Metro riders who complain about shoddy train service or rude station managers soon should have professionals to back them up.
Metro’s board of directors Thursday voted to begin looking for a company to conduct a “mystery rider” program in which employees disguised as regular riders evaluate where Metro is failing to meet its own standards.
Officials said the program — which showed up on a list of General Manager John Catoe’s goals in February — could be in place as soon as August.
“We need to be able to see the riders’ experience through their eyes,” Metro Board Chairman Chris Zimmerman said. “We want to know what works and doesn’t work, and what can be made better.”
The program is estimated to cost Metro close to $1 million over five years. The initial contract would be for a three-year term, with a two-year extension option.
While Metro has previously conducted a mystery rider program using volunteers, officials said using a professional company is more useful.
“The problem was the results that we got [with volunteers] were not reliable or valid,” Metro customer research manager Donna Murray said. “You get on the X2 bus every day and you report on the X2 bus — there was no broader analysis of the system.”
While Metro compiles monthly reports of customer complaints, Murray said those complaints are subjective and sometimes can be the result of a riders’ bad mood or pet peeve.
The mystery riders, or “secret shoppers,” as companies who use the program call them, will have a specific list of items to evaluate — is the employee wearing a name badge? Is the sign out of date? Is there trash on the bus? — and will assign each violation a rating.
Everybody will be dealing with the criteria on an even basis — there will be no subjectivity,” Murray said.
The company will evaluate at least 95 percent of the rail system every three months, and 95 percentof the bus system every year, Murray said.
Metro officials would use the mystery riders’ reports to identify weak spots in the system and address them, she said.
