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September 20, 2001 |
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Versión
en español The
deployment of over 400 new buses and introduction of Metro Rapid bus
service in fiscal year 2001, and other factors, all contributed to the
lowest rate of customer complaints received by MTA in one month. Customer
complaints declined from the ratio of 6.37 complaints per 100,000 daily
boardings in July 1997 to a ratio of 3.15 complaints per 100,000 daily
boardings in July 2001, a new record and perhaps the strongest indicator
yet, amongst others noted in a fiscal year 2001 performance review, that
the Metro System continues to improve. In
pure numbers, passengers boarded Metro Buses over 29 million times in July
1997 and lodged 1,815 complaints. In July 2001, there were a total of
1,051 complaints and approximately 33.3 million boardings. “From
a technical standpoint, it seems that the service we’re putting out is
getting more dependable,” said Richard Hunt, MTA Executive Officer of
Operations. “We’re more reliable, more comfortable and more passengers
are recognizing this because our complaints are down significantly.
We’re also safer as well as more punctual. “We’re
began consistently tracking customer complaints six years ago when they
were much higher. In the last three years specifically, the amount of
complaints have trended downward and that trend continues.” The
inner and exterior appearance of Metro Buses, a priority since a
cleanliness program was initiated in September 1999, has also shown marked
improvement. In September 1999, on a scale of 1 to 10 for cleanliness, the
average MTA bus division averaged between a 4 and 5. In April, May and
June 2001, that rating improved to a 7.4. Criteria included the condition
of dashboards, windows, graffiti control, bumpers, the driver’s area and
the step well. Significant
progress was also reported in such categories as fewer cancelled bus runs
and a higher percentage of buses pulling out from bus yards on time, both
which impact the number of customer complaints. In
the first quarter of FY99, over 1,700 bus runs were cancelled compared to
zero in the last quarter of FY01. The
percentage of buses leaving MTA bus divisions on time has increased from
94.19% in August 1997 to 99.53% in June 2001. “It
may seem like an infinitesimal improvement but if we carry an average of
45 passengers per bus, per hour, if we’re one hour late, that’s a lot
of people who are affected,” says Hunt. “To show you how much we’ve
improved in that category, over 1,800 buses were late the first quarter of
FY99. That’s a significant improvement. “I’ll
put it another way. For every 1,000 times we’re scheduled to pull out
buses, 99.5% of them we make on time, and that’s a high standard because
any number of issues can affect a bus not leaving on time.” Hunt
also cited other reasons for the continuation of Metro System
improvements, besides the newer fleet and new service. “You
can do anything if you focus on it and put enough resources behind it,”
says Hunt. “All the improvements show the level of support that other
MTA departments are contributing to making this a success story. “The
leadership team of MTA CEO Julian Burke and Deputy CEO Allan Lipsky has
continued to sharpen our focus on important issues of providing a clean,
safe and reliable transit operation in bus and rail and that works its way
down the organization. They’re giving us not only the motivation but
also the resources required to make it happen and the result is what
you’re seeing on the street.” Key
FY02 objectives for MTA Transit Operations include launching two to four
additional Metro Rapid bus lines and supporting pre-revenue operation of
the Pasadena Blue Line, which will start revenue service in July 2003. MTA-127 |
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