CTA Surveys Customers ... Badly

This week, the Chicago Transit Authority is surveying riders on the front page of its Web site. As you might expect (especially in the still-turbulent wake of Ron Huberman's exit), the agency is doing a rotten job of it.

Especially for a transit provider with a historically bad relationship with its riders, customer surveys should be brief, friendly, well crafted and easy to understand. The CTA's current survey is none of those things.

Instead, it is full of industry jargon (How many of you take "CTA Rail" to work?), double-barreled questions and closed-minded assumptions about its own ridership. And if you work in a number of fields, including communications, the very first question tells you they're not going to trust your answers -- no matter how regular a CTA rider you are.

This unfortunate survey is obviously a rush job. CTA just lost $35 million from its budget by dint of an RTA vote last Thursday and needs to figure out how to prioritize the money that's left and lobby for aid in the future. You'd think the agency would have been attending to both issues already. The haphazard nature of this survey says otherwise.

Maybe CTA President Richard Rodriguez should spend less time driving to work and more time attending to the system that 1.5 million riders a day depend on to get around Chicago. In the Sun-Times article linked above, he says he does it to spend more time with his kids. Hands up other captive CTA riders reading this who'd like to have the same option? How dare the head of any transit agency drive to work in his own city?

Here's the comment I submitted to the CTA near the end of the survey, when they finally asked my opinion. Of course, I work in communications, so who knows if they'll ever get around to reading it.

"I cannot believe how badly written and edited this survey was. It was obviously a rush job, and if it wasn't, then it's even more of an embarrassment you took time on it and it still resulted in such a wooden, wordy, badly written document.

You have jargon dropped in all through it. You ask riders to rate 'Your CTA Rail'? Our CTA Rail what? You mean our local L line? The L line we use most regularly? Do you honestly think your riders use the same jargon your internal planners do?

In the question asking why riders use CTA, you were so closed-minded you didn't even include the potential answer, 'Because I prefer to.' I do. I don't drive. Don't know how. Have never paid a gas tax in my life. I am the kind of rider who should be your biggest advocate.

Congratulations on creating a customer-aimed document so badly realized that all I intend to do now is show it to my friends as yet another example of how clueless the CTA is internally. Your lack of commitment to your own agency seriously makes me want to learn how to drive."

Though I'd probably never follow through on that last part, I meant every (other) word. Rodriguez, if you don't mind, get out of your car and attend to our transit system, please.

And hire a new survey writer while you're at it.

Comments

[miles120]

Well, it's all relative, I suppose. I am in the process of moving to Chicago from St. Louis, so I don't ride CTA a lot. However, I do have my transit card, and rely on it when in town. While I can see many areas in need of improvement (bus drivers breaking traffic laws), all I can say is at least you HAVE a functioning public transit system. Come to St. Louis and try to get around without a car.

We just have to keep the pressure up. Things will improve with the resignation of every disgraced Executive Director. LOL

[Myshkin57]

I took the survey and didn't find it nearly as badly written as you describe it. I hardly think 'CTA rail' is industry jargon beyond the understanding of us common folk.

However, I do agree with your general sentiment, though, that it is not well-done. I really don't understand why they would only allow respondents to choose three areas of improvement, for example. The CTA is a mess and there is a lot of need for improvement, much more than could be crammed into any three general areas. Many of the biggest issues are given absolutely no electronic ink in the survey. In fact, I don't think I saw any mention of attempting to get rid of the bus bunching and gaps (i.e. not letting the bus drivers all take their breaks at the same time at the end of the route).

[SiberianRat]

What?! The CTA has mismanaged something?! Shocking!

I called Chicago home for 22 years--one of the reasons I left a few years ago was the inexcusable mess that was/is the CTA. I almost got fired because of being late a few times due to absurdly long waits for buses or subways. What was worse is that everyone knew/knows that the system is in absurdly bad condition, but things don't change. It's a disgrace for Chicago. I now live in the middle of Siberia and I can honestly say (not exaggerati­ng--defini­tely honestly) that the public transport here is FAR more reliable than in Chicago and is much cheaper at about 50 cents per ride for most routes or subway lines (about the only thing that is cheaper).