English: District of Columbia Department of Transportation (d-dot) logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I’m a big fan of transportation agencies using social media to reach their customers & stakeholders.  But often you will find many of these agencies send out tweets and Facebook posts that are plain boring and borderline irritating.  Fortunately, some agencies do understand the importance of adding humor and fun to keep their messages appealing yet entertaining without looking too mundane.  Among a handful of agencies that do this so well is @DDOTDC (aka DC Department of Transportation). They always know how to mix up the seriousness of a bland transportation message with a little bit of humor to make it easy for the end-user to consume, esp. at the end of a long day.  The communications team at @DDOTDC has done a commendable job on many occasions and today is not an exception.

Like every time it happens, today DC metropolitan area got into panic-mode when snow flurries started hitting the ground. As folks left offices/workplaces early, the vehicle traffic started building up on the streets. So, to lighten up the mood and poke a bit of fun of the traditional behavior of DC metro residents, the @DDOTDC team pushed out a series of fun tweets titled Top 5 signs it’s snowing in DC”:

https://twitter.com/DDOTDC/status/294905698196811776

https://twitter.com/DDOTDC/status/294906098425679873

https://twitter.com/DDOTDC/status/294906463334301696

https://twitter.com/DDOTDC/status/294906684915208194

https://twitter.com/DDOTDC/status/294906972103393280

https://twitter.com/DDOTDC/status/294905698196811776

https://twitter.com/DDOTDC/status/294906098425679873

https://twitter.com/DDOTDC/status/294906463334301696

https://twitter.com/DDOTDC/status/294906684915208194

https://twitter.com/DDOTDC/status/294906972103393280

And you see my point? How refreshing is it to see a public agency do something like this instead of just sending out plain boring traffic congestion updates during an already crazy time on the streets?  If you happen to serve as a communications in-charge at any transportation agency, you will be thrilled to see such great levels of audience engagement from the community for each one of these messages (i.e., retweets, Favs, etc). So, if you get a chance, say “Thank You” to the @DDOTDC team for their fun yet sincere community service and all the hard work they put in to keeps us safe on the roads.

(Source: Jalopnik)

According to the photographer, the owner of this camel parks like this every day. Wait, why are we feeling this sense of deja vu? [BP]

According to the photographer, the owner of this BMW 335i parks like this every day. [Imageshack via Reddit]

Note: TransportGooru loves Jalopnik for offering such “priceless” photos.

(Source: Laughing Squid via TransitFan@Twitter)

photo by Audrey Penven

Some brilliant pranksters installed beautiful swings on BART last night. What apparently happened, according to witnesses, was a team of six or so people hopped on to a north-bound train from 24th Street station in San Francisco around 8:30 p.m. last night, installed three matching red swings, and then exited at 16th Street leaving their swings behind for public consumption.Luckily, photos were taken to record the event.

photo by Neiltron

Note: TransportGooru, though amused by this prank, is definitely happy for the BART riders who had a little more “fun” on their trip, courstey of these pranksters.  Now wishing for some of these folks to show up here in DC’s Metro system, which sorely lacks any form of entertainment (inside and outside).   Commuting by metro in DC, though tranquil, lacks the fun element, except when some frustrated passengers get into fist fights.

To kick start the weekend in a nice way, here is a crazy, funny & very biased (depending on who is looking at this) compilation of some shocking videos that involve our women drivers.   Is this the reason why women are not allowed to drive in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia?  Can someone tell me how these women drivers on the video managed to survive on the roads and lived to make such a great contribution for the making of this video?  Also, I am now looking for a similar version featuring male drivers for comparision purposes.  Any insights into finding such a priceless gem will be really appreciated.