September-October 2022 - 46

I N D U S TR Y I NS I G HT S :
Innovating to
Address Rising
Passenger
Expectations
By focusing on safety, innovation and communication,
the industry can deliver on higher passenger expectations.
By Susan Sweat, contributor
P
assenger expectations of public
transportation are rapidly evolving
and changing. As a society, the experiences
of COVID-19 have led us all
to re-evaluate what is important to us
and that is no different for our passengers.
There has been a marked increase
in expectations people place on transit:
first, for their increased health and safety
during the pandemic, but now, for the convenience
they expect and the value placed
on their time. Many facets of people's lives
will not go back to " the way things were "
pre-pandemic and increased passenger expectations
for public transportation are no
exception. As a result, there is additional
focus placed on innovation to find new
solutions to address these rising demands.
For us, it's been about developing solutions
that anticipate the needs of our clients
and passengers and then, delivering
on them-all while keeping the passenger
experience at the forefront.
It Always Starts with Safety First
After the initial phase of the pandemic,
there was a need to find new ways to regain
passenger trust as people started to
go back to work, medical appointments,
visiting friends and more. We wanted to
ensure that passengers felt confident that
the buses were being cleaned and sanitized
at regular intervals. And that mask
and social distancing guidelines were
adhered to in accordance with national,
state and local legislation. We ensured
that communication was clear, consistent
and had four common areas of focus:
1. How we were protecting interactions
with passengers.
2. How we were managing social distancing
on vehicles.
3. How we were ensuring safe and clean
vehicles.
4. How we were following strict protocols
for employee health.
This was important information to
communicate to passengers who were
essential workers and remained on transit
throughout the pandemic and for other
passengers as they slowly started to come
back to public transit.
Not Business as Usual:
Innovating to Address
Rising Expectations
Providing passengers with a safe, reliable
and positive experience remains a critical
46 | Mass Transit | MassTransitmag.com | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022
component of our promise to customers.
However, as an industry, we also need to
remain committed to developing innovative
ways to help increase passenger satisfaction.
Everyone is valuing their personal
time with new eyes in this unforeseen
pandemic era and time spent waiting for
and riding public transportation is now
being viewed with a different lens.
Communicating Real-time
Arrival Information
As an industry, it's been up to us to find
ways to improve the rider experience. We
have found a renewed interest in self-service
arrival information for passengers,
so they can better manage their daily
travel. One way we have addressed this
has been to offer passengers - particularly
paratransit riders - real-time updates
on the status of their vehicle trip arrival
via an app. This technology also allows
users to review reservations for current
or future trips. And it provides families
or caregivers with real-time pick up and
drop off information for their passengers,
including real-time vehicle location on a
map to help them follow along and track
the trip. Additionally, in locations where
multiple passengers are being picked up
or dropped off at the same time, such as a
dialysis center or a day program for persons
with disabilities, there is a specific
app for the facilities to track all pick up,
drop off and other ride information from
a consolidated view. This allows the cen2221029
| Mike Melchoon 192309410 | Ryan Deberardinis | Dreamstime
http://www.MassTransitmag.com
September-October 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of September-October 2022
