EL METRO TRANSIT ONLINE PRIVACY POLICY
Effective Date: January 1, 2021
To download and/or print this Online Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”), Click here.
El Metro Transit has adopted this Privacy Policy to provide you with information as to how El Metro Transit collects, uses, and shares Personal Information (defined below) about you, including the choices we offer with
respect to that information, and applies to your use of any of our websites, emails and online services that post this Privacy Policy (“Service(s)”), regardless of how you access or use it. It does not apply to our data
collection activities offline or otherwise outside of the Service (unlessotherwise stated below or at the time of collection). For certain Services,there may be additional notices about information practices and choices. Please read those additional privacy disclosures to understand how they apply to you. This Privacy Policy is subject to prospective change at any time, and your use of the Service indicates your consent to the privacy policy posted at the time of use.
INFORMATION COLLECTION
Information that El Metro Transit, its service providers and/or Third-Party Services (defined below) may collect may include personally identifiable information, which is information that identifies you personally, such as your
first and last name, e-mail address, phone number, and address (“Personal Information”). In addition, Personal Information, once “De-identified” (i.e., the removal or modification of the personally identifiable elements, or the extraction non-personally identifiable elements including through anonymization, pseudonymization, and/or hashing) is non-Personal Information. Non-Personal Information may be collected, used and shared without obligation to you, except as prohibited by applicable law.
El Metro Transit, its service providers, and/or Third-Party Services may also automatically collect certain information about you when you access or use the Service (“Usage Information”). Usage Information may include IP
address, device identifier, browser type, operating system, information about your use of the Service, and data regarding network connected hardware (e.g., computer or mobile device). Except to the extent required by applicable
law, El Metro Transit does not consider Usage Information (including, without limitation, unique device identifiers) to be Personal Information.
The methods that may be used on the Service to collect Usage Information may include:
• Log Information: Log information is data about your use of the Service, such as IP address, browser type, Internet service provider, referring/exit pages, operating system, date/time stamps, and related data, and may be stored in log files.
• Information Collected by Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies: Cookies, web beacons (also known as “tracking pixels”), embedded scripts, and other tracking technologies now and hereafter developed (“Tracking Technologies”) may be used to collect information about interactions with the Service or e-mails, including information about your browsing and purchasing behavior.
Cookies
A cookie is a small text file that is stored on a user’s device, which may be session ID cookies or tracking cookies. Session cookies make it easier for you to navigate the Service and expire when you close your browser. Tracking cookies remain longer and help in understanding how you use the Service and enhance your user experience. Cookies may remain on your hard drive for an extended period. If you use your browser’s method of blocking or removing cookies, some but not all types of cookies may be deleted and/or blocked and as a result some features, and functionalities of the Service may not work. A Flash cookie (or locally shared object) is a data file which may be placed on a device via the Adobe Flash plug-in that may be built-in to or downloaded by you to your device. HTML5 cookies can be programmed through HTML5 local storage. Flash cookies and HTML5 cookies are locally stored on your device other than in the browser and browser settings won’t control them. To identify certain types of local shared objects on your device and adjust your settings, please visit: www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager.html. The Service may associate some or all these types of cookies with your devices.
Web Beacons (“Tracking Pixels”)
Web beacons are small graphic images, also known as “Internet tags” or “clear gifs,” embedded in web pages and e-mail messages. Web beacons may be used, without limitation, to count the number of visitors to the Service, to monitor how users navigate the Service, and to count content views.
Embedded Scripts
An embedded script is programming code designed to collect information about your interactions with the Service. It is temporarily downloaded onto your computer from our web server, or from a third party with which we work and is active only while you are connected to the Service and deleted or deactivated thereafter.
Some information about your use of the Service, and certain third-party services, may be collected using tracking technologies, including those that may track Usage Information across time and services and used by El Metro
Transit and third parties for purposes such as to associate different devices you use and deliver relevant ads and/or other content to you on the Service and certain third-party services.
INFORMATION USAGE
When you sign on to our Service or request a quote for our services, we collect your name, company name, contact information, profile and preference information. This information is used to support your interaction with our site,
to deliver requested information and to contact you again about other services and products we offer. This information will not be shared, sold or exchanged with outside companies, other than our related companies and service providers except as expressly provided in this Privacy Policy, or otherwise at the point of collection, or you otherwise consent.
If you give us your postal address, we may send you periodic mailings with information on our new products and services. If you supply us with your telephone number, you may receive telephone contact from us with information, such as regarding orders you have placed, new products and services or information on upcoming events. We value your opinions and comments. You may have the opportunity to give us your feedback through our online form. In requesting information, we may ask for your name, address, zip code, or e-mail address so that we can
appropriately identify you. El Metro Transit may use information about you, including Personal Information, for any purposes not inconsistent with El Metro Transit’s statements under this Privacy Policy, or otherwise made by us in writing at the point of collection, and not prohibited by applicable law, including to allow you to participate in the features we offer on the Service, facilitate, manage and personalize your online experience, to receive, investigate and address passenger, customer, or third party inquiries or complaints; process your registration, manage your account, and/or upload your Submissions (defined below), transact with you and respond to your questions and requests, serve you advertising, for El Metro’s parent company, First Transit, or the City of Laredo’ (defined below) marketing and other purposes, tailor the content, advertisements, and offers, fulfill other purposes disclosed at the time you
provide information or otherwise where we are legally permitted or required to do so, determine your location and manage digital content rights, and prevent and address fraud, breach of policies or terms, and threats or harm.
PERSONAL INFORMATION WE SHARE WITH THIRD PARTIES
El Metro Transit may share non-Personal Information, (provided that El Metro Transit is aware of no restrictions of El Metro Transit’s use, if any), with third parties or El Metro Transit’s affiliates (“El Metro Transit Affiliates”) for any
purpose not prohibited by applicable law. El Metro Transit’s sharing of Personal Information is, however, subject to the following:
Marketing: We may use your Personal Information to send you marketing communications. Absent your consent, El Metro Transit will not share your Personal Information with third parties, other than El Metro Transit Affiliates,
for their own direct marketing purposes, except in connection with Corporate Transactions (defined below).
Your Disclosure or Consent: Your activities on the Service may, by their nature, result in the sharing of your Personal Information (as well as your other Personal Information and your non-Personal Information) with third parties and by engaging in these activities you consent to that and further sharing and disclosure to third parties. Such third-party data receipt and collection is subject to the privacy and business practices of that third party, not El Metro Transit.
In addition, El Metro Transit may share your Personal Information (as well as your non-Personal Information), in connection with or during negotiations of any proposed or actual financing of our business, or merger, purchase, sale, joint venture, or any other type of acquisition or business combination of all or any portion of El Metro Transit assets, or transfer of all or a portion of El Metro’s business to another company, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding (“Corporate Transactions”).
SUBMISSIONS
The materials you provide to El Metro Transit (including feedback and suggestions) or post, upload, input or submit to any El Metro Transit Service, or associated Third-Party Services, (collectively “Submissions”) will be considered “public” and will be accessible by anyone, including El Metro Transit. Any Personal Information included in Submissions is not subject to our usage or sharing limitations, or other obligations under this Privacy Policy
or otherwise, and may be fully used and shared by El Metro Transit and third parties not prohibited by applicable law. We encourage you to exercise caution when making decisions about what you disclose in such public areas.
SAFEGUARDS TO PROTECT THE LOSS, MISUSE, OR ALTERATION OF YOUR INFORMATION
El Metro Transit takes reasonable measures to protect Personal Information collected on the Service from loss, theft, misuse and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction. Nevertheless, transmission via the
Internet and online digital storage are not completely secure and El Metro Transit does not guarantee the security of your information collected through the Service.
CHILDREN’S PRIVACY
We believe that protecting the privacy of children is very important. Our Services are not intended for individuals under the age of 18. In accordance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”), we do not
knowingly collect or store any personal information, via the Service, from children under the age of 13. If we discover we have received any personal information from a child under the age of 13 via the Service in a manner not
permitted by COPPA, we will delete such data to the extent required by COPPA. If you believe that we have collected any information from anyone under the age of 13, please contact us at the contact points specified below.
EEOC / AFFIRMATIVE ACTION REPORTING
In conjunction with laws and regulations enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”), the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”) and similar state and local regulatory agencies, we may ask you to provide us with self-identifying information (such as veteran status, gender, and ethnicity). Providing such self-identifying information is voluntary, but if you do provide us with such information, we may submit that information, to the EEOC, the OFCCP and similar state and local regulatory agencies or otherwise use or disclose it for business-related purposes, including, without limitation, responding to information requests, fulfilling regulatory reporting requirements, and defending against employment related complaints.
THIRD-PARTY CONTENT, THIRD-PARTY SERVICES, SOCIAL
FEATURES, ADVERTISING AND ANALYTICS.
The Service may include hyperlinks to, or include on or in connection with websites, locations, platforms, applications, or services operated by third parties (“Third-Party Service(s)”). These Third-Party Services may use their own cookies, web beacons, and other tracking technology to independently collect information about you and may solicit Personal Information from you. Certain functionalities on the Service permit interactions that you initiate between the Service and certain Third-Party Services, such as third-party social networks (“Social Features”). Examples of Social Features include enabling you to send content such as contacts and photos between the Service and a Third-Party Service; “liking” or “sharing” El Metro Transit’s content; logging in to the Service using your Third-Party Service account (e.g., using Facebook Connect to sign-in to the Service); and to otherwise connect
the Service to a Third-Party Service (e.g., to pull or push information to or from the Service). If you use Social Features, and potentially other ThirdParty Services, information you post or provide access to may be publicly
displayed on the Service or by the Third-Party Service that you use. Also, both El Metro Transit and the third party may have access to certain information about you and your use of the Service and any Third-Party Service.
El Metro Transit may engage and work with service providers and other third parties to serve advertisements on the Service and/or on third-party services.
Some of these ads may be tailored to your interest based on your browsing of the Service and elsewhere on the Internet, which may include use of precise location and/or cross-device data, sometimes referred to as “interest-based advertising” and “online behavioral advertising” (“Interest-based Advertising”), which may include sending you an ad on a third-party service after you have left the Service (i.e., “retargeting”). El Metro Transit may also
use Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, or other service providers for analytics services. These analytics services may use cookies and other tracking technologies to help El Metro Transit analyze Service users and how they use
the Service. Information generated by these services (e.g., your IP address and other usage information) may be transmitted to and stored by these service providers on servers in the U.S. (or elsewhere) and these service
providers may use this information for purposes such as evaluating your use of the Service, compiling statistic reports on the Service’s activity, and providing other services relating to Service activity and other Internet usage.
El Metro Transit is not responsible for, and makes no representations regarding, the policies or business practices of any third parties, including, without limitation, analytics service providers and Third-Party Services associated with the Service, and encourages you to familiarize yourself with and consult their privacy policies and terms of use.
CHOICES: TRACKING AND COMMUNICATIONS OPTIONS
You can opt out of receiving certain promotional communications (emails or text messaging) from El Metro Transit at any time by (i) for promotional emails, following the instructions provided in emails to click on the unsubscribe
link, or if available by changing your communication preferences by logging onto your account; and (ii) for text messages, following the instructions provided in text messages from El Metro Transit to text the word, “STOP”.
Please note that your opt-out is limited to the e-mail address or phone number used and will not affect subsequent subscriptions. If you opt-out of only certain communications, other subscription communications may
continue. Even if you opt out of receiving promotional communications, El Metro Transit may, subject to applicable law, continue to send you nonpromotional communications, such as those about your account, transactions,
servicing, or El Metro Transit’s ongoing business relations.
Regular cookies may generally be disabled or removed by tools available as part of most commercial browsers, and in some instances blocked in the future by selecting certain settings. Browsers offer different functionalities and
options, so you may need to set them separately. Also, tools from commercial browsers may not be effective regarding Flash cookies (also known as locally shared objects), HTML5 cookies, or other Tracking Technologies. For
information on disabling Flash cookies, go to Adobe’s website http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/disable-third-party-localshared.html. Please be aware that if you disable or remove these technologies, some parts of the Service may not work and that when you revisit the Service your ability to limit browser-based tracking technologies is subject to your browser settings and limitations.
Your browser settings may allow you to automatically transmit a “Do Not Track” signal to online services you visit. Note, however, there is no consensus among industry participants as to what “Do Not Track” means in this context. Like many online services, El Metro Transit currently does not alter our practices when we receive a “Do Not Track” signal from a visitor’s browser. You may exercise choices regarding the use of cookies from Google Analytics
by going to https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout or downloading the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on. You may exercise choices regarding the use of cookies from Adobe Analytics by going to http://www.adobe.com/privacy/opt-out.html under the section labeled “Tell our customers not to measure your use of their web sites or tailor their online ads for you.” You may choose whether to receive some Interest-based Advertising by submitting opt-outs. Some of the advertisers and service providers that perform advertising-related services for us, and third parties may participate in the Digital Advertising Alliance’s (“DAA”) Self-Regulatory Program for Online Behavioral Advertising. To learn more about how you can exercise certain choices regarding Interest-based Advertising, including use of cross-device data for serving ads, visit http://www.aboutads.info/choices/, and http://www.aboutads.info/appchoices for information on the DAA’s optout program specifically for mobile apps (including use of precise location for third party ads). Some of these companies may also be members of the Network Advertising Initiative (“NAI”). To learn more about the NAI and your opt-out options for their members,
see http://www.networkadvertising.org/choices/. Please be aware that, even if you can opt out of certain kinds of Interest-based Advertising, you may continue to receive other types of ads. Opting out only means that those
selected members should no longer deliver certain Interest-based Advertising to you but does not mean you will no longer receive any targeted content and/or ads (e.g., from other ad networks). Also, if your browsers are
configured to reject cookies when you visit these opt-out webpages, or you subsequently erase your cookies, use a different device, or web browser or use a non-browser-based method of access (e.g., mobile app), your NAI /
DAA browser-based opt-out may not, or may no longer, be effective. El Metro Transit supports the ad industry’s 2009 Self-regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising and expects that ad networks El Metro Transit directly engages to serve you Interest-based Advertising will do so as well, though El Metro Transit cannot guaranty their compliance. El Metro Transit is not responsible for effectiveness of, or compliance with, any third-parties’ opt-out options or programs or the accuracy of their statements regarding their programs.
El Metro Transit may provide web pages or other mechanisms allowing you to delete, correct, or update some of your information, and potentially certain other information about you (e.g., profile and account information). El Metro Transit will make good faith efforts to make requested changes in El Metro Transit’s then-active databases as soon as practicable, but it is not always possible to completely change, remove or delete all your information or public postings from El Metro Transit’s databases and residual and/or cached data may remain archived thereafter. Further, we reserve the right to retain data (a) as required by applicable law; and (b) for so long as reasonably necessary to fulfill the purposes for which the data is retained except to the extent prohibited by applicable law.
CONSENT
By visiting or otherwise using the Service, you agree to the posted Terms of Use and consent to El Metro Transit’s data collection, use, and disclosure practices, and other activities as described in this Privacy Policy, and any
additional privacy statements that may be posted on an applicable part of the Service. If you do not agree and consent, please discontinue use of the Service, and uninstall any applications.
INTERNATIONAL TRANSFER
El Metro Transit is based in the U.S. and the information El Metro Transit and its service providers collect is governed by U.S. law. If you are accessing the Service from outside of the U.S., please be aware that information collected through the Service may be transferred to, processed, stored, and used in the U.S. Data protection laws in the U.S. may be different from those of your country of residence. Your use of the Service or provision of any information therefore constitutes your consent to the transfer to and from, processing, usage, sharing, and storage of your information, including Personal Information, in the U.S. as set forth in this Privacy Policy.
CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact El Metro Transit at mgarcia5@ci.laredo.tx.us or at El Metro Transit, 1301 Farragut, Laredo, Texas 78041 (Attention: Monica Garcia).
