The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Authority (Metro) respects your privacy. The following describes our Privacy Policy in relation to the information you submit via metro.net, and how it is used.
About Nextrip
Nextrip is a service designed to help take the guesswork out of bus and rail arrivals and help you to get to your stop at the same time as your bus or train. Nextrip uses satellite technology to find the specific location of a bus or train; then sends the estimated arrival time to a particular stop via cell phone, website or other mobile device.
Nextrip uses Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) technology and advanced computer modeling to track buses and trains on their routes. Taking into account the actual position of the transit vehicles, their intended stops, and the typical traffic patterns, Nextrip predicts arrivals with a high degree of accuracy. Estimates are updated constantly as vehicles are tracked.
Personal Information
We may request personal information when you submit comments on Metro service or when you submit videos in participating in a survey, poll, blog or live chat. You may also be asked to provide information when subscribing to an email newsletter, email alerts (through GovDelivery) or purchasing Metro goods and services online. This personal information may be in the form of your name, email address, phone number, street address, etc. For example, you may be asked to provide an email address and name if you'd like the Agency to respond to input provided via feedback form or survey. The personal information you voluntarily provide is used to fulfill a request. Metro may use this information to inform you of service information, promotions or other news of value to you as a transit customer. Metro or its contracted vendors do not sell, trade, or rent your personal information to anyone, or disclose personal information except:
When the purpose and manner of the disclosure has been disclosed to you prior to your providing the information; or When disclosure is required by law.
Cookies
Cookies are small files which can be placed on your computer by Web servers when you visit certain sites. These files may contain information such as ID's and passwords, personal information, or preferences. During your visit, the server can access these files to help personalize pages or allow you to affect e-commerce more easily. Metro does not set cookies from any page in the metro.net domain. Our e-commerce and lobbyist registration pages set cookies with login information only for the convenience of customers who use these areas repeatedly. If you are concerned about privacy, you may set up your browser not to accept cookies, or you can delete them from your hard drive once you leave the section. By using Metro's website, you consent to the collection and use of information as described above. You will be informed of any changes to the policy as it relates to your personal information.
Cross Linking
Metro provides links to other government transit related websites as a service to our customers and does not share any personal information with these entities. Note that Metro does not endorse or take responsibility for information contained on those sites.
Log Activity for Statistical Analysis
Metro tracks activity and site function on its web site in the form of log files on its web servers. These logs are analyzed by Google Analytics, a third-party statistical analysis software solution, providing visitor activity trend data. The data gathered is used to better organize information contained onsite and to improve the user experience for our customers. This information is not used to identify our visitors on an individual level.
'Go Metro' Mobile App
The application uses your precise current location via GPS (global positioning system) or other network location sources like Wi-Fi and cell towers. In order to use these location services they must be turned on and available to your device. Location data provided by any external services (such as Google Maps or the Metro Trip Planner) is for basic navigational purposes only and is not intended to be relied upon in situations where precise location information is needed. Neither Metro, nor its agents, nor any of its content providers guarantees the availability, accuracy, completeness, reliability, or timeliness of stock information, location data or any other data displayed by any external services.
Metro does not collect nor store personal information from customers downloading, installing or using our 'Go Metro' mobile applications for iPhone, iPad, or Android. Customers who want to provide feedback via the 'Report A Bug' button in the application have the option to provide contact information ONLY if they'd like a reply. Device model and current operating system is collected for troubleshooting, this response is sent by email.
In the event the application crashes, a ‘crash log file’ is automatically generated and sent to Go Metro’s cloud server. Device model, current system version, time of crash, and crash report (a text file which consists of errors/exceptions logs on what cause the app crashed) is collected for troubleshooting - no personal information is collected or sent to Go Metro cloud servers.
Event tracking is utilized to provide information for the My Metro feature and to support improved future application design. Various buttons, links, and actions are logged and sent to Google Analytics server to determine feature usage, content usage, and app behavior. If a data connection is not available, data is temporarily stored on device until a data connection is established, at which point, data is sent to Google Analytics servers - no personal information is collected or sent to Google Analytics.
The following is a complete list of all events the app is tracking and sending to Google Analytics:
- Trip Planner: input text into search box, opening the contacts list, performing a search, select 'Trip From',select 'Trip To', opens Nextrip arrivals, and opens a live map
- Bottom Navigation: open My Metro, open Maps, open Menu, and open Map Options
- Top Navigation: Open Menu
- Map View: select Metro Map, select Street Map, and select 511 traffic
- My Metro: select any previous itineraries, select any favorites trips, maps, stations/stops, or lines
- More: call Transit Info phone number, call Metro Transit Security phone number, call TAP Help phone number, turn on/off map notifications, and turn on/off Nextrip notifications