Improving CX During System Repair Shutdowns
Updated: Sep 17
Just imagine: It's a normal Saturday morning, and you're about to hop on the train for your shift as a waitress when you hear a muffled announcement about construction and a bus bridge. You hope it isn't on your line... but unfortunately, it is. Halfway to your destination, the operator announces that everyone must exit, and staff in brightly colored vests escort you to a bus stop. Naturally, you worry about arriving on time and how your manager and coworkers might react."..
As rail systems around the country fix aging infrastructure, this scenario is more and more common. A rail line closes a section of track for repairs during the late evening or on weekends, and a bus bridge is set up. That means everyone has to get off the train, onto a bus, then off at another station and back on another train to your destination. The system repair shutdown allows the transit system to more efficiently repair or replace track, electrical infrastructure, station platforms, or other facilities or equipment. It gives them more time to get all their equipment staged and exclusive "wrench time" on the trackway to get the work done.
This is both a customer experience challenge and an opportunity. If communications are clear and ubiquitous, if you are told the total delay will just be say 10 minutes, if transit ambassadors are there for you at every stage to point where to go, and if there is a bus waiting for you when you are directed off the train and a train waiting for you when you get off the bus, CX impacts can be pretty well mitigated. An impacted rider might even say afterwards "That wasn't so bad." Of course, in the worst case, it can be a nightmare, if the information is spotty, there's no one to answer questions, the bus bridge and trains aren't synchronized, and it adds 45 minutes to your trip.
Journey-Mapping Tip: When preparing a bus bridge plan, consider the varied needs of your riders. Walk through every step of the journey from the perspective of a wheelchair user, a visually impaired customer, or a parent pushing a stroller, and design targeted mitigations for each group. This is also a great opportunity to go above and beyond expectations. Think about offering refreshments or other goodies. Riders welcome that kind of special touch when they've been inconvenienced. It helps them feel cared about.
Mitigation
In some cases, construction outages can be mitigated by closing just one track instead of all tracks. Whether this can be done safely just depends on the section of track and its characteristics. With single tracking, there is usually no need for a bus bridge and while there are delays, the overall impact on customer experience is often less.
Many transit agencies have gotten pretty good at planning outages to fix infrastructure. They spend time analyzing whether they can single track service or need a full closure, they anticipate customer needs and prepare a comprehensive service and communication plan to make the experience as smooth and comfortable as possible. And they provide clear information to customers: what is happening, where and when, how the repairs will improve future travel times, reliability, or safety, and most importantly: what customers need to know to use the bus bridge (e.g. just get on, no fare is needed).
When to Allow Shutdowns
Even with these efforts, the fewer shutdowns the better from a CX perspective. Transit agencies should consider adopting policies to decide whether a shutdown would be justified based on the impacts on cost, the pace of the work, and the customer impacts. A policy should include criteria for deciding on shutdowns, threshold levels of savings needed before a shutdown is considered, and a clear decision-making process, with big shutdowns requiring approval at a higher level.
Shutdown policies also need to provide certainty to those who are planning the repair work. A contractor considering how much to bid on a repair project will want to know exactly how much track access they will get, as this will impact their costs significantly. So often shutdown decisions need to get made a year or more in advance, prior to bidding contracts if there are contracts involved.
Metrics
Just like with every major CX issue, develop solid KPIs to track impacts on the customer experience, and conduct debriefing sessions after each shutdown to take stock and course correct as needed. This can provide everyone with insight and data to support future track outage planning. KPIs could include metrics like:
Average wait time for a bus after departing an out-of-service train.
Average wait time for a train after getting off the bus.
Ratio of customer service ambassadors to impacted passengers.
Number of compliments and complaints received.
Customer satisfaction ratings from post-disruption surveys
Summary
In summary, track shutdowns and customer delays are CX moments of truth. Treat these occasions with that in mind. With State of Good Repair, transit agencies are trying to give infrastructure "a voice" to prevent disrepair and ultimately service delays. In that sense, infrastructure is a CX issue. If it fails, it impairs the customer experience. On the other hand, we need to elevate customer voices too. Allow shutdowns only when absolutely essential, plan mitigations meticulously, and wow your customers with your care and attention to detail!
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Blog post by Aaron Weinstein, Transit CX Founder and CEO.
Questions? Contact AaronW@TransitCX.org.
