Comment from Jessica Dauphin
Jessica DauphinSupportIndividual
Summary: The commenter, a former transit agency board member, supports the creation of a voluntary Customer Experience Survey standard to quantify rider feedback and improve safety and comfort. They argue that current metrics like cost per rider hour are insufficient and that standardized data is necessary to guide improvements as transit investments increase.
Thank you for exploring the idea of requiring a voluntary Customer Experience Survey standard for transit. This would help to standardize the safety and comfort of riding on public transit systems in America.
I just wrapped a five-year term as a transit agency board member. While I do take transit from time to time, I am not an everyday rider. I have other options, so I found feedback from riders very helpful.
The issue is that there is no way to quantify those comments. We need a baseline of data to be able to show improvement and/or success.
Likewise, we give too much weight to cost per rider hour or on-time performance. I object to that being a primary measure of a transit agency’s service.
Implementing a regular Cx survey to both measure and inform transit agency rider experience would support and guide an elevated rider experience across the US. Transit agencies would know where and how to address customer service issues before they get out of hand or cause ridership to wane.
As we move to increased investments into our Publix transit systems, this would be a critical measure to take. We cannot grow at the expense of the safety and comfort of our riders.