The MTA is gloating about a big jump to nearly 50% in customer satisfaction, but hang on: The number still lags far behind both Washington and Chicago, which are roughly 30 percentage points higher.
New York’s mass transit agency sets the bar for happy campers at a simple majority, and it’s close. The number of pleased subway passengers zoomed from 34.8% in 2018 to 49.3% last year; for bus riders, the increase was less dramatic — 49.8%, up from 43.8%.
The figures come from Customers Count, a passenger survey that MTA launched about a year ago under transit chief Andy Byford, who resigned Thursday.
During Byford’s two years on the job, the on-time rates for the subway improved and fewer trains were in the repair shop.
“System satisfaction is at the highest level since the launch of Customers Count, and very close to the key threshold of having a majority of customers satisfied,” MTA’s market research arm said in its January report to board members.
One satisfied customer is Stan Golubchik, 50, of Hoboken, who takes the subway for both work and pleasure.
“It depends on the line actually,” said Golubchik, standing outside the stop at 42nd Street and Sixth Avenue at noon Friday. “The F and M are good and consistent.”
Then, he rattled off a list of the pluses: clean stations, the MTA’s efforts to communicate better with riders and new technology, including the smart device fare payment system OMNY.
Golubchik chalks up the smoother rides to the millions of dollars that MTA has poured into improvements, New York’s robust economy and politicians pulling out the stops to meet riders’ higher expectations that came with the hike in fares last spring.
In Chicago, customer satisfaction stands at 85% for trains and buses — the highest since 2011. And spokesman Brian Steele points out that 91% of riders would recommend the system.
Washington’s Metro system is coasting along, too. The numbers for both bus and rail hover around 75% and spring to 80% every so often. Fiscal 2020 is off to a strong start: 79% for trains and 76% for buses.
Unlike New York, Washington doesn’t have a specific goal for customer satisfaction — only a general one, “to show a continually improving customer satisfaction score,” said spokesman Ian Jannetta.
One way Washington is working to improve customer satisfaction is by giving riders their fare back if they have a rush-hour trip that takes 10 minutes or more than it should. The system, Jannetta explained, automatically measures a rider’s travel time from start to finish.
Neusa Silva would be thrilled if the MTA gave her a refund for every time her bus was late. Once a week, she waits and waits for the QM4 express bus to take her back to Queens from her part-time cleaning job in Manhattan.
On Friday, the schedule puts the arrival time at about 12:20 p.m. at the stop on Sixth Avenue, between 44th and 45th streets. She was still waiting a half-hour later.
“It’s always late,” Silva, 70, said with an edge to her voice.
Still, the MTA can take comfort that customer satisfaction is headed in the right direction: Over six years, San Francisco’s BART system saw its score tumble — from 74% to 56%.
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January 26, 2020 at 06:27AM
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MTA has more happy riders — but still lags behind D.C., Chicago - New York Post
"Happy" - Google News
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