This morning, The Gazette launched a new weekly column where readers submit incessantly boring rants about the most minor of uninteresting inconveniences questions and suggestions about the Montreal transit system and they get responses from an STM flak.
The first column includes complaints about metro doors closing too fast, the 162 bus schedule, and wheelchair ramps on buses.
It remains to be seen whether such a column can sustain interest to be repeated on a weekly basis, or whether it will degenerate into a bunch of random people ranting like old men about how the buses are always too full, people aren’t courteous, or that one bus showed up late that one time.
It seems as though, in choosing its title as it has, The Gazette has doomed this article to the fate you describe. “Squeaky Wheels”? That’s like having a restaurant review column called “Sent Back to the Kitchen.”
If the Gazette can judiciously filter the content, separating the gold from the chaff, then it could work. I enjoyed hearing why the Metro doors have no warning bell, but agree that the 162 question was fact-deprived.
The Journal de Montreal is not helping. Yesterday front page had an article saying that some bus drivers are making more than 100,000$ a year.
I agree with both of you. There is no point in getting into personal rants and obscure raves. This thing needs some intelligent far reaching questions if it wants to survive or even be relevant. The name is just very lame.