Those hot subway rides resulted in a significant drop in TTC customer satisfaction

John Tory did it, Keifer Sutherland did it, and so did many Torontonians.

Riding the hot subway amid heat waves this summer resulted in a drop in TTC customer satisfaction, according to a November TTC report.

The report showed the overall satisfaction dropped to 70 per cent in the third quarter of 2016, compared to 80 per cent from the second quarter. The third quarter decrease, which runs May to September, saw a significant drop from the same period last year when customer satisfaction was at 81 per cent.

However, the report states, the average score year-to-date for 2016 is 76 per cent, which is consistent with 2015’s 77 per cent.

TTC Customer Satisfaction Score/TTC Report

The significant decrease is predominantly linked to the ‘hot subway car’ issue that affected around 20 per cent of subway cars this summer.

“This quarter’s high score is driven by a perceived decline in delivery of a reliable service, which was driven by lower customer perceptions of the following criteria: trip duration on the subway, wait times on the subway and buses, and level of crowding on the subway and buses,” read the report.

It wasn’t all bad news.

According to the TTC report, areas of highest customer satisfaction (over 80 per cent) included: length of trip (streetcar and bus), helpfulness and appearance of operator (streetcar and bus), helpfulness of maps and signs at station (subway), ease of getting to train platform (subway), personal safety during trip (subway, streetcar and bus), maps and information inside the vehicle (subway), cleanliness inside the vehicle (subway), quality of stop announcements (subway, streetcar, and bus), and ease of hearing announcements (streetcar and bus).

Let’s hope the 80 per cent includes air conditioned subways next year.

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