MARC riders' group rejects new MTA web site
The negative reactions to the Maryland Transit Administration's new web site design just keep coming in -- and not just from professional malcontents.
The following criticque comes from Rafi Guroian, chairman of the MARC Riders Advisory Council and an eminently reasonable person. The MTA ought to be listening.
I strongly echo the poster's criticism of the new site. For MARC riders, it's a big step backwards, and I say this as a computer professional who deals on a daily basis with users who resist change even though it's necessary. In this case, it's a step beyond not liking something new.
The commenter basically took the words out of my mouth, but I would add this for context. At the MARC Riders Advisory Council, we were told that the updated website was coming down the pike, and we repeatedly voiced our desire to have an input on how the MARC information was presented and how our Council's information page was presented on the new site. The MTA staff we work with does a fantastic job, and they forwarded that request to the web team. All of a sudden, the new site comes out.
The MARC Riders Advisory Council was not given a single opportunity to volunteer feedback on the preliminary design, and to add insult to injury, our Council page has been reduced to a three-sentence generic boilerplate statement with no information on how to attend meetings, when/where they are held, or how to become a council member.
We are not happy.
Getting There is seeking a reaction from MTA Administrator Ralign T. Wells. We'll pass on anything new.
Comments
UPDATE:
I'm not sure to chalk it up to convenient conincidence or not, but not long after you posted my comment, Mike, our Council page has now been repopulated with the information we previously had on the "old" MTA website.
Regardless of how it happened, it's a step in the right direction. What remains, however, is a very cumbersome experience when it comes to getting vital information on the MARC service as a whole. Needless to say, we plan to offer our assistance to the MTA's web team; hopefully they'll welcome it.
Rafi
Posted by: Rafi Guroian | June 24, 2011 12:47 PM
I too am puzzled by these design changes. To highlight for MTA (in the event they are reading this), how clunky these changes are, here's a personal anecdote that is relatable to many MARC riders:
You're at work in Washington and your phone rings at 10am, there's an emergency to attend to at home...you need to know when the next train is, but you can no longer easily access the schedule on the website...
The drop-down menu style of inputting information may make sense for other forms of transit (e.g. buses that will arrive/depart more regularly). It's reminiscent of the trip planner feature on Washington's MTA site. But for train service that comes about once an hour during the day, the easily accessible schedule and train status are the critical pieces of information you need to be able to access easily, otherwise you really are in danger of missing your train!
Posted by: Claudia | June 24, 2011 12:49 PM