CTA Tattler

How secret will the secret shoppers be when they will be furiously writing or speaking volumes of notes into a voice recorder?!

I would assume they have budgeted something ahead of time so that they can say they observed something and responded. It'll be interesting what they do report on... hopefully more transparency will come about as well.

mp/m

Instead of secret shoppers, maybe the CTA can start listening to the complaints and criticisms of daily riders.

I really like the idea of a "mystery chopper" program. Imagine, some employee is rude and CHOP! Never saw it coming. I am not sure what texting customer-facing employees would do, though. I thought that they already spend too much time on their cell phones.

This would've been so much more effective if it had been implemented first, allowed to run for 6 to 12 months to collect data, and THEN made known to the general public.

That way the CTA could've made changes to the behavior they observed and would've been able to use the changes as proof that something had been done.

Cliff, I think they're making it known to the general public now because people have been demanding results and want to know that Huberman is taking action to improve the service provided by faineant front-line employees. I'd guess that, were this program not announced, folks like you would be complaining that "the CTA isn't doing anything about ....blah blah..."

I get frustrated with the CTA too, but my goodness....Huberman is obviously trying to turn around an untoward organization. Secret shopping is a worthwhile initiative, and they want to let us know it's being implemented.

Don't blog under the influence!

A "mystery chopper" program to "text" customer-facing employees? I'm picturing this person flying low down State Street in a CTA-branded helicopter with a blackberry in each hand, and all the bus supers stepping out of their huts scrolling their blackberries too.

There are about a dozen other typos, so yeah, you might want to edit this entry.

Damn dude- don't drink & blog.
It kills.

If you've ever worked retail, you know that the secret shoppers are trained not to take notes or record their observations while in the store.

I managed a big box (horrors!) retail store right out of college and only over time were we able to figure out who the "mystery shoppers" were. In that case, the employeers were even more on their toes than usual so it was actually beneficial to our customers.

Theoretically, secret shoppers should improve CTA service. But as a daily rider, I'm not sure most CTA employees even know we're there. Customer assistants sleep or chat in the corners and I wonder if some 'L' operators are aware they have a thousand people getting tossed around behind them as they jerk their trains back and forth from the Loop everyday.

Good luck, Ms. Murray!

Straight from college to a liaison between the New York City mayor's office and it's police department? Sounds like a hard job to get, so she must be pretty bright, which is a good sign. The CTA needs bright people. Plus, she actually rides the CTA.

And Huberman is continuing to have good ideas and really shake things up.

There have been many a day that I've doubted this, but there may be hope for the CTA yet.

Does the CTA actually have the resources to deal with the feedback they're going to get? And what do they expect to hear? It doesn't take much to see, feel, hear or smell what's wrong with the system.

I question if this is the best use of resources when (1) there are so many obvious problems with the "L" and (2) that the CTA is facing such a major budget crisis.

Fix the budget, the slow zones and make the trains run on a consistent, reliable basis. Then let's talk about improving customer service.

Random typos aside...How do I become a "mystery shopper"? I would love to be a part of this..

Hopefully Huberman will be good in at least putting the CTA on the right technological page, if nothing else -- this after I watched a CTA bus supervisor talk to my bus driver, with a hefty clipboard on his dashboard.

The supers must have at least 987 sheets of paper on those clip boards. So who then reads, digitizes and analyzes that paper data is the question?

Brian, you're probably right. While I'm not one to point and whine (more of a shrug my shoulders and accept the status quo sort of person), I sincerely hope that this mystery shopper program works. I've worked retail before and I agree that it's a pretty effective tool. I'm just saying that without notice, you see realistic behavior, not spotlight behavior.

I'd like to know what the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are going to be. Clean, Polite, and On Time would be nice, but I'm curious how they're going to measure them...

Ummmmm...... I'd like to be a "mystery shopper". I'd first like to report the Green line train going to the Loop that opened its doors on SEVERAL stops with only 4 out of the 6 cars in the station.

cmama -
you should start your mystery-shopping career by reporting the Green Line operator violation to the CTA. Try customer service via phone or e-mail (less frustrating) or even to Carole Brown at ctaboard@transitchicago.com. All you need to know is what day, what time of day, what locations and what car you were in (though getting a run number is always best). They can track that operator down - especially if you weren't the only person to actually do something.

This is unbelievable, and totally unacceptable ... I have called in twice now about the most recent service disruptions that I experienced on the CTA over a week ago, and both times asked to speak to a supervisor .. Both times, the customer service rep on the phone pulled up my complaints, said they would have a supervisor call me back, and now, over a week later, I have never had a callback .. I have also been promised that a General Manager (from where was unclear), would also call me back, and I have never received a call from a general manager either ..... I have also left countless messages for Carole Brown's chief of staff, Carl Lingenfleter at (312) 681-5020 and have been told he is "in a meeting", or not in the office ....
I even printed off all the e-mail complaints I have sent to the CTA, and mailed them directly to Ron Huberman and Carole Brown, and still no response from Anyone .....

Your methods and procedures of running a business are deplorable ... When I was delayed last Thursday for over an hour, no mention was made about was causing the problem or anything ... The "aide" at the station at Clark & Lake was doing what they normally do, either reading a book/paper, listening to an I-Pod, or talking on their cell phone .. Glad to see the CTA money is being well spent ... Between to the never dependable schedule, and train operators who drive the trains with such stop-and-go force at times you think you are on a rollercoaster, I can't believe that no one, and I mean NO ONE, at the CTA has the common decency to return the phone calls .. Why publish a customer service number, when what your organization does is perform anything but customer service ... If I never called a customer back, I would be fired ... But I guess not responding to customer's complaints and issues, and not modifying service schedules to meet the needs of their customers is just business as usual at the CTA ...

The CTA doesn't need more money .. It needs someone to run the organization who understands customer service, and the needs of it's customer base ...
In my opinion, the agency needs to be privatized, and all the fluff and excessive spending on pensions and the like needs to be eliminated ...

CTA's service is really bad. Today, I had to wait for the 147 Express bus southbound for 25 minutes. The bus finally came at 8am but people were packed like sardines, nobody at my bus stop can even get in. I had to take the cab to get to work on time.

Today is not the first time that this has ever happened...and CTA has the nerve to increase the fare with a really bad service such as this.

Cta needs great improvement with their bus drovers treatment of their passengers on the
#119 bus leaving from the 95th Dan Ryan they are very rude and majority of them seems believes they should be driving the bus with no passengers except for their personal friends etc, they are constantly on their cell phones without headsets while driving and driving thru stopped signs and some red lights. Changing their signs afer passenger have been seated on the bus to #34 without notifying pasengers until they driven out and passenger is left stranded to wait for another bus and have to pay another fare, I ride the bus between the hours 5:10 a.m from
119 in Ashland and rush hour from 95th Dan Ryan at 5:15 pm and service is terrible and
supervisor are no where to be founded. Someone needs let these driving know that they are suppose to drive passengers not just themselves and if they are unhappy with the job that they should seek a different type of career.