Staff Report #4
February 11, 2025
To All Members of the Accessible Public Transit Service Advisory Committee
Re: Voice of the Customer – 2024 Survey
Recommendation
That the report be NOTED and FILED.
Background
One of the guiding principles set out in the Commission’s Business Plan is to be customer-focused – striving every day to improve the customer experience. A fundamental step in moving toward being more customer-focused is to ensure that every decision made is viewed not only from a business perspective, but also from the customer’s perspective. The Voice of the Customer survey was introduced in 2016 for the conventional service and repeated annually. In 2018, the Voice of the Customer survey was expanded to include the specialized service. The annual Voice of the Customer survey process was placed on hold in 2019 to provide administration with the opportunity to assess the most appropriate timing for the surveys, which were set to resume in 2020. Unfortunately, the onset of the global pandemic resulted in the surveys being deferred until 2023.
The remainder of this report provides an overview of both the Conventional and Specialized Voice of the Customer survey results, held in 2024, with 2023 results for comparison purposes where applicable. These results will be incorporated and discussed further in the annual Customer Service reports for each of the services, which will be tabled at the February 26, 2025 Commission meeting.
Conventional Transit 2024 Survey
A total of 482 surveys were undertaken with transit customers on board London Transit buses over the period of November 7 through November 11, covering all routes in the system which provides results that are accurate at a 95% confidence with a margin of error of +-4.5%. The surveys were conducted during all service periods throughout the day on weekdays, Saturdays and Sundays and in quantities proportional to each route’s ridership by day of week and time period.
Customer Characteristics
The demographic data gathered through the surveys indicates the following with respect to London Transit customers:
- approximately 89% indicate they are dependent on public transit as their mode of transportation
- approximately 90% utilize the service at least three days per week
- approximately 50% are between the ages of 18 and 29 and an additional 18% are between the ages of 30 and 39
- to/from work and educational institutions are the two primary reasons for travel amongst riders
Community Value and Overall Perception
This section of the survey attempts to gauge the overall level of satisfaction with the conventional service.
Overall Level of Satisfaction
| Statement | 2023 | 2024 |
| Level of Satisfaction (satisfied to very satisfied) | 72% | 71% |
Level of Service Perceptions
| Statement | 2023 | 2024 |
| Level of service in the past year has: | ||
| Gotten worse | 11% | 16% |
| Stayed the same | 71% | 63% |
| Gotten better | 19% | 21% |
Community Value for Investment Perceptions
| Statement | 2023 | 2024 |
| LTC provides value to the community based on funding it receives | 57% | 62% |
| LTC should receive increased funding to improve services | 67% | 71% |
When comparing results year over year, it is important to consider the margin of error (+-4.5%). Percentage shifts within this margin indicate that results are, for the most part consistent. Given this consideration, the overall level of satisfaction with the conventional service has remained consistent.
Shifts in the Level of Service perceptions provide valuable insight into the conventional service ridership base. While the shifts in those who perceive the level of service has gotten worse, and those who believe it has gotten better are within the margin of error, they have both increased since the 2023 survey. These results illustrate the nature of the conventional service and the relationship with riders. While changes are made in an effort to address the majority of riders and/or most significant problem areas, in the majority of cases, there will not be rider consensus on whether the change is viewed as an improvement.
While the perception of community value scores increased in 2024, they are both within or very close to the margin of error, and as such, would be considered to be unchanged from 2023.
Customer Importance Factors
A key aspect of the Voice of the Customer program is the manner in which it allows the customer to identify the most important factors from their perspective that would result in their satisfaction with the service. Respondents were asked to rate each factor on a scale in terms of importance. Respondents were asked to select the service characteristics which are most important to them. Respondents were also asked to indicate their level of satisfaction with each of the identified priorities. The following table provides the top priorities as the percentage of respondents that identified each of the characteristics as well as the level of satisfaction for each.
The table below provides comparison between the 2023 and 2024 results for both the Importance Ranking and the Level of Satisfaction with each service characteristic.
Voice of the Customer Service Priorities
| Importance Ranking | Satisfaction Level | |||
| Service Characteristic | 2023 | 2024 | 2023 | 2024 |
| On-time Performance | 34% | 34% | 40% | 44% |
| Travel Time | 4% | 12% | 74% | 63% |
| Frequency of Service | 11% | 11% | 58% | 57% |
| Coverage | 9% | 6% | 86% | 71% |
| Real time Timeliness Info | 10% | 4% | 53% | 45% |
| Service Delay Information | 5% | 4% | 53% | 39% |
In addition to the priorities listed in the table, a number of others received a lower level of importance including hours of operation, bus cleanliness, fare price, sufficient space, safety on bus, helpful drivers, safely operated bus, days of operation, safety waiting for bus, bus stop cleanliness, courteous customer service representatives and knowledgeable drivers.
The significant shift in the importance of Travel Time as compared to the 2023 results is indicative of the nature and extent of construction projects throughout the city in 2024 which resulted in significant delays and schedule adherence problems. This is further evidenced by the level of satisfaction in the same category, which dropped by 9% over the 2023 survey. The similar declines in level of satisfaction with real time and service delay information are likely attributed in part to the construction-related delays that impacted the conventional service throughout 2024.
Customer Safety and Security
This section of the survey attempts to gauge the customer’s perceptions of safety while interacting with the conventional service. The table below sets out the rate of occurrences where unwanted conversation or contact was experienced while utilizing the conventional service, which has remained consistent since the 2023 survey with approximately 40% of respondents indicating they had in fact experienced unwanted conversation/contact in the past year.
Customer Satisfaction Levels – Safety While Waiting for/Riding the Bus
| Question | 2023Yes | 2024Yes |
| Experienced unwanted conversation/contact while waiting for the bus? | 39% | 40% |
| Experienced unwanted conversation/contact while riding the bus? | 40% | 40% |
In conjunction with the above questions, another series of questions is asked in an effort to measure feelings of safety when utilizing the conventional service to feelings of safety when out in one’s community. The following table provides both the 2023 and 2024 responses for those who indicated feeling “very safe or safe” and those who indicated feeling “unsafe or very unsafe”. As the table indicates, the responses have remained consistent with those from the 2023 survey when the margin of error is considered.
Percent of Customers Feeling Safe from Crime and Harassment
| Question | 2023Safe | 2023Unsafe | 2024Safe | 2024Unsafe |
| On board buses | 77% | 3% | 74% | 4% |
| In the supermarket or grocery store | 87% | 2% | 86% | 3% |
| At a bus stop | 71% | 7% | 68% | 8% |
| On the sidewalk in your neighbourhood | 80% | 5% | 79% | 4% |
Valuable insight is obtained when viewing these two series of questions in tandem, noting that while approximately 40% of riders indicate they have experienced unwanted conversation/contact while utilizing the conventional service, only 4% and 8% of respondents indicated feeling unsafe while riding or waiting for a bus. These results indicate that while conversation/contact may be unwanted, it does not translate to feeling unsafe.
Net Promoter Score
Another aspect the Voice of the Customer process reveals is the organization’s Net Promoter Score (NPS) by ascertaining from the respondents based on all things considered, how likely they would be to recommend riding on London Transit to a friend or neighbour. This metric is intended to assess loyalty and word of mouth favourability among actual customers. The interesting aspect of this measure is that it can be utilized to compare performance between organizations across different business sectors, noting the actual business offering is irrelevant in this measure, but rather the focus is on the level of satisfaction the customer feels they receive.
Survey respondents were asked to rate how likely they would be to recommend London Transit on a scale of 0-10, with 0 being very unlikely and 10 being very likely. The NPS is arrived at by subtracting the percentage of detractors (those rating from 0-6) from the percentage of promoters (those ranking from 9-10). Also included in this measure is the group considered passives (those rating from 7-8). The chart below sets out the comparison of results for the 2023 and 2024 surveys.
Net Promoter Score
Likelihood of Recommending LTC’s Conventional Service
| Likely to Recommend LTC | 2023 | 2024 |
| Detractors (0-6) | 26% | 26% |
| Neutrals (7-8) | 38% | 38% |
| Promoters (9-10) | 36% | 36% |
| Net Promoter Score | 11 | 11 |
| Industry Standard Net Promoter Score | 29 | 33 |
The Net Promoter score of 11% is significantly below the industry average of 33%. In order to shift the Net Promoter score, respondents in the neutral category (scoring 7 or 8 out of 10) need to shift to the promotor category (scoring 9 or 10). The consistency in responses between the two years is indicative of the limited number of improvements that have been made due to budget limitations. Given the multi-year budget limits growth to 18,000 hours in each year (approximate 2% growth) which is lower than the population growth being experienced, it is not anticipated that this score will improve over the term of the current multi-year budget.
Specialized Transit Survey
As indicated earlier in this report, 2018 was the first year that a Voice of the Customer survey was undertaken for Specialized Transit customers. For this survey wave, 385 surveys were undertaken via telephone with customers who had utilized the service within the past six months, which provides for a margin of error of +-5.2%.
Customer Characteristics
The demographic data gathered through the surveys indicates the following with respect to LTC customers:
- 65% of respondents indicated LTC specialized service as their primary method of transportation
- the majority (73%) of LTC customers are aged 50 or higher
- 81% of riders utilize a mobility device (wheelchair, walker, cane, scooter)
- the gender split between riders is 67% female and 33% male
- to/from medical appointments and errands are the two primary reasons for travel amongst LTC specialized riders
- 27% of respondents had taken trips on conventional service in the past year
Overall Perception
The survey includes a general question with respect to the overall satisfaction level with the specialized service, the results of which are set out in the table below and include a comparison to the 2023 survey results.
Overall Satisfaction with Specialized Service
| Statement | 2023 | 2024 |
| Level of Satisfaction (satisfied to very satisfied) | 91% | 94% |
Consistent with the conventional survey, when comparing results, the margin of error needs to be considered (+-5.2%), as such, the results in 2024 are consistent with those in 2023 with respect to this question.
This feedback is further broken down in the following series of questions which look more specifically at each aspect of the service.
Customer Importance Factors
A key aspect of the Voice of the Customer program is the manner in which it allows the customer to identify the most important factors from their perspective that would result in their satisfaction with the service. Respondents were asked to rate each factor on a scale in terms of importance.
The following lists the top factors, in order of importance from the respondent’s perspective as well as the satisfaction rating for each. Importance rankings and satisfaction levels are provided for both 2023 and 2024.
Customer Satisfaction Levels with Key Importance Factors
| Importance Ranking | Satisfaction Level | |||
| Factor | 2023 | 2024 | 2023 | 2024 |
| On-time Performance | 12% | 27% | 91% | 84% |
| Travel Time | 5% | 20% | 89% | 79% |
| Trip Availability | 19% | 15% | 64% | 78% |
| Ease of Booking | 8% | 8% | 57% | 66% |
| Helpful Drivers | 6% | 5% | 94% | 97% |
| Coverage | 13% | 5% | 97% | 97% |
| Driver Safety | 1% | 5% | 86% | 97% |
| Fare Price | 11% | –% | 95% | –% |
In addition to the service factors listed in the table above, other factors with lower priority rankings includes travel time, safety on the vehicle, courteous scheduling agents, safety boarding the vehicle, vehicle cleanliness, and vehicle comfort.
Consistent with the conventional survey results, on-time performance and travel time importance rankings increased and the satisfaction levels decreased. This result supports the assertion that the nature and extent of construction city wide negatively impacted the transit rider in 2024, whether conventional or specialized.
Trip availability importance dropped in 2024 and the satisfaction level increased significantly, which is indicative of the increased investment in service hours providing more trip opportunities.
Net Promoter Score
Survey respondents were asked to rate how likely they would be to recommend LTC’s Specialized Service on a scale of 0-10, with 0 being very unlikely and 10 being very likely. The NPS is arrived at by subtracting the percentage of detractors (those rating from 0-6) from the percentage of promoters (those ranking from 9-10). Also included in this measure is the group considered passives (those rating from 7-8). The chart below sets out the comparison of results from the 2018 survey.
Net Promoter Score
Likelihood of Recommending LTC’s Specialized Service
| Likely to Recommend LTC | 2023 | 2024 |
| Detractors (0-6) | 17% | 7% |
| Neutrals (7-8) | 41% | 34% |
| Promotors (9-10) | 42% | 59% |
| Net Promoter Score | 25 | 52 |
| Industry Average Net Promoter Score | 50 | 57 |
As discussed earlier in the conventional service section of this report, the increase in Net Promoter Score in 2024 saw a significant decline in detractors and neutrals, and a resulting increase in promoters. The specialized service saw a shift in Net Promoter score as the result of an increase of 10,000 service hours, which equates to an approximate 7% increase year over year, much higher than the 2% increase on the conventional service.
Recommended by:
Katie Burns, Director of Planning
Shawn Wilson, Director of Operations
David Butler, Manager of Operations Administration
Craig Morneau, Director of Fleet & Facilities
Caroline Roy, Manager of Corporate Communications
Concurred in by:
Kelly S. Paleczny, General Manager