How Sacramento’s “Voice of God” is Reshaping Transit Safety and Security

This blog post takes a deep dive into the CX Plans from nine transit agencies across North America to see how they are tackling the challenge of winning back riders and earning their loyalty.

Can AI help transit agencies process customer feedback? MARTA shows that the answer is "Yes."

Cancellations are a moment of truth for transit agencies and their riders. Suppose you are waiting at a bus stop to pick up your kids at daycare. All of a sudden, your phone buzzes to tell you that the bus was canceled due to a driver shortage and the next scheduled bus won't come for at least 45 minutes. This is dreadful because the kids will be hungry and tired, plus the daycare charges a $50 penalty for late pickups. In this circumstance, would you prefer: A. To receive a

In today's world, survey research has become more and more democratized. Free on-line tools like SurveyMonkey are readily available to conduct surveys to identify transit rider pain points and track progress towards remedying them. But be aware of bias. While it is helpful to have tools that don't require advanced knowledge of research methodology, programming languages or statistics, be aware that these tools may not produce trustworthy information. This is especially import

Just imagine. It's a normal Saturday morning, and you're about to hop on the train to get to your waitress shift when you hear a service announcement. It's hard to hear but it says something about construction and a bus bridge, and you're just hoping it's not on your line.... Unfortunately, though, it IS your line. You get halfway there when the train operator tells everyone to get off and you're escorted by employees in red vests to a bus stop. Naturally you are worried abou

There's nothing worse than waiting and waiting for a bus. A late bus can make you late to school, work, daycare pickup, or other time-sensitive trips. And it can cause things like job loss or daycare penalties that many riders can't afford. Actually, there is something that's worse: Waiting and waiting for a bus AND NOT KNOWING when it will come. That is the situation that many transit riders around the country face when bus runs get canceled due to bus operator shortages or

User Experience (UX) and Customer Experience (CX) require humility. User Experience (UX) and Customer Experience (CX) demand that we set aside our own preconceptions and surrender to the wisdom of the crowd. That means listening to transit riders and being open to bursting our own bubbles. Better yet, we can actually learn to ENJOY bursting our own bubbles... - think of it as learning and self-improvement. ( : "wisdom of the crowd" (Oxford Dictionary): the collective knowledg

One way to systematically identify customer pain points is to do what's called Journey Mapping. This involves thinking about every stage of a transit's customer's journey from planning their trip to the "last mile" egress to their destination. For each stage we ask ourselves what do customers see, what do they hear, what do they smell, and what do they feel. This helps us identify the pain points we need to remedy to make it a great experience. We also think about the diverse

Most organizations are flooded with customer feedback, and the challenge is knowing what to do with it all. Maybe you have a steady...

Even though violent crime on transit is fairly low, many transit riders across the country are worried about their personal safety when...

When someone goes to Google Maps to figure out how to get from A to B, they can see how long it would take to drive or to take transit....

It's not unusual for Cleanliness to pop up as a top pain point for transit riders. Cleanliness is an important aspect of the customer experience, and clean transit systems are more likely to keep and attract riders. Cleanliness, however, means different things to different people, so it is important to drill down to identify the aspects of cleanliness that most need improvement. Is it litter? is it stains? Is it spills? is it the hygiene of surfaces? Is it smell? Biohazards?

Statistically-sound customer surveys should be the cornerstone of any CX program. The main objectives are: To identify the top pain points to remedy; and To gauge the success of CX initiatives over time. Your customers may experience hundreds or even thousands of pain points, but a CX Plan can only focus on a small number. Otherwise, an organization may spread itself too thin. It's often said that if you try to do everything for everyone, you'll end up doing nothing for nobod