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Reliability, frequency, safety, cleanliness, and homelessness are top concerns among Metro riders according to the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) 2022 Customer Experience Survey released today. The annual survey, together with ongoing customer feedback and surveys, will guide the agency’s Customer Experience Plan, which prioritizes projects – and related budgets – to deliver a good customer experience aboard Metro.
Metro’s 2022 Customer Experience Survey was conducted between March and May 2022. A total of 12,239 surveys were taken on board Metro buses, trains, and Metro Micro vehicles, reflecting a 63 percent response rate. The survey is used to develop an in-depth understanding of who is riding the system, why they ride and how they feel about the experience while using Metro buses, trains and – for the first time this year – micro-transit. Survey results are used to identify and address customer pain-points that guide cross-agency ideation, planning and budgeting to address them. There was no survey conducted in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Metro remains resolved in our efforts to improve the customer experience by listening to our riders’ concerns and acting on them quickly,” said Glendale City Council Member and Metro Board Chair Ara J. Najarian. “Our system must be safe, clean and reliable and we won’t settle for anything else.”
The 2022 Customer Experience Survey asked respondents to identify what they most want Metro to improve.
The top five improvements rail customer want Metro to make:
- Cleanliness inside trains
- How well Metro addresses homelessness on trains
- Safety from crime
- Train comes on time
- How frequently trains come
The top five improvements bus customers want Metro to make:
- Bus comes on time
- How frequently buses run
- How well Metro addresses homelessness on buses
- Safety from crime
- Cleanliness of bus stop area
The top five improvements female rail customers want Metro to make:
- Safety from crime, sexual harassment, or racial or ethnic harassment
- Cleaner trains
- Homelessness issues on trains
- Cleaner stations
- Trains to arrive on time.
The top five improvements female bus customers want Metro to make:
- Safety from crime, sexual harassment, or racial or ethnic harassment
- Buses to arrive on time
- More frequent service
- Homelessness issued on buses
- Cleaner buses
For the first time, the survey included questions about Metro Micro. Some issues expressed by riders included on time service, more availability of accurate information to plan their trip, better real-time information, how to get a ride quicker and how to identify how long the trip will take.
“At Metro, we strive to be the best transit agency in the country. This year’s feedback from Metro riders reflects a candid assessment of where our agency needs to do better towards that vision. We heard you and we are doing more to provide a safe, clean, and reliable environment for everyone, said LA County Supervisor and Metro Board Member Holly Mitchell, who is also Chair of the Operations, Safety and Customer Experience Committee.
The Metro Customer Experience Survey found some demographic shifts among Metro riders since 2019:
- People between the ages of 25 and 64 represent most Metro riders – a 6% increase from 2019.
- Latinx/Hispanics are the largest ethnic group, representing 58 percent of riders (59% in 2019); Black/African Americans constitute 14 percent of Metro riders (16% in 2019), followed by 12% who are White/Caucasian (11% in 2019).
- Notably, 49 percent of bus riders and 44% of rail riders identify as female, which is down from 53% and 46% from Metro’s 2019 survey in both categories.
- Approximately 83 percent of riders reported a household income of under $50,000 a year, compared to 81% in 2019.
The survey also found that 78 percent of respondents ride the system at least three days a week, down 11 percent from 2019; 72 percent have been riding the system for more than three years, the same as 2019 and 27 percent have regular access to a car, up six percent from 2019.
More than 60 percent of bus riders and 58 percent of rail riders reported being satisfied with Metro’s service. While these satisfaction ratings are similar to those of other large transit authorities across the country, this reflects a modest decline in satisfaction results (1 percent rail and 7 percent bus) compared to a 2020 Customer Experience Survey. Sixty-five percent of rail users and 66 percent of bus riders would recommend riding the system to their friends.
Knowing that safety, cleanliness, and homelessness are important customer issues, the Metro Board in February approved a plan to Reimagine Public Safety, based upon community and customer feedback. The plan uses a layered approach to public safety that involves security, cleanliness, and customer care. These include:
Security:
- Via the Respect the Ride program, strategically deployed additional security to enforce Metro rules and law enforcement to address crime.
- Installing more security cameras and lighting within the system.
- Additional marketing of the Transit Watch app for riders to use and alert us of issues.
Cleanliness:
- Replacing cloth bus and rail seats with vinyl seats that are easier to clean and maintain by the end of the fiscal year (June 30, 2023). In August, seats on 49 percent of buses and 89 percent of rail cars had been replaced.
- Implemented cleaning surges at the end of the line, midday on buses, trackways, stations, and escalators to address customers concerns on cleanliness of the Metro system and added more cleaning staff.
Customer Care
- Launched the Metro Ambassador Program to improve the overall customer experience for all Metro riders while navigating the system. A total of 55 Transit Ambassadors have been trained in everything from customer service to trauma informed response and mental health awareness and disability awareness and deployed on parts of the system. The goal is to deploy 300 ambassadors by February 2023.
- Doubling homeless outreach teams to assist those in need.
- On-boarding crisis intervention teams for those in need of mental health assistance.
“My goal is to make Metro the first choice in transportation, and I am grateful so many of our customers are willing to share with us what they consider most important when they are considering whether they want to ride Metro,” said Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins. “We are putting their feedback into action, and the first step in doing that is transparently sharing what we learned from them. Our customers’ feedback is a gift.”
The 2022 Customer Experience Survey will inform the development of the 2023 Customer Experience Plan, which will build and expand on the initiatives that are already in progress.
For more information on the 2022 Customer Experience Plan and the new 2022 CX Survey results visit metro.net/CXPlan.
About Metro
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) is building the most ambitious transportation infrastructure program in the United States and is working to greatly improve mobility through its Vision 2028 Plan. Metro is the lead transportation planning and funding agency for L.A. County and carries about 800,000 boardings daily on a fleet of 2,200 low-emission buses and six rail lines.
Stay informed by following Metro on The Source and El Pasajero at metro.net, facebook.com/losangelesmetro, twitter.com/metrolosangeles and twitter.com/metroLAalerts and instagram.com/metrolosangeles.
