It’s been one year since station agents started stepping out of the booth to assist riders directly in the subway system, and the overwhelmingly positive response so far has all of us wondering why we didn’t make this change sooner. It’s been a major success for our colleagues and customers alike.
Customer Service Agent Matthew Patrick, who’s been with Transit for two years, said last week “I enjoy being outside the booth. I enjoy interacting with the customers. I like making my customer service experience more personal with each and every customer that I get in contact with.”
Riders seem to like it too. The Fall 2023 Customer Counts survey found 78% of respondents had good things to say about these interactions, and they particularly enjoyed the more friendly and tailored support.
Results also show that customers who are satisfied with their station agent experiences are more likely to feel safe on platforms (52 percent vs 26 percent) and more likely to be satisfied with the subway overall (61 percent vs 31 percent). We love to see it.
I always say that customer satisfaction is Transit’s North Star, and I couldn’t be prouder of the way employees have risen to the challenges of their new roles after completing specialized training classes, which I’m told is the first real customer service training many of them have received. Now there’s just one class of station agents left to finish.
We’ve been taking notice of their hard work, presenting 208 commendations to station agents receiving positive feedback from customers in the last year, compared to 33 commendations between March 2022 and February 2023, before agents began regularly leaving the booth.
And we look forward to building on this progress as new services are introduced at the 15 Customer Service Centers opened systemwide since last spring. In a few weeks, riders will be able to apply for and (if they’re approved) receive permanent Reduced-Fare MetroCards on the spot, while the ability to process Fair Fares applications will be phased in over coming months.
In the meantime, we hope New Yorkers will take some time to fill out our new and improved Spring 2024 Customers Count survey, which goes live April 18 and runs through May 3. It should take just 15 minutes to complete on the MTA website. Transit has made a lot of changes since the Fall survey – launching the revamped myMTA app, completing dozens of station re-NEW-vations, and finishing critical accessibility projects.
We can’t wait to hear from New Yorkers about whether their experience with us is on track with needs and expectations.
Richard Davey is MTA New York City Transit president.
