Earlier today, Ken Hardie, the communications guy for Translink (as opposed to the guy behind the TransitPolice account, which is media relations for just the Transit Police) posted a link to the follow-up on Twitter about the Suduku-playing driver (a few months ago, a camera phone video of a particular driver in Surrey was uploaded to youtube… of the driver playing Suduku while driving.)
The article mentioned the driver as having a “good record”. Well. I know for a fact that the only reason this particular driver has a good record is because the MANY complaints of his wearing headphones while driving have been ignored. I responded as such to Ken.
The response from Ken: “Thanks, I’ll pass that along!” and some fun dialogue that actually makes me feel heard, instead of insulted, ignored and belittled.
THIS is how you use social media to make your company look good! See how easy it is? Honestly, even if you don’t ever do anything about it, the idea is to at least appear that you care about what the public is saying about you & your company, especially one as vilified as Translink is.
Thank you, Ken, for restoring a little bit of my faith in the fact that Translink isn’t COMPLETELY retarded when it comes to social media.
I complained about a driver pulling away from the stop while I struggled with a cane to get to the door before he did.
Ken gave me a monthly pass for the inconvenience, even though there’s no policy that says they have to wait, and no real way of proving the driver even saw me.
Translink, or at least Ken Hardie, isn’t turning a deaf ear and that is important in helping people understand when things don’t go right.