Metro’s West Yorkshire travel tweets reach 4,000 followers

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The 4,000th person signed up to follow @MetroTravelNews on Twitter recently.

Metro has been Tweeting since November 2009. In that time it has sent almost 6,500 messages about disruptions to bus and rail services and general traffic hold ups and general travel news, to people on the move in West Yorkshire.

Using information provided by bus and rail operators, and the MetroLine call centre, Metro’s Public Relations team provides travel updates from early morning to late evening.

Much of this information is backed up through the Alerts section of Metro’s website and on its ‘West Yorkshire Metro’ Facebook page, which is now ‘liked’ by over 1,500 people.

“When we first launched @MetroTravelNews, we didn’t know how popular it would become but we have had so much very positive feedback from people telling us they find it useful, particularly at times when there are widespread disruptions,” said Metro PR Manager Martin Driver.

“Our regular market research shows that over 10% of West Yorkshire’s population has heard of our social media channels, which is good to know.

“The service has come into its own through the periods of snow and ice over the past two winters when we have seen large numbers of people signing up to get the latest information.

“We’re quite proud of the fact that Metro is the only Passenger Transport Executive using social media to provide passengers with updates on the move in this way.

“When the snow and ice does arrive this winter, we will once again be providing a comprehensive public transport information service through frequent updates @MetroTravelNews, on Facebook and on our Alerts pages on www.wymetro.com.

“We try to tell people the cause of the problems and how long they are likely to last, which is what recent rail industry research confirmed people want to know when they are caught up in delays,” he continues.

“In this way we can keep people informed of any disruption whether they are at home, at work or on the move; and, where possible, we also point them to where they can find information about alternative journeys.

“We have also found Twitter and Facebook invaluable for alerting people to things such as timetable changes and other news items, and for responding to individual enquiries.

“We deal with feedback about Metro’s facilities and we respond to comments about bus or train services by putting people in touch with the company, guiding them to our on-line feedback forms and passing issues onto our colleagues to raise at regular meetings with operators.”

“With more and more people using smartphones, tablets and other devices to stay in touch wherever they are, it seems only right that with its commitment to providing high-quality transport information, Metro should be responding with this service,” Driver added.

“Providing better disruption information is one of the new 15-year Local Transport Plan’s objectives and we will be taking forward what we have learned through social media as a key part of that work.”

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