The Next Stop: METRO's Podcast
Episode 36: METRO Keeps Riders Connected


Denise Wendler: You know, some people are riding for 45 minutes to an hour to get to their jobs, so that’s a long time. So, in the meantime, you know, I can do some shopping or get some email done for work. Maybe I’ve jump-started my workday, or maybe I’m just catching up with some texts and emails with friends.  

Laura Whitley: Getting a jump start on the day while riding METRO. It’s now easier than ever as METRO helps customers stay connected with Wi-Fi! 

[Introduction music plays]

Laura Whitley:  I’m excited to welcome Denise Wendler—she is METRO’s Chief Information Officer—to the Next Stop.  Denise, thanks for joining us.  

Denise Wendler: Yes, thank you for having me.  

Laura Whitley: So, METRO is on its way, and METRO customers really, to being more connected while their riding METRO. Wi-Fi service is being deployed across, really, the entire system. Can you tell me a little bit more about this expansion of this program?

Denise Wendler:  Sure. It’s something we’ve been looking at for a couple of years now.  We have mobile routers on all of our vehicles, but it was time to replace them, and so we took the opportunity at that time to replace them with technology that would allow us to separate what we do on the bus that requires Wi-Fi from public Wi-Fi. So, now we’ve got the means, really, to provide that service for our customers, and we’re excited about it.  

Laura Whitley: Absolutely! And I understand that the first set {or} actually has been going in over the last month or so, and that’s really helping a little bit more each day.  Can you tell me a little bit about this rollout and how soon riders will be able to start connecting to the Wi-Fi? 

Denise Wendler: Sure! We’re doing it over the next couple of months, so probably through August, we’ll be rolling out, depending on how well things go.  We have six bus operating facilities that are located all over the City, and we’re rolling it out per facility.  That’s just a convenient way for us to do it because these buses all have to be powered on, so that’s quite an effort for operations. So, they power on all the buses, and we push the configuration, and then we troubleshoot. So, we have a gap in between each facility so that we’ve got time to troubleshoot and make sure that we’ve got everything working properly before we move onto the next bus operating facility. We’ve got our second one completed, and so we’re at about 28% now with our local and commuter service buses.  

Laura Whitley: So, the free Wi-Fi is first going to be available on the buses. We’re starting with bus? 

Denise Wendler: That’s correct. METROLift will come in the July/August time frame, and then rail will be last, and that won’t be coming online until December/January.  

Laura Whitley: Okay. So, I was—roughly before this time next year or so, it sounds like METRO customers, regardless of what mode—bus, rail, METROLift—should be able to access this free, public Wi-Fi from METRO?

Denise Wendler: That’s correct!

Laura Whitley: Very exciting! So, from a user’s perspective, how does it work? What do riders do to connect?

Denise Wendler: Well, they connect just like they would with any other Wi-Fi. So, you go to Starbucks or the airport or any place else, and it broadcasts itself. It’s broadcasting itself as “METRO Free Wi-Fi,” and we’ve already had people connecting without any questions at all. So, I think it’s relatively simple. We do ask people to accept our terms and conditions, of course.  And we do filter some things out, so no inappropriate sites, and we have to limit the streaming capabilities so that there’s plenty of bandwidth for all the users.  

Laura Whitley: Understood, understood.  But in terms of like, checking email or maybe working on a work or school assignment, is that something that a user should be able to do on this network?  

Denise Wendler: Yeah, absolutely!  You know, those are the kinds of things that people do most often do. So, they might jump-start their day with emails for work, or they might be checking personal email, catching up with their social media. Those things are all absolutely—shopping online—all of those things are certainly what we would expect.  

Laura Whitley: Fantastic! That’s sounds exciting. And then also again, from the user perspective, I know you mentioned terms and conditions. Do users have to provide any other personal information when they’re logging onto the Wi-Fi?  

Denise Wendler: We ask for an email address, and that’s really all we’re asking for.  

Laura Whitley: Okay.  

Denise Wendler: It also gives us the opportunity to communicate to people if there is something going on with the Wi-Fi. Right? Then we can tell you later that, “Oh, by the way, you know, here’s an expansion that we’re doing! Or, we’ve had a problem for the last few days.  Bear with us.”  

Laura Whitley: When they provide their email address, is that email address used for any promotions or shared with anyone? How about that?  

Denise Wendler: No. We never share our customer data with anybody. The only thing that we would use it for internally is exactly what I just told you, and it would be about the service.  

Laura Whitley: Understood. Okay. I know that’s helpful, and people are obviously, rightfully so, concerned about privacy these days.  

Denise Wendler: Sure.  

Laura Whitley: As a Chief Information Officer, you know that better than anyone! 

Denise Wendler: I get concerned about it as well.  

Laura Whitley: Understood, understood. Now I know METRO experimented with free Wi-Fi, I think with a pilot in 2019, and that was on buses and rail and even commuter buses, correct? 

Denise Wendler: That’s correct, yes. We had three different services. We had two trains, I believe. We had a couple of—we had one local service. We had one Park & Ride service, and I think that’s it. And had a pilot that lasted several months, actually.  

Laura Whitley:  Yeah, absolutely!  I remember some users really appreciated it at the time.  What are some of the things that we learned that have enabled and helped with roll out for this program?  

Denise Wendler: Sure, yeah. One of the things—I mean, we knew it would work, right?  That’s what the technology is meant to do. But how smoothly would it roll out? And how much troubleshooting would we have to do? And, you know, as you can imagine, there are a myriad of things. Can we get good data? Will we be able to actually tell the Board how we’re doing, and do we have more success on commuter than we do on local? You know, just all that data information that people are always wanting to know. And those are still some things that we’re working on. Because what we learned is that we don’t get much data out of this equipment, so that means METRO’s staff is going to have to marry it up with some other data that we have to try to draw out information and build some charts and grafts and just see, you know, how well is this being received? We also learned a lot about how people use it, right? And we talked about that before.  It’s mostly email, social media, that kind of thing.  

Laura Whitley: Absolutely! And so, does METRO have the capability—are you able to see how many people are accessing and using the service and just kind of the growth of that?  

Denise Wendler: Well, that’s what we’re working on, is being able to see, and we want to be able to do that per route. But that’s just not data that comes naturally to this technology, so we’re having to figure that out. We can see that people have connected and for how long, but we don’t know how many users that is at this juncture or necessarily which routes. So, that’s a work in progress. That’s going to take us a few months to get staff working on that and sort that all out.  

Laura Whitley: Understood.  How does a customer know if the vehicle they’re traveling on has the capability?  

Denise Wendler: Well, first of all, it’s going to broadcast, right? So, you can just look at your Wi-Fi networks available, and it’s going to show it to you. That’s one way. But marketing has also created some decals that are going on the inside of the bus—I think later there’ll be some on the outside of the bus as well. But if there is a decal on the inside of your bus, that’s a good indicator that you’ve got Wi-Fi.  

Laura Whitley: Understood. Well, yeah. That makes sense.  I was like, “Oh, duh!  That’s what happens whenever you’re….”  Yeah. “Do you want to connect to that Wi-Fi?” Well, it’s pretty exciting, you know, particularly after we’ve gone through this last year, and the digital divide has sort of been made very apparent, and awareness of that has been raised, that METRO is going to be able to help kind of close some of those gaps, at least for while people are utilizing the service.  

Denise Wendler: So right now, we’re just offering it on the buses and hoping that that really contributes to a positive riding experience.  

Laura Whitley: And you speak of that, and it’s a good point to make, Denise.  Particularly, you know, more people are going to be returning to the office, we’ve been told over the coming months, and you know, it’s anticipated more kids will be in the classroom when school starts up again in the last summer/early fall. You know, from your perspective, how does this enhance the rider experience?  

Denise Wendler:  Well, I think that there’s a couple of different ways. I think, you know, people are connected all the time, so this means that I’m not going to have to use whatever my data is on my cellphone plan, you know?  I’ll be able to be connected. And you know, some people are riding for 45 minutes to an hour to get to their jobs, so that’s a long time. So, in the meantime, you know, I can do some shopping or get some email done for work.  Maybe I’ve jump-started my workday, or maybe I’m just catching up with some texts and emails with friends. You know, I just think it’s nothing more than an improvement to the rider experience.  

Laura Whitley: Absolutely. And the point you raised about data is a good one! I’ve got teenagers. I know how expensive that data can be and how the younger crowd really can use it! So….

Denise Wendler: That’s right! And it’s become an expectation these days that there will be a free Wi-Fi, so we’re just getting in the groove.  

Laura Whitley: Understood, understood. Well, that’s exciting! So, Wi-Fi, free—“METRO Free Wi-Fi:  Coming soon and already available in some places!”—I guess, is the headline.  

Denise Wendler: That’s right! No, we’re just very pleased to be able to add this new service, and we hope that people will give us some feedback on it.  

Laura Whitley: They sure can! And they can even listen to the Next Stop while using the free public Wi-Fi.  

Denise Wendler: That’s right! Good point!

Laura Whitley: Wonderful!  Well, Denise Wendler, METRO’s Chief Information Officer, thank you for joining the Next Stop.  

Denise Wendler: Thank you so much for having me, Laura.  

Laura Whitley: That’s all for this edition of the Next Stop. I’m Laura Whitley. If you’d like to check out more episodes, you can find them on our website or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud, Spotify, or Google Play. And, if you could please do us a favor and leave a rating or a review, that’ll help us out a lot. Until next time, drive less, do more with METRO.  

[Music]