Metro announced a major plan to revamp its customer service. The Customer Service Action Plan will be unveiled this week with the goal of improving the customer experience across the system.
“Over the past two years, we have focused on improving the safety and reliability of Metro through our massive rebuilding program, Metro Forward,” Metro General Manager and CEO Richard Sarles said. “Metro Forward is the foundation of customer service that we will now build upon as we sharpen our focus on service delivery with tangible actions and tools that will allow us to monitor our progress and identify ways to continually improve."
The new plan was created following extensive customer research and the major themes of focus that developed were: person-to-person service delivery, system communications, station environment, fare payment/machines and security, according to Metro.
Metro said officials from multiple departments will report to the Board’s Customer Service and Operations Committee this week regarding:
- Customer service training. Metro will provide customer service training to 1,000 frontline employees, including station managers by November and bus operators by the end of the year.
- New electronic information displays in Metrorail stations. To allow passenger information displays signs to more frequently display train arrival information, Metro will install new flat-screen monitors at station kiosks. The new screens will deliver “advisory” information at the fare gates, including service status, elevator outage notification, track work impacts, and other information customers need before they enter the gates.
- Improvements to SmarTrip®. New features will include the ability for customers to automatically load value to the card when the balance drops below a specified threshold and the ability to purchase a SmarTrip card at all stations by the end of September.
- Upgrades to Metrorail stations. Metro will install enhanced lighting at 14 stations by next July (2013), implement remote temperature monitoring at 47 stations by mid-July, and continue the investment in escalator maintenance that has already resulted inreliability improvements.
- Focus on security and youth behavior. Metro is working on communications and outreach through community organizations to understand and address issues around youth behavior on the system. To enhance security, Metro will add Metro Transit Police officers this year, including uniformed officers who will ride buses, as well as complete the installation of DVR-based camera systems on all buses next month.