WASHINGTON — After a Metro presentation Thursday about customer service, board members had some tough words about the overall performance and communication the transit agency has with customers.
Many board members agreed with the basic premise that high-quality customer service is lacking.
“It’s somewhat troubling for an agency that’s almost 40 years old that we’re just getting to improving and enhancing overall customer service and communication,” says board member Bill Euille, who is the mayor of Alexandria, Virginia.
While Metro Assistant General Manager Lynn Bowersox touted the overall performance of handling customer phone calls and emails, there was a general agreement among the board that two-way communication with riders could be much better.
“The last 300 followers I have on Twitter are WMATA related. People are desperate for more communication channels with us, and I don’t feel like we have a channel that engages them,” says board member Harriet Tregoning, who’s from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
“The District of Columbia has a 311 system where people can let you know when there is any kind of a problem. There is an app that’s used across a lot of different type of systems called ‘See Click Fix,’ where you can take a photo of it and it can be crowdsourced,” she adds.
D.C. board member Leif Dormsjo praised the moves that Metro has taken, but he also called them baby steps and urged the agency to move much faster. He asked Metro to look at his agency, the D.C. Department of Transportation, as an example of how customer service has been enhanced since the beginning of 2015.
“With 13,000 employees there really is no excuse. If a little agency like DDOT, with 900 people and a fraction of your budget, can get out there and listen and understand the concerns of the customers, then there is no reason Metro can’t do it,” says Dormsjo.
“I would ask that management schedule opportunities for all of the board members to do fare gate greetings and interface with the customers in the mornings and the evenings. We’ll lead from the front. Schedule it. We’ll work it out. We’ll sign up and we’ll get out there,” he adds.
D.C. board member Tom Bulger suggested that Metro put photographs with him and other board members onto Metro trains to let passengers know how to interact with them and share their comments and concerns.
D.C. board member Corbett Price said he was concerned that he learns about problems with Metro from city lawmakers, rather than hearing them from Metro executives. Price said that learning about problems from fellow lawmakers rather than Metro makes the agency appear ineffective.
