Comment from Transit CX
Transit CXSupportIndividual
Summary: The commenter, a transit customer experience expert, supports the Family Friendly Transit Data Initiative and provides detailed recommendations for establishing a national standard for transit customer experience surveys. They argue for unified metrics, specific sampling methods, and the inclusion of both rider perception and observational data to create a benchmarking system for transit agencies.
The attached document is in response to the FTA Request for Information (RFI) supporting the Family Friendly Transit Data Initiative. My updated response to the RFI draws from over three decades of experience to detail a nationwide standard for transit customer experience survey methodology that provides a high level of statistical confidence. Unified survey questions and methods will allow accurate benchmarking across agencies covering the five FTA priorities:
1. Safety and security,
2. Cleanliness,
3. Universal accessibility,
4. Real-time data availability, and
5. System reliability (which I recommend broadening to "Time Competitiveness").
The attached document also proposes cutting edge observational and operational metrics for these same five areas.
Kudos for embarking on this Family Friendly Transit quest and recognizing the power of unified data standards to benchmark transit performance. I hope this RFI response helps support the effort.