Copyright

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority (Metro) provides transit services and Agency information as a resource to the public and transit customers in Southern California via the internet at www.metro.net, thesource.metro.net, developer.metro.net, and www.mta.net. Any other use, including reproduction, modification, distribution, transmission, republication or display is strictly prohibited. All content contained on this Metro web site is the property of Metro and is protected by applicable copyright laws.

This information includes, but is not limited to, text in the form of HTML, Adobe® Acrobat PDF files, Microsoft® Office family documents, logos and other trademarked items, maps, graphics or photographic images, marketing materials, including, without limitation, advertisement and database or application content.

The Metro logo is a registered trademark of Metro. Metro trademarks may not be used in connection with any product or service that is not Metro’s, in any manner that is likely to cause confusion among transit customers, or in any manner that disparages or discredits Metro. Other products or company names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners. Metro diligently protects it intellectual property and will take all steps necessary to prevent non-permitted uses, including, without limitation, responding to claims of copyright infringement. Metro will promptly process and investigate notices of alleged infringement and will take appropriate actions provided at law or in equity.

Metro commissions artists to incorporate artworks into a wide array of transportation projects throughout Los Angeles County. The use of any artwork, artist, project information and images contained on this site is strictly prohibited without the prior written consent of the Metro Art department.

Use of Metro information contained on this website including reproduction, modification, distribution, transmission, republication, display or performance is prohibited without the express written consent of Metro. This prohibition against unlawful or unauthorized reproduction is intended to include all domestic use as well as protections afforded under any international forum or law, including, but not limited to G.A.T.T.

To obtain written consent to use artwork, project information, photographic images, logos, maps or other graphics used on the Metro web site (collectively, the “Artwork”), contact the Metro webmaster. Basic usage information, including a description of what the item(s) will be used for, contact information including name, company or organization and publication or project name should be included for each request.

Metro makes no representations of any kind regarding the content of the Metro web site. The information and Artwork contained in the Metro web site is provided “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT.

This web site is created and controlled by Metro in the State of California, USA. As such, the laws of the State of California shall govern all matters arising from or relating to the use and operation of the Metro web site and interpretation of the terms and conditions contained herein.

Privacy Policy

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.

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 or 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:

1. When the purpose and manner of the disclosure has been disclosed to you prior to your providing the information;
2. 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.

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.

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.

Video Specifications and Guidelines

Metro provides video to our customers via our public-facing website, metro.net. Metro currently uploads all videos to YouTube and embeds them on our site.

Video should be provided in the following specifications

• Dimensions - 640 x 480 pixels; 1280 x 720 pixels
• Provide highest quality source content in AVI, WMV or QuickTime format encoded for web use (uncompressed content will be too large); and/or
• Refer to YouTube specifications for uploading videos and size/duration requirements; and
• Provide captions in .SBV or .SBT format for publishing. For additional caption preparation details including sample files, visit YouTube's website.

All videos considered for addition to metro.net must meet the following requirements

• All video or multimedia must be approved by Communications (your Marketing Account Executive) for content;
• Visually, all content must adhere to Metro branding standards (Metro Style Guide and logos provided upon request);
• To adhere to Section 508 Accessibility Guidelines that bind all government agencies, all videos must contain captioning. This transcript or script despites dialog and action contained in the video for use by customers with disabilities using assistive technology; and
• Should contain an approved Metro logo intro and outro (fade in/fade out provided upon request)

Assets for video

(Click on thumbnail for larger size and to download)

Metro Brand Guideline for Videos	Metro Brand Guideline
	M Mark Opening JPG Format 640×480
	M Mark Closing JPG Format 640×480
	M Mark Closing (El Pasajero) JPG Format 640×480
	M Mark Opening JPG Format 1280 × 720
	M Mark Closing JPG Format 1280 × 720
	M Mark Closing (El Pasajero) JPG Format 1280 × 720
metrovideoassets.zip	Metro Video Assets Zip File with these file types JPGs, EPS, PDF

Photo Specifications and Guidelines

Metro provides photos to our customers via our public-facing website, metro.net. Photos should be optimized for web in JPEG format.

Photos should be provided in the following specifications

• Maximum width - 600 pixels, maximum height - 600 pixels
• Portrait, landscape, or square ratio
• 72 DPI resolution optimized for web at VERY HIGH Quality (80%)
• Metro web staff can also optimize photography, please supply photos to Account Managers

All photos considered for addition to metro.net must meet the following requirements

• Do not include captions (text) on the final photo, text captions should be handled by HTML
• Photos with people should be accompanied by a model release
• You must have rights and give Metro rights to display photo

Browsers & Plugins

Metro.net is best viewed with the most current version of all major browsers. Please note that technology constantly changes, so we’ve established the following baseline with which our Internet content should be viewed.

Browsers

• Internet Explorer 7 and above;
• Mozilla Firefox 3 and above;
• Apple Safari; and
  
• Google Chrome

Plug-ins

In addition to information provided on standard web pages, Metro offers content in various formats. Although not required to access our core information, this supplemental information requires plug-ins*, or add-ons to your standard browser in order to access.

Metro.net is best viewed with the most current version of all recommended plugins. To utilize this supplemental information, you may be prompted to download the following plug-ins or software:

• Adobe Acrobat Reader – provides the ability to access Portable Document Format (pdf) files. Examples of added browser functionality includes (but not limited to) viewing, printing, zoom and form completion;
• Adobe Flash Player – provides the ability to access Shockwave Files (swf) via your browser. Flash files offer the added capability of viewing interactive content such as animation, video, self-contained multimedia experiences. 99 percent of all browsers have this plug-in installed;
• Apple QuickTime Player – provides the ability to access QuickTime (.mov) format files;and
• Windows Media Player – provides the ability for users to access Windows media (.wmv, mpeg, etc) files from within your browser

 Applications

• Microsoft Office applications – a small number of files (%) are published by Metro in the Word, PowerPoint or Excel format (.doc, .ppt, xls). These files required that the user have these Office applications resident on their computer to view these files.

Accessibility

A document that is accessible according to standards associations and software validation also requires appropriate tools to then read and present the content to the user.  Unfortunately, the various assistive devices and software available have varying levels of functionality and thus might not be able to fully support an accessible document.

Compare the situation to a wheelchair ramp used to make a building accessible.  Although the ramp provides the components for access, an individual with mobility challenges still requires a wheelchair to navigate the ramp and access the building.  In the case of this project then, the accessibility hooks within the PDF and HTML documents are like the ramp, while the user’s screen reader software is the wheelchair.

The following is a list of commercial and open source software, along with some general recommendations and limitations:

*A plug-in is an application that provides additional functionality to the standard browser.