2018 Customer Satisfaction Survey Results

The results of the LIRR's 2018 Customer Satisfaction Survey are in, and railroad officials are expected to present the findings during the MTA Board LIRR Committee meeting on Monday morning.

Overall satisfaction declined for the second year in a row to 76%, a one point decrease over last year.  Of that, 58% of respondents consider themselves "satisfied" (which the MTA considers a score of 6 out of 10), and 17% consider themselves "very satisfied" with the railroad's service overall.  The overall satisfaction score is 13% lower than what it was in 2010 (89%), and 6% lower than the railroad's average satisfaction score since that time.

Satisfaction increased on six branches: the Oyster Bay, Port Washington, West Hempstead, Port Jefferson, and Long Beach Branches, and west of Babylon; and decreased on five, the largest being the Ronkonkoma Branch, which saw a 12% decrease.  Only passengers on the Port Washington Branch are more satisfied now than they were in 2010, with all other branches below their 2010 marks by an average of 14%.

Branch	2018 Score	Trend	Δ vs 2010	Δ vs 2017	'18 vs Mean
LIRR Overall	76%	Down	-13%	-1%	-6%
Port Washington	86%	Down	+1%	+5%	0%
Hempstead	73%	Down	-16%	-6%	-10%
West Hempstead	80%	Up	-9%	+3%	-2%
West of Huntington	70%	Down	-20%	-5%	-12%
Far Rockaway	79%	Down	-13%	-2%	-5%
Montauk	67%	Down	-23%	-7%	-15%
Oyster Bay	84%	Down	-14%	+10%	+1%
West of Babylon	75%	Down	-13%	+4%	-6%
Long Beach	82%	Down	-5%	+1%	0%
Ronkonkoma	59%	Down	-27%	-12%	-19%
Port Jefferson	78%	Down	-5%	+2%	0%

Satisfaction during the peak periods declined by 1% to 68% (and is currently 16% lower than it was in 2010).  Satisfaction with reverse-peak service increased by 8% over last year, but is still 6% lower than it was in 2010.  Satisfaction with weekday off-peak service increased by 1%, and weekend off-peak service satisfaction decreased by 5%...both marks are currently 13% lower than they were in 2010.

The full results are printed in the meeting notes for Monday's MTA Board LIRR Committee meeting (starting on page 71), or you can view them and scores dating back to 2010 in The LIRR Today's document library.

Of the 77 questions currently measured as part of the annual satisfaction survey, 36 categories saw satisfaction increase, 13 categories saw satisfaction stay the same, and 28 categories saw decreases over last year.  The incremental increases or decreases over last year were all small--the largest increase was 4% (cleanliness of onboard restrooms, 39%), and the largest decrease 5% (the weekday peak schedule to and from your station, 71%).  The average change was 0.18%.

Of the 53 questions that have been asked continuously since 2010, all but three have satisfaction marks lower now than they were in 2010 (the three exceptions are presence of MTA Police, 1% higher; security of car parked at the station, 2% higher; and sound quality of audio announcements at stations, 10% higher).  Satisfaction in six categories is more than 20% lower than it was in 2010, primarily those related to train and station restroom cleanliness.

In 2018, the LIRR received the highest marks for mobile ticketing (92%), its conductors and their appearance (91%), and safety from train accidents (89%).  Cleanliness of train and station restrooms continues to be the area where the LIRR receives the lowest scores, most of which are below 50%.

From 2010 to today, satisfaction in just 72 of the 77 question categories is trending downwards.  Just five categories are seeing an upward trend in satisfaction.

Some highlights from the full results (and how they compare to 2010, last year, and the average scores since 2010) are shown in the table below:

Metric	2018 Score	Trend	Δ vs 2010	Δ vs 2017	'18 vs Mean
1. Long Island Rail Road overall	76%	Down	-13%	-1%	-6%
Home Boarding Station
2. Your boarding station overall	82%	Down	-8%	-2%	-4%
4. Cleanliness inside the station building (excluding restrooms)	72%	Down	-12%	-3%	-6%
5. Maintenance of station	76%	Down	-9%	-2%	-4%
7. Sound quality of audio announcements	78%	Up	+10%	+1%	0%
10. Availability of parking on weekdays	56%	Down	-6%	+1%	-3%
Your Train (AM & PM)
14. LIRR train service overall	75%	Down	-14%	-1%	-7%
15. On-time performance	71%	Down	-15%	-2%	-8%
16. Availability of seats	68%	Down	-12%	-3%	-7%
17. Condition of seats	73%	Down	-15%	+2%	-6%
18. Train interior maintenance - lights, floors, windows, etc. (excluding seats)	77%	Down	-12%	+1%	-5%
21. Cleanliness of train's interior (excluding restrooms)	75%	Down	-8%	+2%	-3%
23. Value for the money using the railroad	58%	Down	-9%	+1%	-2%
Courtesy and Responsiveness of Our Employees
26. The overall courtesy and responsiveness of our employees	89%	Down	-2%	-1%	-1%
27. Conductors	91%	Down	-2%	-1%	-1%
29. Customer Service Ambassadors	87%	Down		-1%	-1%
30. Information booth and customer service office	87%	Down		0%	-1%
Train Scheduling
35. Overall schedule of trains	71%	Down	-10%	-2%	-6%
36. The weekday AM and PM peak schedule to and from your station	71%	Down		-5%	-8%
37. The weekday off-peak schedule to and from your station (including late night train service)	68%	Down		-3%	-5%
38. The weekend schedule to and from your station	69%	Down		-3%	-5%
Overall Communication
39. Overall communication to you	75%	Down	-10%	-1%	-6%
40. Overall communications during normal service conditions	80%	Down		-2%	-4%
42. Overall communications during planned service disruptions (track work, etc.)	73%	Down		-1%	-5%
43. At your boarding station	83%	Down	-6%	+1%	-3%
44. On board your trains	83%	Down	-6%	+2%	-3%
Communication (During Unplanned Service Disruptions)
52. At your boarding station	65%	Down	-9%	+3%	-3%
53. On board your trains	67%	Down	-6%	+3%	-2%
55. At our website (www.mta.info/lirr)	69%	Down	-10%	+1%	-5%
57. Via our e-mail alerts (if you subscribe)	69%	Down	-12%	+2%	-5%
58. Via our social media sites (Facebook/Twitter)	69%	Down		+2%	-5%
59. Through the TrainTime Mobile App. (if used)	71%	Down		+2%	-4%
60. With the Automated Phone System (Schedules, Fares, etc.)	67%	Down	-12%	+1%	-6%
Restroom Facilities
70. Home Boarding Station - Cleanliness of restroom	48%	Down	-20%	+1%	-8%
72. On Board - Cleanliness of restroom	39%	Down	-25%	+4%	-10%
74. Destination Station - Cleanliness of restroom	42%	Down	-29%	+2%	-13%
Miscellaneous
76. Quiet commute car program	76%	Up		+2%	+1%
77. Mobile tickets	92%	Up		+3%	+2%

The LIRR conducts its annual customer satisfaction survey in June each year, so last year that would have been right at the start of the "LIRR Forward" performance improvement plan (and I'm sure that will be one of the first three sentences spoken when officials present these results on Monday), though we will have to see if the changes made under "LIRR Forward" yield any notable improvements in satisfaction.

The number of complaints to the LIRR has not really abated, even since "LIRR Forward".  In the fourth quarter of last year (the 5th, 6th, and 7th month of "LIRR Forward"), 2,678 official complaints were filed with the railroad through the MTA website, according to data made available by the agency.  That's more than the number of complaints received in the first half of the year, before "LIRR Forward", and a 10% increase over the prior year.  The dataset the MTA provides has huge gaps, and no figures were reported for the third quarter of 2018.

While the number of complaints to the LIRR is not as high as it was at its peak in the summer and early fall of 2016, the number of complaints from riders is still significantly higher than it was just a couple years ago, and is once again trending in the wrong direction.  Time will tell if "LIRR Forward" is able to bring about a large enough improvement in these figures.

Having a continuous feedback loop is very important to improving service for passengers.  The once annual satisfaction survey should not be the only time the railroad asks its riders what they think of its service.  While the railroad has greatly increased the number of opportunities for management to interact with passengers (through the return of the "Meet the Managers" events or the new customer conversation events), it should have ways of better quantifying passenger satisfaction on a more frequent basis, so we can really see whether "LIRR Forward" is making any difference.  Improvements in operating statistics like OTP and the number of canceled trains are important, but at the end of the day, passenger satisfaction is the most important factor.  Improvements in OTP, for example, by not holding scheduled connections, therefore making the train "on time" but all of the passengers late, might improve the OTP figures, but produce an overall negative impact on satisfaction, which is what really matters.

Using online surveys to collect and quantify passenger satisfaction would be an easy and cheap way to measure what passengers think of service on a more frequent basis, since you don't have to deal with the expense of paying people to hand out paper surveys on trains, or tabulate the results.  NYCT (subways and buses), for example, have been sending quarterly "Customers Count" surveys via e-mail for people to fill out and respond, so they can track on a more frequent basis what passengers think and what needs attention, and also track how those responses change over time.  I have not seen something similar happen for LIRR (so not saying it doesn't exist), but it's an excellent idea that should be adopted with a wider audience MTA-wide.

As the LIRR looks to improve operations, the 2018 customer satisfaction survey results show there are still areas for significant improvement across the spectrum.  While reliability is a key factor in satisfaction, the railroad continues to receive low marks for overall service levels/scheduling provided and value for money using the railroad.  Efforts to improve train frequency and speed, and aggressively control rising costs, need to be stepped up significantly as part of a holistic modernization plan well beyond the current scope of "LIRR Forward".  Operating efficiencies like proof of payment, improvements in off-peak service, standardization of service patterns and schedule padding reductions all need to be aggressively pursued to not only improve satisfaction with existing riders, but to attract new ones as well.