Metro-North riders gave the railroad an average grade of D+ in an online survey released Monday.
The survey results, released by the Connecticut-based Commuter Action Group, reflected the responses of 642 riders who participated anonymously over seven days. Of those polled, 88 percent said their biggest complaint was late or delayed trains. Other complaints included poor communication when things went wrong (60 percent) and lack of seating on trains (59 percent).
Metro-North management was blamed for the railroad’s problems by 90 percent of the respondents.
One respondent to the survey, which was designed to take only several minutes to complete, said the price of fares should be reduced. “I am paying luxury rates for what is bascially (sic) third-world service,” the respondent said.
Jim Cameron, the founder of the group and former chairman of the Connecticut Commuter Council, said the results of the survey were not intended to be scientific.
“Clearly, those who wanted to opine were probably those with gripes, so take the results with a grain of salt,” he wrote on his transportation blog.
Metro-North has weathered some rough waters in the last year and a half, including two train derailments last year: the first on the New Haven Line in Bridgeport, Conn., and a second on the Hudson Line in the Bronx in December. That incident saw four killed and more than 70 injured when a speeding train jumped a curve on the way to Grand Central Terminal.
Howard Permut, the former president of the railroad, resigned in January and was replaced in February by Joseph Giuletti, who promptly released a 100-day plan to restore the rail”™s safety. That plan will conclude in mid-June. Cameron, on his blog, said he “thought now would be a great time to survey riders and get a baseline of their sentiments against which we can measure any gains in the months ahead.”
A Federal Railroad Administration report released in March called “Operation Deep Dive” reviewed the derailments and other fatal incidents along the tracks, blaming the lack of safety controls on an overemphasis of on-time performance on the rail line.
“This emphasis on on-time performance, combined with the increased volume of train activity, appears to have led managers and supervisors to allow inspections, maintenance and employee training to lapse,” the report said. “This, in turn, led to a deficient safety culture, which manifested itself in increased risk and reduced safety on Metro-North.”
Marjorie Anders, a spokeswoman for the railroad, said the Metro-North conducts its own “randomized, scientific and extremely thorough” survey of its customers. Last year”™s survey, conducted just after the Bridgeport derailment but prior to some of the other high-profile accidents of the last year, polled more than 5,000 randomly selected customers. Of those who participated, 93 percent said they were “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with the railroad”™s service.
“While this unscientific online survey falls short of that standard, we encourage our customers to reach out to Metro-North management to discuss their concerns in person, by phone, by mail, by email and by social media,” Anders said.
In last year”™s survey conducted by the rail line, the Harlem and Hudson lines each received 47 percent “very satisfied” and 49 percent “satisfied” ratings, while the New Haven, the only line to run into Connecticut, received 26 percent “very satisfied” and 62 percent “satisfied” ratings. About 86 percent of respondents to that survey said they were satisfied or very satisfied with the rail line”™s on-time performance.
