After years of improvements, riders still think transit needs work

Tuesday August 11, 2009 6:14 PM By Heather Haddon

City straphangers aren’t easy to please.

Public perception of the buses and subways has barely budged in the last decade despite billions of dollars in system investments, according to MTA polling data obtained by amNewYork.

Riders who were surveyed rated subway service at 6.4 out of 10 last year, up by only a tenth of point from 1998.

“Give me a break man. It’s a rip-off,” Shawn Kelloway, 31, a rider for seven years from Brooklyn, told amNewYork

The MTA hires pollsters to survey riders annually, using the figures internally to assess customer perception. Last year’s survey cost $140,000.

Of the 1,300 riders surveyed, the MTA made the biggest strides in ratings for station environment, subway speed and safety over 1998 numbers. But the agency barely improved in 40 percent of the indicators, including marks for crowding, buses and cost of the fare.

Rider ratings for station cleanliness and smell plunged during the decade.

“I see some new trains, which is good. But I don’t see service going up with the fares,” said Rafi Aanwer, 41, an E train rider.

Ridership, which hit historic highs earlier this year, has fueled crowding. Straphangers had a 43 percent chance of snagging a seat on the subways during rush hour, according to a recent Straphangers Campaign report. 

A MTA spokesman said that improved management and infrastructure investment has helped keep the ratings stable as ridership climbed.

About three-fourths of those surveyed said they were satisfied overall with subway service. That’s a big improvement from 1989, when less than half of straphangers approved of the broken-down system.

Riders ratings
Straphangers surveyed in 1998 and 2008 gave the MTA the following marks, with 10 being the highest:

Overall rating of subway service: 6.3    , 6.4

Overall rating of station environment: 5.7, 6.1

Overall bus satisfaction: 6.2, 6.2

Station smell: 5.6, 4.8

Subway speed: 6.7, 7.4

hhaddon@am-ny.com