Customer Rating of Overall Satisfaction with Transit Services

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San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency

FY2017-18
Target: 3.4 out of 5
Status: NEEDS IMPROVEMENT


FY2016-17
Result: 3.2 out of 5

Quarterly customer satisfaction surveys ask respondents to give ratings on a 1-to-5 scale, with 5 being the best. These surveys give stakeholders a periodic “pulse check” of overall customer satisfaction with transit services and enable San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) staff to periodically measures progress toward improving service. Customer satisfaction is an important contributor to the SFMTA’s strategic goal of making transit one of the preferred means of travel in San Francisco, and supporting the City’s Transit First policy.

The San Francisco City Survey, conducted every two years by the Controller’s Office, shows that Muni is one of the most common ways that San Franciscans directly engage with city services. Over 83 percent of respondents to the 2015 City Survey used Muni within the previous year. Even among those who drive alone daily, 68 percent had used Muni in the past year (and 26 percent of those who “generally only use car-based transportation”). Increasing customer satisfaction with Muni service is an important part of increasing satisfaction with city services overall.

CUSTOMER RATING OF OVERALL SATISFACTION WITH TRANSIT SERVICES

HOW THE SAN FRANCISCO MUNICIPAL TRANSPORTATION AGENCY IS PERFORMING

The average customer rating of overall satisfaction with Muni service has remained fairly flat from quarter-to-quarter since surveys began. A slight uptick in satisfaction over the past two quarters compared to the third quarter of fiscal year (FY) 2014-15 may be related to the recent service increases delivered through Muni Forward, as service frequency and reliability were among the rating attributes that saw the greatest improvement during this period. Muni Forward service increases were implemented again in Spring 2016, and Muni Forward capital projects, such as the 14 Mission Rapid Project, have been implemented to improve travel speed, reliability, and safety. Customer satisfaction may also be incrementally improving due to the ongoing bus fleet replacement, with the entire rubber fleet scheduled to be replaced by 2019.

These survey results are consistent overall with the bi-annual San Francisco City Survey. The 2017 City Survey showed that overall, residents who use Muni rate their satisfaction as a “B-.” Of the 30 ratings in the 2017 City Survey, only three received a grade below a “B-,” and two of those three were related to Muni: cleanliness (“C+”) and managing crowding (“C+”). Other ratings for Muni included courtesy of drivers (“B”), frequency or reliability (“B-”), and safety (“B-”).

How Performance is Measured

Results from the online quarterly customer satisfaction survey are reported as an average score on a 1 to 5 scale for the question, “Please rate your overall satisfaction with Muni.” Results are based on a non-probability sample from opt-in SFMTA online panel surveys and have been weighted to reflect the geographic distribution of the San Francisco population. Baseline data was collected in Q3 of FY14. To control for variability in response rates across San Francisco ZIP codes, responses are weighted by response rate relative to share of population. Because the sample is based on an opt-in panel rather than a probability sample, no estimates of sampling error can be calculated.

The number displayed on the scorecard page represents a fiscal year average of the values in the chart above.

Additional information

Data

Please visit DataSF for the scorecard data.