Metro Board Chairman Chris Zimmerman said Thursday that Metro this year will employ “secret shoppers” to gauge the agency’s progress toward meeting its goals of improved service reliability and customer communications.
“Large retailers concerned about the customer’s experience in their stores have long employed “secret shoppers” as a way to help assess their performance,” Zimmerman said at his first full board meeting as 2008 chairman. “This year Metro will implement a similar program as a tool to help management see the system through our riders’ eyes.”
Zimmerman said board members are working with General Manager John Catoe to develop specific goals and performance measures for Metro that the agency will finalize in March.
“We must support the general manager’s efforts to establish clear lines of responsibility and accountability within the organization,” Zimmerman said. “Then, having set out well-defined objectives, we — and the public — can fairly judge the result.”
Recent Metro numbers showed the agency fell well short of its own service reliability goals during 2007.
Metro failed every month last year to meet its benchmark of having 95 percent of all trains run on schedule, with performance dipping close to 80 percent during rush hour. The agency also saw a 30 percent spike in service disruptions between July and November over the same period the year before, which officials attributed to failing brakes on its oldest railcars and failing doors on its newer 5000 series railcars.
Zimmerman said Metro will aim to reduce train off-loads by 10 percent this year, and to reduce off-loads caused by mechanical problems by 25 percent.
Catoe said in January that he instructed staff to work with the manufacturer to fix or replace the faulty 5000 series railcars within three months.
Zimmerman said Metro will also aim to install grab handles — which have proven popular with riders — in at least 25 percent of railcars, and to improve on-time bus service by 10 percent.
