01556534

Component

The emergence of Web 2.0 technologies over the past decade has empowered transit riders to report service, maintenance, and safety-related issues and rate transit performance. Simultaneously, web- and smartphone-based tools have offered new, powerful ways for transit agencies to collect customer feedback. This changing dynamic means that transit agencies must learn to respond and manage the growing presence of web-based information and translate the feedback into better service. This study gathered information on current and planned use of web-based tools by transit agencies through a web-based survey administered to 130 transit agencies in the United States and Canada, as part of TCRP Project B-43 “Use of Web-based Customer Feedback to Improve Public Transit Services.” The survey results show that email and social media are the most used tools today, whereas the use of mobile apps is expected to grow. Agencies see the benefits of using web-based feedback tools, but staffing needs are conceived as a major drawback. When asked about an ideal web-based feedback system, agencies expressed a desire for internal integration with existing customer feedback systems and external integration in the form of accepting comments across technology platforms. Lessons learned include developing a plan for web-based customer feedback, working with all of the agency constituents, and pulling in the information technology department early in the planning. The survey results support the need for a user-friendly toolkit that presents best practices, cutting-edge applications, and promising approaches for web-based customer feedback tools that transit agencies can use to improve transit services.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AP010 Transit Management and Performance.

01550057

15-5588

English

16p

2015

Transportation Research Board 94th Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Figures; Maps; References

Communication; Customer satisfaction; Internet; Social media; Surveys; Transit operating agencies; Transit riders

Canada; United States

Data and Information Technology; Passenger Transportation; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2015 Paper #15-5588

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Dec 30 2014 1:53PM