Staff Report #6
February 26, 2025
To All Commissioners
Re: 2024 Specialized Transit Service Performance Report
Recommendation
That the report be NOTED and FILED.
Background
In the 2024-2027 Business Plan, London Transit’s vision is: “Striving to be a trusted and valued mobility choice for Londoners”. The vision is supported by the mission statement, “Moving Londoners with an accessible, reliable, and affordable service”. The vision and mission statements give direction to five congruent and competing strategic directions, namely:
- Customer Focused: Be a customer centred organization providing an integrated, affordable and accessible transportation system.
- Employee Focused: Be an engaged, diverse, and respectful workplace.
- Fiscal Accountability: Demonstrate fiscal accountability amid competing needs and objectives.
- Transparency: Foster a culture of transparency, openness, and mutual understanding.
- Sustainability: Sustainable and efficient use of infrastructure.
The Specialized Service is operated under a contract which covers the provision of vehicles and drivers; trip booking, scheduling, and customer service is handled by London Transit employees. While significant strides were made in 2024 to implement the approved growth hours, the continued struggle with labour market issues resulted in service hours provided being less than budgeted.
Specialized Transit Service – Efficiency
The following table provides a summary of ridership and revenue service hours actual to budget performance for 2024 (unaudited). Actual ridership and service provided, as well as the related measures varied significantly from budget.
2024 Ridership and Service Hours – Actual versus Budget (unaudited)
| Description | Actual | Budget | Amount Better (Worse) | Percent Better (Worse) |
| Revenue service hours (000’s) | 167.8 | 174.1 | (6.3) | (3.6)% |
| Ridership ( 000’s) | 310.8 | 348.2 | (37.4) | (10.7)% |
| Rides per revenue service hour | 1.9 | 2.0 | (0.1) | (5.0)% |
As indicated in the table, the service level adjustments that were included in the 2024 budget were not able to be implemented as planned, and as such, service hours and related ridership levels were lower than anticipated.
The following table provides comparisons in the various ridership and service hour measures over the past four years.
Ridership and Service Hour Comparisons – 2022 through 2024
| Description | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | % Change Over Period |
| Revenue service hours (000’s) | 119.1 | 131.7 | 167.8 | 40.9 % |
| Ridership (000’s) | 222.9 | 249.8 | 310.8 | 39.4 % |
| Rides per revenue service hour | 1.9 | 1.9 | 1.9 | — % |
| Registrants | 11,996 | 13,029 | 7,730 | (35.6)% |
The table above indicates significant progress in increasing service hours over the previous two years, albeit budgeted levels were not attained due to resource issues. With the full complement of vehicles for 2025 approved service levels on the road, 2025 results will continue to show significant increases in service hours and ridership.
The decline in registrants in 2024 is the result of a cleanup of the customer database which was undertaken in preparation for the implementation of the new scheduling software. This process will be undertaken on a more regular basis going forward to ensure reporting and metric accuracy.
Customer Satisfaction
In an effort to gather first-hand feedback from specialized transit riders, the Voice of the Customer survey process was introduced on the specialized service in 2018. This process involves contacting specialized service riders directly for a telephone interview, providing the opportunity to reach customers who may not be inclined to contact customer service with a complaint or compliment. It is a known fact that a customer is more likely to contact an organization when they have had a poor experience versus a good one, and the traditional reliance on customer contacts only to assess overall customer satisfaction was deemed to be unreliable. The Voice of the Customer allows customers to rate each area of service on their perception of how it meets their needs. While the Voice of the Customer survey process was placed on hold during the pandemic period, it resumed in 2023. Through the remainder of this report, comparisons and contrasts will be drawn between the Voice of the Customer results from 2024 and the previous survey (2023) results where applicable. In addition, areas of focus going forward have been denoted in the tables, with the red dots indicating high priority and orange dots indicating medium priority.
The top service characteristics listed in order of importance to the customer from the 2024 survey are set out below with accompanying levels of customer satisfaction with each.
2024 Voice of the Customer Service Priorities
| Service Characteristic | Importance Ranking | Satisfaction Level | Areas of Focus |
| On-time Performance | 27% | 84% | |
| Travel Time | 20% | 79% | yellow |
| Trip Availability | 15% | 78% | yellow |
| Booking Ease | 8% | 66% | red |
| Service Coverage | 5% | 91% | |
| Service Safely Operated | 5% | 99% | |
| Helpful Drivers | 5% | 97% |
The areas of focus highlighted in the table include travel time, trip availability, ease of booking. These have been selected given the levels of satisfaction with each being under 80%. Of interest, travel time has not historically been identified as a service priority, however, the nature and extent of construction projects throughout the city in 2024 resulted in detours and service delays that could not be avoided. In addition, over the previous several years, many trips on the specialized service were direct (no pick ups or drop offs for other customers during the trip) and customers became accustomed to this. As the system transitioned back to the shared ride service model post pandemic, customers expressed dissatisfaction with no longer receiving a direct trip and having to spend a longer time on the vehicle.
While on-time performance continues to be the highest rated service priority, the overall satisfaction level of 84% is high. While construction projects are expected to be similar in nature and extent for 2025, the new scheduling system algorithms are anticipated to result in schedules that improve the overall customer experience as it relates to on-time performance and travel time.
Trip availability and booking ease are also both anticipated to improve significantly in 2025 with the addition of another 10,000 service hours and the phase II implementation of the scheduling software which will provide enhanced trip management options for customers.
In addition to the Voice of the Customer surveys, customer satisfaction levels with service performance are measured through tracking both the number and nature of customer contacts received via email, social media and phone. When considering these numbers, it is important to recognize that not all contacts are investigated and as such, cannot all be confirmed as accurate. Contacts that are serious in nature or those in which the customer requests a response are all investigated.
The table below sets out a breakdown of the number of service complaints over the three year period by category, as well as a percentage change in each category over the period.
Total Service Performance Complaints by Category 2022-2024
| Complaints – Service | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | % Change | Areas of Focus |
| Accessibility | 19 | 14 | 13 | (32)% | yellow |
| Early Schedule | 6 | 3 | 7 | 17 % | |
| Late Schedule | 29 | 24 | 24 | (17)% | |
| Missed Passenger | 4 | 2 | 5 | 25 % | |
| No Show | 16 | 32 | 50 | 213 % | |
| Passenger Conduct | — | — | 9 | — % | |
| Routing | 5 | 6 | 11 | 120 % | |
| Service received | 101 | 91 | 116 | 15 % | yellow |
| Trip Availability | 61 | 36 | 15 | (75)% | |
| Vehicle | — | — | 24 | — % | |
| Warning Letter Response | 1 | 1 | 15 | 1400 % | |
| Total | 242 | 209 | 289 | 19 % | |
| Per 1,000 riders | 1.0 | 0.9 | 0.9 | (10)% |
In addition to the direct number comparisons to previous years, the total complaints per 1,000 riders provides an alternate measure that normalizes the data based on the number of rides provided, which is important in the context of this range of comparison years given the total rides have increased by 40% over the period. As the table indicates, the total complaints per 1,000 riders has remained relatively consistent over the three year period. When reviewing the percent change over the period for each of the categories, it is important to also look at the actual numbers, noting what seems like a very high percentage change may only be a small increase in actual complaints.
The top category of complaints over the period has remained “service received”, which includes issues such as length of trip, drop off locations, pick-up locations, as well as other complaints that may encompass more than one of the categories listed in the table above. A significant number of the complaints in this category in 2024 were directly tied to the nature and extent of construction projects and related road closures and detours in place throughout the city. Preferred pick-up and drop off locations in many cases needed to be altered, and the length of trips was extended noting traffic in general was slower throughout the city.
The No Show category received the second highest number of contacts in 2024. This is a direct correlation to the increased use of the service in 2024, resulting in a higher number of no shows, which in turn resulted in a higher number of no show warning letters being issued. Additionally, 2024 saw an increase in no shows relating to a pick-up location being modified due to construction and the resulting miscommunication with respect to where the vehicle would be waiting. These instances often result in a complaint being filed as a customer is left waiting for a trip. It should be noted that in cases such as this, the no-show is not counted against the customer.
The Vehicle category was added to the database in 2024 to separate out customer commentary regarding the new ProMaster vehicles that were added to the fleet, as such there were no contacts reported in this category in the previous two years.
As the table below illustrates, the Voice of the Customer survey results improved in every category but one (the bus takes me where I need to go) in 2024. Given the service area for the Specialized Service continues to be the City of London boundaries, the decline in satisfaction for this service aspect is believed to be related to the detours and location pick/up and drop/off location changes that were required in 2024 due to construction projects.
2023 & 2024 Voice of the Customer Results
| % Agree | Area of Focus | ||
| Voice of the Customer Statement | 2023 | 2024 | |
| · Service is on-time | 91% | 84% | |
| · Trips are available when I need them | 64% | 78% | yellow |
| · The bus takes me where I need to go | 97% | 91% | |
| · It is easy to book a trip | 54% | 66% | red |
| · Bus fares are reasonable | 95% | 97% | |
Impressions of Driver Performance
Consistent with service related contacts, customer contacts (complaints and compliments) regarding driver performance are also tracked and trended. Performance results for 2022 through 2024 with respect to driver complaints are set out in the following table.
Total Driver Complaints by Category 2022-2024
| Complaints – Driver Performance | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | % Change | Areas of Focus |
| Driving Unsafe | 10 | 19 | 38 | 280 % | yellow |
| Attitude/Treatment | 74 | 87 | 156 | 111 % | yellow |
| Total | 84 | 106 | 194 | 131 % | |
| Per 1,000 riders | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 50 % |
As the table indicates, there was a significant increase in the number of complaints relating to the attitude/treatment provided by the driver. A review of these incidents identified that the majority of conflict between the drivers and customers was in regard to the route the driver was taking, the driver utilizing the wrong door for pick-ups, and the driver not providing assistance in the manner expected. These types of issues are not unexpected with the rate of turnover and new hires experienced by the contractor in 2024. In the case of complaints alleging a significant driver performance issue, all information is forwarded to the contractor for investigation and follow-up. All contacts received relating to the Specialized Service are followed up on by administration.
In addition to complaints, compliments are also tracked by category. The table below sets out the total compliments received with respect to Driver performance.
Total Driver Compliments by Category 2022-2024
| Compliments – Driver Performance | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | % Change |
| Driving | 1 | 2 | 1 | — % |
| Attitude/Treatment | 28 | 39 | 70 | 150% |
| Total | 29 | 41 | 71 | 145% |
| Per 1,000 riders | 0.12 | 0.17 | 0.23 | 90% |
As the chart above indicates, Operator compliments received for the specialized service are limited, but increased by 150% over the period. This increase in compliments coincides with the results from the 2024 Voice of the Customer survey questions relating to operator performance which are set out in the table below.
2023 & 2024 Voice of the Customer Results
| % Agree | Area of Focus | ||
| Voice of the Customer Statement | 2023 | 2024 | |
| · Drivers are helpful | 94% | 97% | |
| · Drivers operate the vehicle safely | 92% | 97% | |
As the Voice of the Customer results indicate, while there were increased complaints with respect to Driver performance in 2024, there is an overall very high level of satisfaction with Driver performance on the specialized service.
Going Forward
This report will be shared with the Accessible Public Transit Service Advisory Committee as input into discussions relating to identifying areas of focus for 2025, it being noted that the highest priority areas of focus identified through customer contacts and the Voice of the Customer survey will be addressed through the planned service level increases and implementation of the new scheduling system.
Recommended by:
Brandon Goldstone, Manager of Service Integration
Shawn Wilson, Director of Operations
Concurred in by:
Kelly S. Paleczny, General Manager