I need suggestion for improving customer service on London Underground?

Question

How customer service on London Undergroud can be improved

Answer 1

well I agree with ashypoo.

I have to wake up at 3.30 am to get to work for 5 am and open ticket office by 5.30 and get customers abusing me all day.I am coming to work and earn a living like everyone else and don't deserve to be verbally abuse .I am only doing my job which is becoming more and more difficult with the introduction of oyster cards and different prices....

improving customer service well I think customer should be nicer then customer service would improve!

Answer 2

I'll answer first one of the comments about staff looking like zombies at work - you have to put yourself in their shoes. Working from 5pm to 1am one week, then one day off, two if your blessed, and you are up at 2.30am to get a staff taxi start at 5am. It starts to wear you down after a while. Add to this the (often unfounded) hatred that so many people seem to have towards the network and its staff, and you have a better understanding of why some of the staff can be snappy.

To answer the original question, the main points would be better information being provided more quickly from the source to the station staff, and then on to the customers.

Air con is not possible with current technology in the tunnels, as the heat HAS to go somewhere, but people who know about these things are doing their homework on a solution. Sub Surface lines are quite likely to have air con within 3 years, when they release the new S stock trains on the world, which will occur once the massive infrastructure work is complete (which is what all the weekend closures are about.

Remember that the network is almost 150 years old, its had its time, and it needs a lot of work and money thrown at it to bring it up to date.

If you need further info on any of this, there's plenty on tfl's website, www.tfl.gov.uk.

Answer 3

Whatever your product or service, the main elements of good customer service are:

1. clear accurate and timely information

2. having a culture for all the staff where being helpful and polite and 'going the extra mile' is the norm

3. when things go wrong, having a real person available to talk to who has the authority to get things done

In terms of applying this to London Underground, I think they do very well on no 1, less well on 2 & 3.

So I would think of some ideas in that area.

Answer 4

start by employing and training staff properly. English speakers would be a helpful start, a little interest shown when speaking to the customer, tell staff to stop slouching around and chatting to each other and ignoring customers that are obviously requiring assistance (elderly, tourists, travellers with baggage etc) A little more proactiveness rather than reactiveness goes a million miles to enhancing a customers experience. It is the actions of a few of your employees that brings the the rest down to their level. Try making duty managers more visible at stations and advise customers that we should/can share our experiences of of travelling the tube with them. Why do staff not do anything about the fare evaders that jump barriers or push through gates right behind you using your ticket.

Answer 5

Hand out deoderant spray on the platforms you need it all those smelly armpits due to overcrowding oh and while your at it how about giving us our moneys worth the price seems to always go up and by more than a couple of sheckels
yet again another congestion charge but we pay for a congested train full of squashed passengers
There is an alternative way to bring a huge amount of money to the tube get rid of Ken livingstone and use his wages lol

Answer 6

I take it the questioner is applying for a job as a Station Assistant then, as this is one of the questions in the application ;)

Having said that, my main bug bear is the lack of consistent use of Public Address, particularly in times of service disruption. Some drivers/train operators are better than others at this.

One example being to suggest changing from Circle/H&C services to Met at Great Portland Street rather than Baker Street as it's the same platform that way...Though that's not much use if your Met train starts from Baker Street, of course ;)

Answer 7

Have more people on the platforms so that if there is a problem there is a human being that you can ask.

Also, improve the communication when there are problems. It seems to take ages for the driver to explain why you are waiting and then they never seem to know very much. I think people would get less upset if they were better informed.

Answer 8

Invest in the infrastructure to reduce delays. When the tube is working it is great - customer frustration arises when yet again you are stuck at Clapham becuase of a signal failure, defective train or regulating the service etc.

Answer 9

More air conditioning in the tube in summer. Also could be a lot cleaner and lower fares

Answer 10

Really... more reliable trains. I know the network is old, and they're spending however many billions of dollars improving it, but it still breaks down way too often.