95% less than 20 minutes late makes sense now

From looking at the mornings delays and actually looking back at past delays in my email, I noticed a trend. Delays tend to happen a lot but most delays are 10 to 15 minutes with some delays logged as 17 or 19 minutes which are under 20. Thus the selection of 20 minutes is a simple case of changing the math.

I would like to see the actual numbers on 15 minutes rather than 20 minutes or since you are so proud of the 20 minutes, what about changing the free ride from 30 minutes to 20 minutes. Since its less than 20 minutes late 95 to 98% of the time then this would make sense from a customer service point of view and customer satisfaction. Let's see Go Transit put their money where their mouth is.

Passenger Charter and Customer Service Ambassadors

I read through the printed copy of the Passenger Charter on the way home last evening and found it interesting how little information there were on Customer Service Ambassadors. It is interesting because in my opinion they are the ones who made the biggest difference.

The survey mentioned people feel safe and informed well at stations this has not changed much. Signs are not better or clearer, announcements at stations are still unclear due to old equipment, but the customer service ambassadors on the trains keep us informed of every delay or stop, they respond to emergency assist alarms. They help with directions, guide us on faster trains to take. Talk to us and make us feel comfortable.

When you see a Customer Service Ambassador today, be sure to thank them for the great job they have been doing. We really appreciate what they do every day.

Go Transit Passenger Charter

I just received an email about the new Passenger Charter.  This is exciting as now we have a concrete document that states Go Transits commitment to us.  We have felt the change in attitude at Go Transit over the past few years both from the friendliness and helpfulness of staff members and the free rides for delays over 45 minutes.

Their charter outlines 5 promises to the commuter:

- to be on time

- to keep you informed

- to provide you with a safe travel experience

- to ensure your travel with us is always comfortable and to always be available to help. 

Here is the link to the actual charter.  Check it out and let's keep them to it together.

http://www.gotransit.com/passengercharter/en/passenger_charter.aspx

One thing that looked inaccurate or unclear.

- We will run more than 90% of rush hour trains within five minutes of the scheduled time.  

The stat shows 95% but from experience on the lakeshore line over the past 10 months, most trains closer to 9:00 arrival have been 10 to 15 minutes late.  I am interested on how they came up with this number and how this is audited. 

The Second thing I noticed was that safety is not measured on how safe the trains, stations are but on how safe customers feel.

Every three months, we conduct a customer satisfaction survey to better understand what we are doing right and what we need to improve on. This is the cumulative results for this year for customer satisfaction when it comes to safety.

What would matter more to me would be seeing the results of safety inspections, how often brakes fail, trains break down on tracks, in winter I would like to see random inspections of station platforms for ice buildup, how many people have slipped on stairways, hurt themselves on the platform.  This would be more meaningful then a survey where some people responded to questions and others never reached the survey. 
Just curious, out of the ridership totals how many actually answered the surveys.
I look forward to comments from Go Transit.