Customer Service on Public Transporation?

As mentioned in the previous post, any industry that deals with people requires a customer service attitude. I was reminded of that today as I boarded a small town public bus system for a trip downtown. We have been relegated to using public transportation again when our car broke down.

This is not the first time this has happened, so over the years I have had a chance to sample many bus systems. A year and a half ago we were living in San Diego county, and used the bus system extensively when we were between cars. The difference between a big city bus system and the one here in our Midwest small town can be summed up in two words: Customer Service.

When we first moved to Lawrence, KS, I decided I wanted to live on a bus route, because I was not looking forward to driving in the snow and ice again. My husband used our only car to get to work. I used the bus system.

My first positive reaction was about the price. Only 50 cents to ride? When we left San Diego, a single ride cost $2.00 and a day pass cost $4.00. I was amazed Kansas riders complained when the bus fares increased to .75. But even I was starting to complain when they went to a $1.00. My, how quickly we forget and start to take things for granted.

That is good value for the money. But our focus here is customer service. The local bus system, run by the city of Lawrence through a contract with MV Transportation, has a customer service mentality. Thefirst thing that struck me was the transfer process. In San Diego, if your bus was running late, you would miss your connection. Plain and simple. You always had to build extra time into your travel plans just for this eventuality. It was so frustrating to see my connecting bus pull out of the transit station just as my bus was pulling in, even though the bus driver knew the first bus usually had transfers. I’ve seen people run after buses that pulled out just as their bus was pulling in. And inevitably the bus would keep going. The philosophy was, too bad for you. And don’t even bother to ask a driver to call ahead to ask the bus to wait. It just wasn’t done. To be fair, they do state on their website that the buses will not stop after they have pulled away from the bus stop. That is not much consolation when you know you are going to be late for work again.

Fast forward ahead to the Lawrence bus service. The bus driver asks you when you board the bus, “Do you need a transfer?” If you say yes, they ask for which bus and punch one out. Then, as they travel the route and get close to where you are to make your transfer, they call the other driver to let him/her know they have a tranfer! They might even describe you to other driver to make sure that he/she doesn’t leave you behind. Buses on routes that connect with each other must wait at the transfer point until they have “cleared” each other over the radio.

In addition, if you should have to miss a transfer for any reason, the bus driver will call a supervisor who will come to pick you up in a little van and take you where you need to go. And, if the bus passes you by for some reason, i.e you weren’t paying attention and the bus rode right by you, you can call the company and they will again send a van to pick you up.

This is a great example of a customer service oriented transportation system. For those who have not experienced it’s opposite, you don’t know how fortunate you are. I hope I never get to the point where I take it for granted.

“Be everywhere, do everything, and never fail to astonish the customer.”
Macy’s Motto

Lawrence Transit System Home Page