Metro riders apparently have less to grumble about this year, according to the number of complaints coming into the transit agency — unless they ride the bus. Metro received an average of 3,313 complaints a month this year, dropping 10 percent from an average of 3,690 per month average last year. Fewer complaints have come in for Metrorail and MetroAccess, falling about 18 percent each.

But Metrobus is actually getting more complaints — 5 percent more even as the overall gripes are dropping. In the first eight months of 2011, Metrobus logged an average of 1,368 complaints per month, up from 1,299 the year before.