 2011 update. Just wanted to say the pilot is definitely continuing to the end of January—we continue to seek budget approval for keeping the program going indefinitely! Here’s the post about that. […]
I love the twitter pilot and hope that it continues. One suggestion: please train (heh) your official twitters to not drop into txt-speak, especially when they still have lots of room left in the tweet. For example:
“Folo us on Twitter & chk out http://bit.ly/gw9Puv (YouTube) for wthr updates on Tues. ^DS”
“SNOW IS COMING: mk sure ur dressed 4 weather Tues in case there are delays. ^AB”
“Help show ur support for the Translink Twitter pilot.by sharing your feedback on our Customer Feedback Form.^Ab http://ow.ly/3EGnb”
I appreciate that the twitters are trying to make things more personal and less corporate, but at the same time they *are* representing a professional organization, and typing like 12-year olds doesn’t help the image. I manage a twitter account for work purposes so I understand trying to keep the balance between keeping things personable and keeping things business-like, but when in doubt I always err on the side of the latter.
If nothing else, it’s nice having someone respond when I continually grouse about the #16 and its loose interpretation of the word “schedule” :) Keep up the good work!
Graham: thanks! I’ve passed your note on to our Twitter staff, and I definitely agree that less “text-speak” sounds more professional.
Hey Jhen, wasn’t sure where to put this, but here goes….
You may have heard about the earthquake drill Wednesday morning(http://shakeoutbc.ca/ ). I was wondering how will Translink and transit service be affected…
Will Canada Line workers will be encouraged to strike to simulate a service interruption?
Will Expo and Millenium lines have their computers turned off?
Will Seabus miss a trip for Tsunami watch?
Will drivers will be encouraged to take a long coffee break?
Will transit will be rerouted away from bridges and tunnels for hours awaiting inspection?
Or will it be a simple workday?
;-): Aha — for most of us it will be a simple workday, so fear not, transit service will not be interrupted :) West Coast Express will be the only one participating from the operating companies, and TL head offices are also planning do the one minute simulation.