Reversal of Fortune

SEPTA made news this week for sparing riders fare hikes over the next year, though it had to dip into its capital budget to do so. Perpetually underfunded, the agency has never seemed to learn that providing better customer service could lure more riders and thus preclude the need to play its annual fiscal shell game. I experienced a small but telling example Wednesday night of how poorly SEPTA's frontline employees interface with customers -- in the process, alienating them and failing to build the kind of goodwill and reputation for reliability that build business instead of driving it away.

Coming home from the office holiday party, I hopped onto the 9:50 R5 Doylestown local out of Suburban Station and hunkered down for the ride home. A handful of other revelers were in the seats behind me -- cheerful guys who were a tad loud but generally entertaining. The train wound its way north, and had made its stop at Jenkintown, but instead of proceeding on to Glenside, it reversed direction. One of the guys behind me, channeling Planes, Trains and Automobiles, said, "We're going the wrong way!" His pals started laughing and picked it up, repeating it several times, and, frankly, it was about the only thing that made the situation tolerable. At the other end of the car was a scruffy guy whom I had spied assembling some sort of sandwich when I got on the train; he wasn't as amused as I, and said loudly in response, "They forgot to stop at Elkins," a reference to Elkins Park, the station just prior to Jenkintown.

And so we rumbled backward to Elkins Park, made the stop, and headed in the correct direction again, gliding through Jenkintown and continuing on to Glenside and points north. Not once did any crew member explain what had happened or, God forbid, apologize for doing something as stone stupid as forgetting to make a stop. Not one damn word was said. As I noted, it was a rather minor incident, but a revealing one, a reflection of just how much importance -- or how little -- SEPTA places on customer service. And the ridership continues to fall, and funds are harder to come by, and you suddenly realize just why a state legislator in a far-flung county wouldn't want to waste political capital by voting to support a poorly run agency staffed by surly employees who don't give a damn that for the money they're paying, customers expect, at the least, competence. Such as, you know, making all the scheduled stops in the order they occur along the route.

Comments

[Carson]

Believe it or not, when I lived in Philly (actually Norristown) Septa saved my wife and I a lot of money compared to owning a car.

[Boston PopPop]

Boston's MBTA is no better at communicating what they are up to than SEPTA appears to be. The non-communication gene must be in the transit-worker DNA.

[John Salmon]

I haven't lived in Philly for almost 6 years...I see nothing's changed.