The results of the Fall 2022 Customers Count survey are in!
Between November 21 and December 5, 2022, we received 150,000 responses to our Fall 2022 survey.
The survey targeted customers who use any of our modes of transit: subways, buses, commuter rail, Staten Island Railway, and Access-a-Ride Paratransit. Our outreach included advertising in print and online media, and promoting it on digital signage throughout our transit system.
The goal of the survey was to get feedback from our customers on their satisfaction levels and and to identify changes compared to previous reporting periods. We also sought to gain a deeper understanding about key drivers of customer satisfaction that influence customer behaviors. We sought feedback on their satisfaction with service, our staff, cleanliness, security, and more.
Hearing directly from our customers lets us better understand their biggest concerns and prioritize issues that we need to address, with the goal of bringing more customers back to our subways, buses, and trains.
Here are some of our findings:
Customer satisfaction has increased across all modes of transit.
Satisfaction is highest on our commuter railroads: 89% of Metro-North customers and 81% of Long Island Rail Road customers reported being satisfied or very satisfied with their service. On local and express buses, 64% and 79% of customers, respectively, reported satisfaction with their service.
Notably, 54% of subway customers surveyed reported being satisfied with their service, up six percentage points from the Spring 2022 survey.
Customers are concerned about safety, security, and service reliability.
While customers continued to report concerns with safety, security, and service reliability, satisfaction increased in all areas in the time since the Spring 2022 survey. On the subway, satisfaction with personal security increased seven percentage points in stations and nine percentage points on trains. And 65% of Access-a-Ride Paratransit customers reported being satisfied with the service, with approximately half being satisfied with on-time pick-ups.
Working from home continues to keep customers from public transit.
While we have seen a steady and gradual increase in ridership to New York City's business districts, the pandemic-era shift to working from home remains a large factor behind shifts in transit usage. This is especially true of Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road: Nearly two-thirds of railroad customers who are riding less frequently cited the ability to work from home as a reason they’re using public transit less. Approximately half of subway and express bus customers expressed similar views.
