Cap Metro Survey Shows Drop in Satisfaction

Capital Metro has been desperate for good news of late. Last week, it seemed to have found some – but unfortunately, dark clouds can be spotted even in a sunny sky.

A recent press release trumpeted the findings of a customer satisfaction survey performed at the agency's behest, boasting that 83% of respondents expressed happiness with Cap Metro's bus service (MetroRail riders were not included).

But here's the problem with those numbers: That's 83% of respondents, not riders, as a casual reader of the release might mistakenly suppose – in fact, Cap Metro board Chair Mike Martinez made that gaffe himself in a Facebook posting. The problem is that the 1,251 riders interviewed by the Houston/Phoenix firm Creative Consumer Research were divided almost evenly between riders of regular routes, UT shuttle buses, and suburban express buses, because roughly 400 from each group is the magic number generally considered necessary to achieve a statistically valid sample. But actual ridership is not evenly divided: Regular routes account for 68% of riders, while express buses cover only about 2%, and UT shuttles pick up about 30%.

So in terms of actual ridership, the 83% number is meaningless. Instead, extrapolate the satisfaction levels for each group (72% regular, 89% UT, 90% express) through the real ridership levels, and the satisfaction rate is actually more like 77%. Taking the glass-half-empty view, a cynic might ask: Why are nearly one in four Cap Metro customers less than satisfied?

Of course, the even bigger cause for concern: Why are regular riders much more likely to be unhappy with service than UT students and express-riding suburbanites? Also, of 59 disabled riders interviewed, why did only 66% express satisfaction? Some agency critics have argued that Cap Metro is working harder to attract "choice" riders (those with other transportation options) than to serve the "transit-dependent" (the poor, disabled, or otherwise carless), and these numbers lend credence to that perception – 74% of UT riders and 81% of express riders have access to a car, while only 42% of regular riders do (see "Can't Get There From Here," Jan. 22).

In the report's recommendations, its authors write: "Regular route riders are lower income, under employed and less educated, for the most part, while those riding the Express routes, for the most part are likely to have higher level jobs, more education and have a significantly higher income. Capital Metro should explore these factors as ... possible contributors to the lower ratings of the Regular routes."

As for the disabled riders, Cap Metro spokesman Adam Shaivitz correctly pointed out that 59 people is well below the 400 needed for a quality sample. (But then again, the aforementioned press release used that figure, stating, "more than 60 percent of riders with disabilities who responded to the survey said Capital Metro is serving their needs well.")

The latest survey findings represent a drop-off from a similar study in 2008. The 83% of the total sample expressing satisfaction is a 7% drop from two years ago, and the regular rider satisfaction of 72% is a severe drop from 86%. "We will be analyzing the areas in which we declined compared to 2008," Shaivitz said, citing possible factors such as fare increases, a drop in gas prices since 2008, reductions in service levels, and the economic decline. "The numbers for 2010 are good, but more importantly, they will help us get better."