CTA Tattler

The report left out the stat about the % of "mystery" shoppers that are CTA employees. My guess, about 79%. Including the new people the CTA probably hired to run the "mystery" program.

The fact that this is not a random survey, these results are statistically meaningless.

I'd like to know the distribution of responses CTA got per Mystery Shopper. How many shoppers submitted 1-5 forms, 6-10, 10-20, etc. Also, how many Mystery Shoppers continue to participate regularly? Did most participants get fed up after submitting their first form? Are some still shopping regularly two months into the program? The initial instructions from CTA were kind of vague. It wasn't really clear what level of participation they wanted, but maybe that was all part of their secret evil plan.

Did the report explain why those of us who signed up as a Mystery Shopper by phone and asked to have materials sent by snail were given the materials to do exactly one report and never any more, even when the free card was sent in the mail? I do not understand what the reason might be for putting some Mystery Shoppers in a one-time-only category.

Oh, and I certainly do have complaints about some rail station attendants.

Calling this a "Mystery Shopper" program is a bit of an exageration. These were essentially comment cards, not mystery shops.

Mystery shops are done by disinterested thrid-parties hired to go out to do predetermined shops meant to produce a statistically relevant result based on the goals of what the client wants to review.

In a straight comment card situation, you'd never get as many positive and neutral responses. People who self-select themselves to make the effort to fill out a comment card generally do it because they want to be heard, and more often than not, what they want heard is a complaint.

Just glancing at the highlights that Kevin has reported, I'm thinking that the deck was stacked. They may have counted the results accurately, but they made damn sure that there would be a lot of neutral and good responses.

There is one thing that the current CTA management has excelled at: Producing propoganda. Especially on a technical level.

Instead of looking for new ways to create, manipulate and present (largely meaningless) data, the people running the CTA should get back to running a transit system. Getting a President who has some previous transit experience would be a start. As long as the President's forte is political spin, we're going to get pretty reports, and ugly performance.

At least this type of report doesn't feature the kind of push-back that you get when going one-on-one with CTA Customer Disservice about a complaint.

The response you (still) get from them, just as with many private companies these days, is geared to explaining to you that whatever you may have experienced as a problem is really their notion of perfection, management does not wish to be informed of your thoughts, and you might as well just decide you like things exactly the way they are.

The Mystery Shopper report does seem to incorporate the idea that some things could be better in some respects. I see this as progress.

Many of us have no need to interact with station employees. We have a Chicago Card or other card, it works, and we are on our way. It's not like the old days when we interacted with the person who collected the fare.

I ride the L daily, and I was a Mystery Shopper. I signed up via email, and received the comment card via email. The day that I "shopped", there were multiple delays, the customer service was aweful, there was little communication, etc. I let them know that, as well as other issues. I also provided my name, and per the form, I asked if they could answer some of my questions. I have not heard from anyone. I only submitted one form. Now, I am only 1 person, but I cannot imagine a whopping 749 of the 936 people had a timely rail experience on their trip. What line were they on? The magical rainbow express?

Like rusty said: this is propaganda.
I would like to see the raw data. I know this is something that will never be provided.

Yesterday at about 5:30-6:15 p.m. I was on a packed and delayed northbound Red Line with door problems. And there was a Cubs game. At every station from Monroe to Fullerton, we stopped for anywhere from a couple minutes to five minutes. I never saw the train operator checking the doors and he never made a single announcement. And every time the car did start to move without his warning, people were losing their balance.

This is typical day-to-day CTA failure that we have to deal with. Who needs mystery shoppers or a study to figure out what's wrong? No communication from the driver. No thought of, I dunno, expressing the damn train to Addison to avoid an underground logjam of trains. I guess that kind of service is hard to pull off when the workers are communicating on equipment one step above tin cans connected with string.

On a case-by-case basis it's not a big deal. I got home 20 minutes late. But add these experiences together and what you have is death by 1,000 cuts. Riding the train just becomes a miserable experience. What the hell do we need mystery shoppers for? The CTA's a dysfunctional mess.

If you signed up online as a Mystery Shopper but didn't save the original email from the CTA, it was exactly the same experience as it was for the people who filled out the paper form and mailed it in--you got one shot at it.

I still think communications is the biggest issue the CTA has problems with. Over the weekend I was trying to go south on a Lincoln bus. It was being re-routed around Mayfest in Lincoln Square. The information on the re-route sign and the information given to the drivers didn't match. So lots of people were standing in the wrong place to catch a Lincoln bus at Montrose this weekend.

Cheryl, same issue with the Red Line closures. At North/Clybourn, the sign indicates that shuttles will run from "the southwest corner of North and Halsted). Only the buses actually stopped right in front of the station at North and Clybourn. I understand we're talking about 1/2 block, but it'd be easy to miss the bus if you were standing around the corner.

Josh:

Has that sign stopped suggesting people use the #22 bus (which is around a dozen blocks east)? The last time I saw a reroute sign on the North/Clybourn station, that's one of the things it suggested.

MK, isn't the North/Clybourn stop at Halsted? That's 800W. At North Ave., Clark is at 100W, so you're off by quite a bit with your "dozen blocks."

MK, that sign was probably misplaced and belonged at Clark/Division. The North/Clybourn sign recommends the 8 Halsted as alternate service...which doesn't help southbound riders in the least.

Just saw this in the Chicago Tribune Editorial Cartoons :)

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-edcart-multimediagallery,0,5944816.gallery

We love you Ron, we really do!

KevinB

darn...it doesn't direct link to the cartoon.

Its number 3 in the list today

Sorry

KevinB

Try this link:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/cartoon/2008-05/39431140.jpg

I think that should be good even after today.

Thanks Rusty :p

Well, I got my Mystery Shopper report in the mail yesterday. It was addressed to my first name (without the first initial capitalized) combined with some random last name; luckily someone in my building passed it on, but if someone messed up the mailing list then many of you may not have yours delivered by the Post Office.

The report itself was pretty good overall, well organized with pie charts and stuff, one sheet for the buses and one for rail. I was struck by one statement under "Courtesy" (for rail service customer assistants). To improve my experience, they will be "Ensuring all comments regarding operator behavior--through the Mystery Shopper program, 1-888-YOUR-CTA, and email--are addressed by managers with the specified operators to improve service." This is SO interesting in light of the e-mail exchange I had with CTA Customer Disservice in which they pretty much blew off my complaint and request and said the situation would not be changing. (And it hasn't.)

That cartoon looks suspiciously like it was drawn by an Evanston resident....

CC you don't say what your complaint was.

I posted it about a month ago and it generated some discussion, so I won't rehash that thread now. I did promise Blogmaster Kevin to communicate with him directly about the CTA's response and my response to their response...will get around to that any day now!

Ahhhh...same people...same axe to grind.

>>>
Ahhhh...same people...same axe to grind.
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How ironic, Fred, that your contribution here is to show up every now and than, and voice the same complaint over and over.

You're obviously dissatisfied, so tell me, 1. Why do you keep coming back, and 2. How do your contributions help?

Yea, Rusty! You read my mind and, I'd like to think, spoke for most of us axe-grinding regulars.

Um, none of our contributions help. We're venting. It's the same little knot of us day after day saying the same old things. Which is one reason I post comments much less frequently than I used to. I think a lot of other folks could use a little break, too.

But none of us are saying or doing anything that helps anyone but us. We feel a little better after venting so we do. Kevin's nice enough to give us a place to do it as long as we don't get too crazy so we come here. But anyone who comes here and thinks their rants or analyses, depending on whose side you're on, will ever make a difference is at best delusionally vain.

Bob S., I would be a little less pessimistic about the point of posting to this blog. First, it looks to me like it gets more posts than the RedEye and Sun-Times do on theirs. Second, many of us who post have some good information or perspective to bring to the discussion and can say it coherently. Third, for those reasons it's possible that someone at the CTA is reading this blog. Fourth, Kevin seems to have a backchannel that he can use judiciously from time to time. So, don't write it off as just venting to each other!

Taking your points in order, C C, I don't think quantity is a factor; yes, but we say it to each other, and repeatedly; third, I believe Kevin alluded to some CTA execs (I think including Huberman?) reading this, but let's not forget that this is a very PR-focused executive team -- until changes hit the pavement and rails, the effect has been zero; finally, I've got a *lot* of respect for Kevin, and I'm glad Huberman does too (and I think it's genuine), but to put this more specifically into the perspective I'm considering, I think the very PR-oriented Mystery Shopper program is far more likely to result in changes, and there's already a lot of cynicism here about the likelihood of that. That's all I'm saying.

I think it's great to see government agencies focusing on the customer experience by investing in initiatives like mystery shopping. I'd be interested to know if they are taking it to the next level and rewarding top performers (e.g. a paid day off for perfect scores).

I couldn't agree more. Great any time the government acts like a business and actually puts a focus ensuring citizens (their customers) are being treated with respect. I just read an article about a police department that will be rolling out a mystery shopping program that involves shoppers filing complaints and then measuring to ensure they are being followed up on by the department.

Why don't they use professional Mystery Shopping Company like Bestmark or many others such companies. Typical of Government to do it a half job.