Public transport is ‘worst for customer service’

A survey by service design consultancy Engine claims that public transport and train operators have overtaken utility companies in providing the worst customer service and experience.

Almost a third of respondents selected public transport operators as the worst service providers, although the figure of 32% is an improvement on last year’s 35%.

“Consumers essentially have no choice about who they use for public transport and trains - hence why the customer experience isn’t seen as that influential,” said Engine co-founder Oliver King.

“However, the emotive and very public nature of operators’ failings means they are prone to high-profile bad press which negatively affects their reputation with both the public and regulatory bodies. With new legislation to compensate for passenger disruption, and operators needing to deploy more staff to manage issues, a poor customer experience impacts more than customer satisfaction, it also hits the bottom line.”

King says that public transport operators need to “think of the different customer profiles and tailor the experience for each one”, explaining: “Older people put greater emphasis on the experience being honest, efficient and reliable, while the younger generation places more store on it being flexible and reliable.”