Customer service guidelines: TRAX engineers (drivers)

This is the first in a series of posts about customer service at UTA, and generally accepted guidelines under ISO 9001 that will facilitate better relations between the customer and UTA, its employees, and others working for and with UTA, making the entire experience for all more pleasant, and this will even make mass transit more desireable.

Today I will cover TRAX engineers (the drivers) and the entire process of approaching the station, loading passengers, and leaving the station.

1. Approaching the station. As the train approaches the station, two things must happen. One is the internal announcement of the station must be made. This allows for the passengers who desire to leave the train at the station to know that this is their station, especially if they are new or infrequent riders of TRAX. Of late I've heard announcements made of either previous stations or the wrong station, so this has become an issue.

The other thing that needs to be done is as the train approaches the station, the engineer needs to blow the whistle to alert people that he is arriving. This is necessary as the prerecorded announcements system has of late been malfunctioning regularly at some station platforms, either because the train is late it occurs a couple minutes before the train actually arrives, or simply has malfunctioned. One can usually tell if this system has malfunctioned because the LED time/date display that also displays other messages is out. Just to be safe anyway, the engineer should give a couple short taps on the whistle at every station regardless of whether the LED display and recorded message system is working or not, to alert people regardless, that way everything is ready as far as all parties are concerned to board or leave trains.

2. Once at the station. The driver first needs to be aware of any disabled riders that may be approaching the platform and actually WAIT for them. Sure this might mean that the train might be a minute late at the very worst if a disabled rider has difficulty reaching either the platform or the raised area in the case of wheelchairs, but it will ensure the disabled rider can make his connections, this does impact and make a huge difference as to whether those riders make the connecting buses or even appointments down the line later. The driver should be aware of any buses that are just pulling up to the dropoff point beside the station too, and afford those passengers enough time to reach the platform. UTA has had a slogan in the past that applies just as much today as it did when it ran. 'We do not want anybody to be late, but we won't leave anyone behind'.

3. Be sure all have had a chance to sit down or grab a railing once the doors are closed and locked for travel. This will prevent liability for accidents caused by the overaggressiveness of some drivers. Should take about ten seconds. Then tap the whistle to be sure the pedestrian crossings are clear, then leave the station as normal.

This will ensure the ridership of UTA is more satisfied, and ensure that UTA remains a quality endorsed system in the eyes of the riders. And it will make ISO 9001 look better as well to everyone. And it will ensure compliance with the quality standard that UTA seeks to be known for by following these mandates as written above when it comes to TRAX.