

Chris Fox, CP24.com





Those who regularly use the TTC to get from point A to point B are less satisfied with the service than occasional riders, a new customer survey has found.

The TTC’s customer survey for 2014 found that 83 per cent of those who take public transit once a week or less are satisfied with the service, compared to just 69 per cent of those who take the TTC several times a week or more.

The survey also found that well the overall level of satisfaction – 72 per cent - — held relatively steady in 2014, pride in the TTC dropped to 66 per cent from 73 per cent one year previous.

According to the TTC, pride in the service was particularly low among customers who are “working full time and have a higher household income.”

“The gap in satisfaction between frequent and occasional riders is increasing; therefore, providing a reliable service is key,” TTC staff wrote in a report detailing the results of the survey.

Wait times and crowding among biggest complaints

In addition to overall satisfaction levels, the TTC also quizzed customers on specific aspects of the service and found that the lowest areas of satisfaction — 60 per cent or less — include wait times, crowding, availability of subway station staff, frequency and helpfulness of announcements about delays and maps and information inside buses/streetcars.

Conversely, the highest area of customer satisfaction — 80 per cent or more — include personal safety, ease of getting to subway platform and maps and information in subways.

The top three areas impacting customer satisfaction varied, with subway users prioritizing trip duration, wait times and smoothness of the trip, bus users placing their emphasis in wait times, trip duration and the helpfulness of the operator and streetcar riders focusing on wait times, trip duration and crowding.

A total of 1,000 people participated in the telephone survey.

The results will be presented to TTC commissioners during a Wednesday meeting.

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