Customers Show Increased Satisfaction With NJ Transit

New Jersey travelers are pretty happy with their public transportation, according to New Jersey Transit’s (NJ Transit) most recent customer satisfaction survey, released on Tuesday, April 9.

The survey for the third quarter of Fiscal Year 2013 was conducted on njtransit.com from Feb. 4-25. Customers were asked to rate aspects of public transportation on a scale of 0-10. This included bus, rail, light rail and access links, as well as 41 attributes of the system. Attributes included facilities, service, vehicles, communications and the overall experience. Customers were asked to identify the most important aspect of the NJ Transit system.

Four out of five customers said they would recommend NJ Transit to their friends, a new high for the agency, according to NJ Transit. The rate of 79 percent exceeded last year’s positive response of 67 percent, NJ Transit said.

NJ Transit introduced its “Scorecard” initiative in March of 2011 in an effort to provide greater transparency and increased accountability. A baseline was established with last year’s survey, and the positive response exceeded the baseline in every category.

“As we near completion of the Christie Administration’s second full year of Scorecard, our customer surveys continue to provide a clear picture of what matters most to our bus, rail, light rail and Access Link customers,” NJ TRANSIT Board Chairman and NJ Department of Transportation Commissioner James Simpson said.  “Through this survey data and the agency’s quarterly ‘We Are Listening’ customer forums, NJ TRANSIT has effectively improved its operations, resulting in a 23 percent increase in customer satisfaction and further protections for New Jersey taxpayers.”

“Using this invaluable feedback, we are encouraged that our first, post-Sandy survey shows that our customers have recognized our efforts to enhance the customer experience – even under the most challenging of conditions,” NJ TRANSIT Executive Director James Weinstein said.  “However, the work continues, and we will continue to employ a laser-like focus on those areas identified in need of improvement.

“By focusing on performance standards and absolute results, Scorecard continues to help NJ TRANSIT move in the right direction.”

During this year’s initiative, 14,000 of the 415,500 people who use NJ Transit responded to the online survey, the highest response rate in a year, NJ Transit said. Overall satisfaction was above average at 6.4 percent, an increase over last year’s 5.2.

The rest of the results read as follows:

• Bus customers rated their overall satisfaction with service at a 6.4, higher than the 5.5 baseline rating.  About 261,200 customers used NJ TRANSIT’s interstate and local bus system on a typical weekday during the third quarter of FY13, representing approximately 63 percent of all NJ TRANSIT customers.

• Rail customers gave NJ TRANSIT an overall score of 5.9, a significant increase from the baseline score of 4.5.  Approximately 118,900 customers rode NJ TRANSIT trains on a typical weekday throughout the third quarter of FY13, comprising nearly than 29 percent of all NJ TRANSIT customers.

• Light Rail customers gave NJ TRANSIT an overall satisfaction rating of 7.4, an improvement over the baseline score of 6.5.  About 32,200 customers used NJ TRANSIT’s three light rail lines on a typical weekday in the third quarter of FY13, making up approximately eight percent of total NJ TRANSIT customers.

• Access Link, NJ TRANSIT’s paratransit service for customers with disabilities, was given an overall rating of 8.1, higher than the 7.5 baseline.  Access Link serves approximately 3,200 customers on a typical weekday.

“While the news today is clearly encouraging, we recognize that there are improvements which must continue to be made across our system, particularly as we continue recovering from Sandy’s unprecedented devastation,” Weinstein said. “We are rebuilding our system with the interests of our loyal customers in mind, and again, I would thank them for their continued patience and support.”

Full results are available at njtransit.com.