WHAT STL METRO COULD LEARN FROM LA METRO'S BLUE LINE

I find it really shocking how dismissive Metro executives are about their terrible surveys.  (Once a year, on the Metrolink only.)  They are really clueless about the actual transit needs of their riders.

Without meaningful, accurate data, from a large representative group of patrons, no business or entity can make decisions or do planning.

It is only because Metro is not a completely private, for profit business that they can get away with this.  (And there is very little chance that any public transit agency is every going to be lucrative enough for a private company to want to own one.   All of these agencies are really just funnels for government funds to be used in "business development."  And to further political careers of CEO's and top executives. "Hey I mismanaged Metro's 350 million dollar budget, I can mismanage the state's budget just as well."  Um, yes, that was sarcasm.)

This article about Los Angeles' Metro's Blue Line is a real eye opener if you know how to read between the lines.

http://www.citylab.com/commute/2014/07/when-las-blue-line-was-new/374421/

It was a big deal, perhaps even more so than the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority (LACMTA) expected. Originally projected to have a daily ridership of 5,000, the Blue Line was carrying 32,000 riders a day by the end of 1990. As of last May, the system's oldest line has an average weekday ridership of 86,065.

THAT'S RIGHT! Expected versus actual ridership BEGAN at SIX TIMES the agency's estimate!  And is now, what? SEVENTEEN TIMES the estimate??? 

The Blue Line runs through South Central and down to Long Beach.  It definitely covers LA's most transit dependent areas. 

When public transit takes people where they need to go, in a timely manner, the sky is the limit.

You know, OPTINSTL's survey for Metro to use is modelled from the Los Angeles Metro's semi-annual survey. For an entire week, on every single bus and train, LA Metro has survey takers handing out and collecting lengthy, detailed questionnaires to every rider. 

http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/04/what-metros-new-survey-should-be.html

St. Louis Metro relies on general population and employment statistics.  And those once a year, five question, Metrolink-only surveys.

Of course, business developers and local politicians don't really want Metro to provide good service to the people that need it the most.  St. Charles demonstrated that most blatantly when they shot down the proposed Metrolink ten years ago. 

http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-apalling-racist-fiasco-of-2005-and.html

What they want is bus service that will actually get a person to a low wage job, but not convenient enough for those workers to come spend their free time in the "nice areas". 

Incarceration by lack of decent public transit is a very effective way of cordoning off parts of the city using federal funds to do so.

If St. Louis Metro actually surveyed their riders, a north-south metrolink would be the obvious top-priority.  But then it would be easier and faster for transit riders to get around.

And that is exactly what they don't want.

METRO RESPONDS TO THE NEW SURVEY I DESIGNED FOR THEM

I hope everyone will do the survey voluntarily and post it here, too.  Because they are totally out of touch with their bus riders.  And it is ridiculous that the biggest part of their service is buses, and they only survey the Metrolink.

They don't know their customers' needs or they pretend they don't.  They need overwhelming evidence of how difficult it is to get around in a timely manner on their buses! 

They need to be confronted with how ridiculous so many of their routes and transfers are, especially travelling from north St. Louis and county.

Take the survey by calling customer service and volunteering the answers to the questions in the post (actually compiled from the surveys in use in bigger cities- conducted as I outline).
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/04/what-metros-new-survey-should-be.html

They could save some money on words.  So many pretty words, that don't really say anything at all.  Thanks Metro!

Thank you for your feedback regarding Metro customer surveys. I appreciate your comments regarding the potential for a “take one” survey or comment card made available onboard vehicles. I will discuss this with our Market Research and Customer Service staff. In the past, our front-line supervisors routinely collected customer feedback via comment cards, but the volume of information made it difficult to enter a database, and we found that the trends present in that information mirrored the information collected via other mechanisms, including our Onboard Survey (detailed below) and Customer Contacts database (assembled from customer contacts presented via telephone, e-mail, postal mail and social media).

You may not be aware that Metro does conduct onboard surveys, most every spring as funding permits. This Onboard Survey project serves as Metro’s primary market research effort for collecting a wealth of information about its bus and rail customers, including key data related to demographics, travel patterns and behavior, usage characteristics, loyalty and turnover intentions, and attitudes toward service.  Historically, the Onboard Survey effort has provided Metro with numerous operational benefits such as:

·         Measuring the “attitudinal pulse” of our customers

·         Providing crucial insight into who our customers are and how to best serve them

·         Determining key service factors driving customer satisfaction

·         Improving Metro’s ability to manage customer turnover and increase ridership

·         Providing necessary information to make data-driven service planning decisions

·         Enabling the examination of specific customer segments and their unique characteristics, preferences, and behavior, allowing the development of transit service best suited to their needs

·         Providing critical data required for Federal Transit Administration reporting (e.g., Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 Program Guidelines) and federal and state grant documentation support.

In recent years, the survey has been divided into two components: an Onboard Travel and a Customer Satisfaction survey. The Onboard Travel survey is designed to help illuminate how/when/where customers travel, including origin and destination locations and route pairs. The Customer Satisfaction Survey provides meaningful feedback about customer satisfaction with specific components of Metro service. We employ a stratified random sampling strategy for conducting both surveys. This sampling strategy is designed to create samples that are reflective of system-wide passenger characteristics and travel behaviors.

Thank You,

Jessica Mefford-Miller
Chief of Planning and System Development
Metro
707 North First Street
St. Louis, Missouri 63102-2595
Ph: 314.982.1479jnmefford@metrostlouis.org

 

WHAT METRO'S NEW SURVEY SHOULD BE

Metro bus and train Riders! As part of JAM THE PHONE LINES, April 4th-July 4th, feel free to call Metro and say "I'd like to volunteer some survey information so that you can learn more about your customers" and tell them the answers to as much of this as you would like.

If you ride the bus, and even if you ride the train, you know that Metro does not sufficiently survey its' customers, or really know them at all.  And they don't ride the bus. (Once a year survey on the Metrolink is pretty lame, considering they admit that the buses are the majority of their service.  And they don't ask enough questions, and seem to choose the survey times to their convenience.)

WHEN AND HOW THE SURVEYS SHOULD BE CONDUCTED

They should be able to accurately measure the weeks out of the year with the most boardings, including the inflation of sports and special events fans on the Metrolink.

The busiest time of year for bus boardings, without special events, should be their primary target.  Every day for a week, on every single bus and train.  (The survey itself is detailed further on in this post, and ideas on how they could conduct these in a way that incorporates their riders and saves costs.)

On each bus, for the buses entire daily run.  One person with a lot of little pencils and the survey sheets, handing them out and collecting them back, or in the case of someone going to another bus or train, promising to give it to the next surveyor, or bring it back the next day, or mail it in.

If only one survey can be conducted a year, than that should be it. Not special events.  The heaviest regular boarding time of year.

SURVEY FORMS SHOULD BE AVAILABLE ON ALL BUSES AND TRAINS AT ALL TIMES

AT ALL TIMES their should be survey forms available, and a box to deposit them. 

The first question on these should be "have you filled out a survey in the last year?"  
If yes, "please tell us how your transit needs have changed"?
And "why"? (optional)

You see, the more you know about what your customers need and why, the better you can serve them.  So, if one week you get a drop off in boardings on one bus line, and an increase on several others, and it turns out a business or company has closed or laid people off, you can anticipate those changes and respond to them with alterations in service.

THE SURVEY TAKERS

You could offer a free monthly pass (or equivalent discount on other fares and passes) for 4 hours of surveyor work to students during the week of the survey. This would involve a lot of riders, which would be a bonus for Metro in getting to know the riding public and involving young people in civic work.

As I said, they would have the pencils and surveys.  A detail at the stops where the surveyors changed shifts could collect the completed surveys.  (If you have been accurately counting boardings on each bus and train, you should be able to anticipate the amount of surveys needed for each shift.)

THE DATABASE

I have no idea how comprehensive your system is.  It's seem lame.  So this would be the biggest cost for you-- building something fairly large, 15 years ago this would have been Oracle, I don't know if this is still the preferred platform.  The Federal Transit Authority and Department of Transportation might have something, or a larger city, like Los Angeles.

In addition to collecting and analyzing the data from the surveys, it would need to be integrated into the current route and street system.

Since your website frequently congratulates your "state of the art" systems and "effective analysis", at the same time pleading poverty and overwhelming federal and local limitations, it is hard to know what you all really have going on there.

And even if I did, the technical aspects might be too much for me.

But again, you could turn to the young people.  St. Louis has several fine universities and perhaps some sort of contest or internship opportunity to work on this database could provide funding.  Undergraduates and Graduates.  Perhaps some sort of grant for Ph.D's?

Universities are very good at coming up with things like this.  Reach out.

THE SURVEY

Please fill out only one survey today: 00/00/00
Where did you first board?
How did you get to the stop? (walk, get a ride)
How long did it take you to get there? (Detail your route as much as you would like)
Where will you get off this bus/train?
Will you make another connection?
What bus/train? (Metro or another service provider?)
If so: where? will you have to walk to make the next connection? how far?  what is your next connection (Metro or another service provider)?  Where will you exit?  Please list any more transfers you will be making on this trip. Detail your journey as much as you like.
How often do you make this trip?  each day? Week? month? etc.  Please detail as much as you would like.
Does your route alter with weather or other factors, or are there any alternate routes that you use for this trip? If yes, please list all alternates and reasons for using (or not using) them.
How often do you ride the bus/train?
What bus/train lines do you use the most?
Please tell us about other trips you make regularly, that you will not be making this week, during the survey.
Do you have any suggestions that would make your trip better?

What is your
age
race
gender
income/fulltime. part-time/ how many jobs/unemployed/government assistance
student/veteran/disabled
do you have a car
do you live with someone that has a car

Please tell us anything else about yourself that you feel is important to your transit needs.

EDIT: And Metro, please print these in black and white on recycled paper.  You use WAY too much red and blue ink! http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/metro-have-you-explored-cutting.html

DEAR METRO: SOME QUESTIONS FOR YOU

Dear Metro (in particular, Chief of Planning and System Development):

1) What funds are going into developing sanitation facilities (toilets) at Metro bus transfer centers and Metrolink stations?  What consideration is being given to this most basic of human needs?

http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/metro-bus-and-train-stations-need-more.html

2) You say that one million people ride public transit every year.  How do you count the number of individual people that ride?  I can see where it would be easy to count your 55 million boardings, but how are you counting individuals?  Do you do surveys? Do you know what neighborhoods use your services the most? What are your busiest buses?  What are your busiest transfer centers?  What are your least-used bus and train lines?

http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/how-much-does-metro-know-about-its-most.html

3) You say that you are connecting people with jobs, yet your own maps (actually the East West Gateway Council of Governments' maps) of areas with the lowest ownership of cars are underserved, as are many of the areas with the most jobs.  The connectivity between the areas is also badly served in all but a few places (Central West End, Downtown).  Shouldn't that be your highest priority? What are you doing to change that?

4) When will more Metrolink service be available in north Saint Louis, and south city areas such as South Grand and Dutchtown?  Can you provide the public and OPTINSTL with maps of existing tracks, development plans, and feasibility studies?  If so, how do we access them?

5) You allow universities and employers to subsidize transit passes for employees, seemingly at their discretion.  You also sell "semester passes" to college students. Do you have any plans in development to offer passes at a discount to low-income people on welfare, and the unemployed?  Have you reached out to these agencies to look for ways to provide low cost passes to the disadvantaged-- which would seem to be your largest rider base?

6)  Can you point me to the official story of how the proposed St. Charles Metrolink was rejected? What lessons did Metro learn from this? Also, why was a train put into Shrewsbury when north Saint Louis has the greatest need?  Can you offer any assistance to the public and OPTINSTL on how to make sure future trains are not blocked?

http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-apalling-racist-fiasco-of-2005-and.html

7) Many of your bus stops are badly placed and many are not marked with the identifying information for the bus lines that stop there. None of them have schedules, routes, or fares posted.  There seems to be a lack of coordination and planning with the cities (who decide where the bus stops can be placed) on trash cans, lighting, sidewalk repair and so forth.  Especially in low-income areas where families with young children ride the bus, this seems like it should be an obvious priority.  What plans are in place to create better bus stops?

In particular, to post route, schedule and fares?  I have suggested two sheets of acrylic, three sided (the top would be sealed to prevent moisture from precipitation) with holes at the top and bottom, to be bolted to the metal poles that the bus stops signs are mounted on.  I was told it was too expensive.  Can you direct me to the feasibility study that was done that determined this cost was too high?

EDIT: http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/what-should-be-metros-new-bus-stop-plan.html

8) Are there any plans to extend the Customer service information?  It is nice that you started the phone and email alerts, but many low-income people do not have data service on their phones.  When people need to reach Metro the most, it is usually late at night and on weekends.

9) You are raising fares by 5%, but offer no explanation of how the three fare options all will equal the same amount of money -- 2.5 million dollars per year.  Can you direct me to the studies that were done, and how each of the three options totals up?

10) You also own Downtown St. Louis Airport, and the Arch and Riverboat Trams.  How much of the revenues generated from those entities are used for public transportation?  Have you investigated selling these entities to private companies?  If so, have you done any discovery of what impact this would have on the public transit system?  Would sale of these entities provided you with needed funds to improve existing services?

11) Can you explain why there is not more outreach work done-- such as rider surveys, and having Metro officials available on buses and Metrolink to make feedback more convenient to the riders?  To come to your hearings, those of us that don't have the money to buy bus passes have to pay to come, in addition to having our day disrupted.  And you would reach a much greater portion of customers by coming to them.

EDIT: http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/todays-hearing-on-fare-increase-at.html

12) Why doesn't Metro require employees that are not drivers or train operators to ride public transportation from the closest park and ride location from their homes, at least once a week?

13) In 2009, a year after the economic collapse in the U.S., and after four years- by your own statistics-- of increasing ridership, you had to severely cut services.  Do more riders equal more revenue?  And how so?  Can you direct me to the mathematical algorithms and statistical models (excuse me if my terminology is wrong) that you use to determine how many riders and at what fare structure you need to increase services?

http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/why-were-so-many-bus-lines-shut-down-in.html

14) Your website says that for every $1 a community invests in public transit, it receives $4 in federal money via Metro/Bi-State.  Can you explain to me exactly how that works?  Where does the $1 come from, and who gets paid the $4 in return? Also, is this true equally, for all communities?  And if so, does that mean that lower-income areas are lower served, because they have fewer dollars to contribute?

14) The Loop Trolley Transportation District was just awarded $25 million from an Urban Circulator Grant.  The reasons for the Public Transit riders to oppose the proposed Trolley are numerous.  What partnerships are Metro building with local communities to put Urban Circulators in areas that really need them?  How much exploration has been done on Urban Circulators?

 http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-loop-trolley-is-about-getting.html

EDIT: http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-loop-trolley-sucking-up-more.html

That is all for now.  If you can respond to these questions by email, please do.  If I need to come to Metro and pick up the hard copy print outs, please let me know.  If there is another agency or person I need to address, please let me know who they are.

Thank you.

EDIT: This was emailed to the Chief of Planning and System Development.

ACTIONS TO TAKE TO CHANGE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION IN SAINT LOUIS

JAM THEIR PHONE LINES!

If you have the cell phone minutes, call Metro every chance you get.  Complain, make suggestions about improvements and routes.  Ask them to explain how they spend their money, where it comes from, how they make decisions.

(In the sidebar of this blog is a list of questions I have about their service. In the text box OCCUPY METRO EVERY TIME YOU RIDE. **)

PETITIONS!

For Bathrooms:
Yesterday and today I talked to two different people that suggested petitions.  One was a woman that wanted to petition for more bathrooms.  She suggested riding the trains and asking everyone that needed to go to the bathroom at that moment to sign the petition.

I think sign and survey: how long do you ride? how long do you have to go without facilities? have you every had to get off the bus or train to go? Do you have a medical condition?

I talked to a woman today that has diabetes and said the buses are torture for her because of her bathroom needs.  Another man told me that he saw a woman with a little girl that needed to go the bathroom really bad.  She tried to appeal to the Metrolink security to let her little girl use the bus driver's bathroom, but he wouldn't allow it.  The little girl went behind the building.  What else was she gonna do?

For Bus Service:
Another woman told me about how 12 years ago the residents of Riverview Gardens successfully petitioned to get the #61 bus.  There used to only be a bus The Riverview Express.  It only ran a few hours and not too many stops.

She said they really had to work hard, though.  And a lot of people had to go to the meetings-- the inconvenient monthly public meetings for addressing rider issues.

Here is the link for the monthly meetings.  Really informative-- where are they, when do they start, when do they end?  No information at all, other than dates.  Of course, it is obvious they really don't want to hear from us.

http://www.metrostlouis.org/BusinessCommunity/PublicMeetings/MetroAccessAdvisoryGroupMeetings.aspx

I will find out when and where these meeting are, but calling them to ask is another way to JAM THE PHONE LINES!

I will also be looking into starting petitions- what it requires, how to file it, and so on.  Keep checking back for more.  Or if you know how, please email optinstl@gmail.com

ABOUT MEETINGS

The Board meetings are even more inconvenient, but attending these in large numbers, even if no one spoke, would carry "weight in numbers".  Because John Nations (the CEO of Metro that the bus is "too inconvenient for", because his time is SO IMPORTANT) is at these meetings.  We need to make him look in our eyes when his agency lies to us about the "great service" it provides.

These meeting are really inconvenient too- 8 AM tomorrow is the next one.

http://www.metrostlouis.org/BoardNotices/noticeboardmeetingopensession032814.pdf

**

OCCUPY! EVERY TIME YOU RIDE PUBLIC TRANSIT

WHILE YOU ARE RIDING OR WAITING FOR THE BUS, GET IN TOUCH WITH METRO ABOUT YOUR QUESTIONS AND CONCERNS!
Call or email, if you have the cell phone service, or write a letter to snail mail to Metro/Bi-State about problems with services- including route, schedules, bus stops, etc.

http://www.metrostlouis.org/CustomerSupport/ReachCustomerSupport.aspx



**Ask questions and demand accountability! WE DESERVE DECENT PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION!

Why don't bus drivers sell day passes the same way they sell two hour transfer tickets (with the $7.50 being paid to the new fare boxes)?
Why aren't 30 day and 7 day passes sold at bus transfer centers? (A monthly or weekly pass is not the same as a 30 day or 7 day pass.)
How are routes, schedules, and fares determined?
When are rider surveys conducted?
How often does the average rider use the bus or train?
How long is the average Metro trip?
How many transfers on the average trip?
How much "wait time" between buses/trains on the average trip?
What fare does the average rider pay, and how?
What is the average rider's income?
What areas use the buses the most?
Who determines where bus stops are placed and who maintains them?
Why don't bus stops have route and schedule information?
Why are so few bus stops covered or provided with trash cans?
Why are there no bathroom at bus and metrolink stations?
Why are the telephone information centers open only 45 hours a week, weekdays, between 7:30 AM and 4:30 PM?
What portion of Metro's budget goes to buses and trains, and what funds go to Downtown St. Louis Airport and the Arch trams and Arch Riverboats?
What portion of Metro employees use public transportation?

WHY IS NORTH SAINT LOUIS SO UNDER-SERVED BY METROLINK TRAIN AND BUS TRANSFER CENTERS?

And most importantly:
WHO IS ACCOUNTABLE FOR THE MISERABLE SERVICE THIS AGENCY PROVIDES?
WHAT PERSON OR AGENCY CAN THE PUBLIC APPEAL TO FOR REAL CHANGE?