The online customer review platform Yelp and the New York public transit system: A match made in heaven?
Kriston Capps provides some insight into the seedy and unseemly world of Yelp reviews for New York public transit.
Capps starts the survey with the example of the M23 bus, which earns some "simply savage" reviews. The first example:
“The M23 is like a bad boyfriend: he's present just enough to make you want more, but when it comes down to it, he's undependable, and will let you down without a drop of remorse,” writes Ting S., summoning her inner Adele to strike back at the bus that can’t commit.
Capps notes that due to the nature of Yelp, reviewers aren't just "expressing themselves"—they're also competing with their fellow commuters/reviewers. He writes:
"Hence a one-star review that calls the G Train in Brooklyn 'the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition' and something that “lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge.” (Friend, if you’re trying to get to the English department at Columbia, you need to take the 1 train.)"
The article includes a sprinkling of what we can only imagine is an ocean of unfettered opinions and small regard for syntax. My favorite: "On New York Penn Station: 'You will smell things that the nose was never meant to experience.' —N.M. (one star)."
FULL STORY: New Yorkers Do Not Hold Back on Yelp Reviews of Public Transit
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