EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Customer Service Advisory Panel (CSAP) was created by the TTC as an independent body in March 2010. The CSAP’s mandate was to consider aspects of TTC operations where levels of customer service can be improved. During its deliberations, the CSAP had the full cooperation of the TTC and its customers.
The CSAP provided 78 observations and accompanying recommendations. Some are minor, and some major. Some can be attended to right away, while others will demand much attention and take months or years to implement. Some are inexpensive, while others will demand high levels of funding and allocation of resources.
The implementation of many (if not most) of the recommendations contained in this report will require significant operating or capital expenditures and workforce increases. This should be addressed by the TTC in upcoming budget submissions.
The primary focus of the TTC has always been safety, and that is as it should be. The new focus on customer service is overdue. This initiative will be costly to implement and maintain, and some recommendations may lead to changes in TTC policy. However, the result will be worth the considerable effort and investment of resources.
The question, of course, is: where will the money come from?
Most of the observations and accompanying recommendations focus on changes that can be made by the TTC. However, customers also play an important role in this new customer service initiative. Customers often lack a thorough understanding as to how the system actually operates — why the TTC “does what it does.”
Observations and accompanying recommendations are listed in eight sections in this report. For the purposes of this executive summary, an overview is provided for each section, along with the headings from each recommendation. This will allow the reader to more fully understand the breadth and depth of the CSAP’s work and its resulting observations and recommendations.
A RENEWED FOCUS ON CUSTOMER SERVICE
The focus of the TTC has always been the safety of its employees and the safety of it millions of riders. Customer service has not been a top priority of the TTC in recent years.
The recommendations in this section result from a wide range of observations, and include notes on potential organizational changes, new committees, developing a better understanding of the many facets of customer service, and gaining a better understanding of TTC customers.
1A: Chief Customer Service Officer
1B: Customer Service Business Plan
1C: Customer Service Advisory Group
1D: Organizational Review: Customer Service
1E: Creation of a Culture of Customer Service
1F: Image/Brand Improvement Plan
1G: Customer Service Survey
1H: Staying Up-to-Date on Customer Service
1I: Peer Review
1J: Create Customer Service Support Teams
1K: Station Managers
1L: Customer Service Response Teams
1M: Acknowledge Children
1N: Creation of a Student Advisory Committee
COMMUNICATING WITH CUSTOMERS
The TTC communicates with its customers in many different ways. Some communications provide general information and assistance to customers, while others advise them of delays, emergencies, and other situations affecting service. Customers include: daily users, tourists, customers who speak little or no English, people with disabilities, and people from different cultures. Catering to the different needs of each of the system’s customer groups is extremely difficult.
2A: Portable Information Kiosk or Area
2B: Improved Direction Signs (Wayfinding)
2C: Platform Screens
2D: Screens at Station Entrances
2E: Screens at Collector Booths
2F: Communication of Delays, Buses/Streetcars
2G: Customer Service Contact Cards
2H: “Sorry, Bus Full” Sign
2I: Improve Signage Quality at Collectors’ Booths
2J: Standardized Signage
2K: Replace Collector Booth Microphones
2L: Explanatory Posters for New Customers
2M: Review all Vicinity Maps
2N: Update Subway Maps
2O: Develop New Streetcar Maps
2P: Distribution of TTC Bulletins to Customers
2Q: Family Functions and Events
2R: Review Subway Door Signage
2S: Improve “Major Attraction” Signage
2T: Improve Public Address System
2U: Pocket-Size Maps
2V: Revised Signage for “Priority Seating”
2W: Operator-Customer Communications:
Short-Turning and Train-Emptying
2X: Consolidate Communications with Major Announcements
Coming from the Transit Control Centre
2Y: Adoption of New Communications Technologies
2Z: Touch-Screen Information Kiosks in Stations
2AA: “Why We Do What We Do” Marketing Campaign
2BB: Providing Real-Time Updates on the Website
2CC: Add an In-Depth FAQ Section to the Website
2DD: Marketing Campaign: “Connect with Us”
2EE: Improved Information for Tourists
CUSTOMERS COMMUNICATING WITH THE TTC
It is not always easy for customers to communicate with the TTC or have access to senior management, which should be addressed.
3A: Frequent Public Town Hall Meetings
3B: Review the “Customer Service Communications” (CSC) System
3C: Review CSC Response System
3D: Categorize all CSCs
3E: Closing the CSC Loop
3F: Customer Service Centre: Hours of Operation
INTERNAL TTC COMMUNICATIONS
Improvements can be made in the TTC’s internal communications, particularly communications with frontline employees.
4A: Improve Internal Communications
4B: Improve Internal Communication Channels
TTC EMPLOYEES
Customer service can be improved through a review of, and modifications to, the current customer service training programs for TTC staff. In addition, employees require extra support in some areas.
5A: Review of Customer Service Training Courses
5B: Additional Customer Service Training Courses
5C: Level of Retention of Training
5D: Increase Frequency of Refresher Training
5E: Service Recovery Training
5F: Create an Additional Customer Service Course
5G: Greater Support for Collectors
5H: Improved Selection Procedures
5I: Review Recognition Programs
5J: Visibility of Recognition Programs
5K: Clarify Selection Processes for Recognition
5L: Develop an Employee Handbook
5M: Advise Operators on the Need for the Smooth Operation of all
Vehicles
5N: Additional Supervisors
5O: Adding Time to Routes
FARE MEDIA AND PAYMENT SYSTEMS
There are numerous issues related to fare media and purchasing/payment systems. The current system is both inconsistent and inconvenient. Many, if not all, of the issues related to fares will disappear when a new system is chosen and implemented.
6A: Convenient Fare System
6B: Revised Day Pass
6C: Simplified Transfer System
TTC “SPACES,” VOLUNTEERS, AND COMMUNITIES
Often, TTC “spaces” — such as subway and bus stations — exist in isolation from the communities of which they are a part. Torontonians do not have a sense of ownership over these TTC spaces.
7A: Firmly Place TTC Spaces within Local Communities
7B: Amenities
7C: Community Liaison
7D: Promote Community Engagement and Collaboration and “Friends
of the TTC”
RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE TTC AND ITS CUSTOMERS
All employees of the TTC have a duty to provide the highest levels of customer service. Also, customers must do their part to improve the level of customer service.
8A: TTC Responsibilities
8B: Customers’ Responsibilities
8C: TTC Bylaw #1
In conclusion, as the TTC focuses more on customer service and customers demonstrate more empathy, the TTC can again be held in the high regard it enjoyed for many decades.
This report is a significant first step in moving the TTC to a position where it can provide a high level of customer service, which could lead to better customer satisfaction.
There is a great deal of work to be done, but the TTC’s recognition of the current inadequacies in customer service and its creation of the CSAP demonstrates a welcomed commitment to this new customer service initiative.