Local Bus Rider Report Card Results
Last night NYC Transit e-mailed me the local bus rider report card results. I wanted to bring it to you last night but I could do not due to a request not to do so until today. Anyhow here they are now for you to go over. Lets first look at the release that came with the results:
Last March, Local Bus Rider Report Cards were distributed along Staten Island bus routes and since then customers throughout the five boroughs have been asked their opinions. MTA New York City Transit local bus customers have responded to the most recent inquiry into customer satisfaction with their transit services by issuing a grade of C-minus.
Citywide, local bus customers accepted approximately 243,500 cards, returning 19,456, a mail-back response rate of 8.0%. There were also 2,653 votes cast via the Internet for a total of 22,109 customer responses.
Local bus customers were asked to rate various aspects of service such as “Reasonable wait times between buses,” “Seat availability,” “Smooth handling of bus,” “Courtesy of bus operators and dispatchers,” and “Reliability of wheelchair lifts.”Riders were asked to mark the routes they ride, and then provide a letter grade – A through F or G for “not observed” – for each of the 20 different service attributes listed, as well as a grade for the overall performance of the route. Issued in a self mailer, Rider Report Cards were handed out at key bus stop locations during the morning rush periods.
Systemwide, customers rated local bus service an average of C-minus. Manhattan was the only borough that rated higher with a C.
“These Rider Report Cards have been shown to be an effective tool in gauging how our customers feel about the service we provide and then being able to accurately measure our improvement,” said NYC Transit President Howard H. Roberts, Jr. “We have already begun to make improvements to our bus services with the introduction of Select Bus Service (SBS), new technology and increased attention to cleaning and maintenance, but we realize that we have more to do.”
Customers rated “Smooth handling of bus” C throughout the system. Manhattan customers, however, gave this subject a grade of C-plus. “Courtesy of bus operators” was graded C-plus system-wide with Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn and Staten Island earning grades of C-plus while Queens bus riders rated this category a C. “Cleanliness of buses” was rated a C system-wide, with Manhattan earning a C-plus, the Bronx and Brooklyn with C-minus, Queens earning a C and Staten Island a D-plus.
When asked what their priorities for improvement are, customers system-wide voted “Reasonable wait time between buses” at the top spot. “Bus operates according to schedule” was the second highest priority. In both instances, the customer response was consistent across all boroughs.
The third top rated priority was “Seat availability.” This was the third highest priority in every borough except the Bronx and Staten Island, where it was ranked fourth. The fourth highest priority or local bus customers citywide is “Cleanliness of buses,” though Bronx and Staten Island customers rated it as high as third. Brooklyn bus riders saw “cleanliness” as their fourth highest priority while Manhattan and Queens ranked it fifth.
“Current schedule information” rounded out the top five customer priorities with Bronx, Brooklyn and Staten Island customers ranking it fifth while Manhattan and Queens local bus customers saw it as the fourth most important issue in need of improvement.
The top 3 requested improvements were:
Reasonable wait times between buses
Bus operates according to schedule
Seat availability
Here is the complete list of categories with grades earned systemwide & for each borough individually. Please note you will see 5 grades next to each category & the grades will be in this order:
Systemwide / Manhattan / Bronx / Queens / Brooklyn / Staten Island:
Reasonable wait times between buses D D+ D+ D D D+
Seat availability C- C C- C- C- C-
Smooth handling of buses C C+ C C C C
Clarity of bus destination sign C+ B- C+ C+ C+ C+
Current schedule information at bus stop C- C C D+ C- C
Bus operates according to schedule D D D+ D D D+
Cleanliness of buses C C+ C- C C- D+
Lack of graffiti on buses B- B C+ B- B- C
Lack of scratchitti on buses C+ B- C+ C+ C+ C-
Courtesy of bus operators C+ C+ C+ C C+ C+
Courtesy of bus dispatchers C C+ C C C C
Comfortable temperature in buses C+ C+ C C C+ C
Ease of paying your fare B- B B- B- B- B –
Bus announcements routinely made C- C C- C- C- C-
Bus announcements that are informative C- C C- C- C C –
Reliability of kneeling buses C+ B- C+ C+ C+ C+
Reliability of wheelchair lifts B- B- B- C+ C+ C+
Bus personnel properly secure wheelchairs B- B- B- B- B- B –
Overall performance C- C C- C- C- C-
Now here are the priorities of riders ranked system wide & individually by borough. Please note the number next to the priority is the overall ranking from 1-18 with 1 being the highest & 18 being the lowest for the respective borough or overall system wide. The categories will be in this order:
Systemwide / Manhattan / Bronx / Queens / Brooklyn / Staten Island:
Reasonable wait times between buses 1 1 1 1 1 1
Seat availability 3 3 4 3 3 4
Smooth handling of buses 7 8 8 7 7 6
Clarity of bus destination sign 10 13 11 10 10 8
Current schedule information at bus stop 5 4 5 4 5 5
Bus operates according to schedule 2 2 2 2 2 2
Cleanliness of buses 4 5 3 5 4 3
Lack of graffiti on buses 15 16 13 16 15 13
Lack of scratchitti on buses 16 15 15 15 16 18
Courtesy of bus operators 6 6 6 6 6 7
Courtesy of bus dispatchers 13 14 14 13 13 11
Comfortable temperature in buses 8 7 7 8 9 9
Ease of paying your fare 14 11 12 14 14 11
Bus announcements routinely made 9 9 9 9 8 10
Bus announcements that are informative 11 10 10 11 12 14
Reliability of kneeling buses 12 12 16 12 11 16
Reliability of wheelchair lifts 18 18 18 18 17 15
Bus personnel properly secure wheelchairs 17 17 17 17 18 17
I am not surprised by the results to these report cards. The top 3 overall priorities are interchangeable as the most important priority to riders. I do find it a tad curious how Manhattan was the only borough to score a B or higher for readable destination signs.
I wish the results could have been broken down by individual lines as it is hard to really give a review from an overall basis since things vary greatly from line to line. I am curious how the Bx12 will grade out the next time with Select Bus Service being in the mix.
Overall bus service can use some major improvements & bus rapid transit is just one of the many options that should be looked into. Either way you slice it, improved bus service is needed & would benefit millions of riders. So lets get to it!
xoxo Transit Blogger
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