Omnitrans received high marks in the areas of customer satisfaction and making a positive impact on the environment, as well as showing improvements in the areas of safety and service availability, in the 2020 American Bus Benchmarking Group (ABBG) Survey.
Conducted annually every spring, the customer survey measures satisfaction with 20 questions in nine key areas among ABBG members. The ABBG is a consortium of 23 mid-sized transit agencies from around the country that was developed in 2011 to benchmark performance, share experiences and establish best practices.
“This year, the ABBG survey revealed that our overall customer satisfaction rating is 81%,” said Omnitrans CEO/General Manager Erin Rogers. “We are proud to be the only ABBG member agency to have earned an 80+% customer satisfaction rating every year since 2013 and are continually seeking new ways to create an even better riding experience for our customers. Our solar-powered bus stop lighting project is a great example.”
Indeed, the agency has installed more than 100 solar-powered lights at its bus stops in the last year, likely impacting Omnitrans’ 4 percent increase in customers who say they feel “safe and secure waiting for my bus.” More than 70 percent of survey respondents also “feel safe riding on the bus.”
In another area of survey focus, nearly 80 percent of customers also feel that Omnitrans “helps the environment.” The agency, which has operated an all-natural gas fleet for more than a decade, also has converted nearly 40 percent of its bus fleet to near-zero emissions engines, and expects its first order of all-electric zero emissions buses in early 2021.
Rounding out the survey were improved Omnitrans ratings in the areas of driver professionalism, agency response to customer issues, ease of use and bus availability.