Customer satisfaction with Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is rising, as overall ridership increased by more than nine percent during the last year, according to the agency’s latest Quarterly Performance Report (QPR).
The report shows BART’s overall customer satisfaction rating in the most recent Passenger Experience Survey (PES) reached 81 percent, which is up seven percent from the previous quarter (July – September 2023). The fourth quarter of 2023 (October – December) is the third consecutive quarter PES results have shown that BART’s overall customer satisfaction rating has increased. PES is a year-round survey conducted on BART trains on a near-daily basis.
BART says It is the first time since the 2012 Customer Satisfaction Survey that the agency has seen a Customer Satisfaction rate in the 80s. Overall satisfaction hovered between 84 and 86 percent from 2004 through 2012, before hitting a low of 56 percent in 2018. In the latest survey in 2022, satisfaction was 67 percent. BART conducts the Customer Satisfaction survey every other year and the next survey will be fielded in fall 2024.
The improvement in ratings comes as BART has advanced the implementation of its Safe and Clean Plan, which focuses on boosting the visible safety presence in the system and increasing staffing to clean trains and stations.
Police presence reaches all-time high
For the second consecutive quarter, the percentage of riders who say they have seen BART Police Department (PD) on their trip has reached a record high. The latest QPR shows that 20.3 percent of those questioned reported they saw BART PD's presence on trains or in stations. The 20.3 percent is up from the previous record of 17 percent during the previous quarter. Quarters 2 and 3 of 2023 were the first in BART’s history where the percentage of riders who reported seeing BART PD exceeded the agency’s official goal of 12 percent.
Sexual harassment continues to drop
The percentage of riders saying they have experienced sexual harassment on BART has been declining since early 2023. In the latest quarter, the percentage fell to seven percent, which is down from a high of 10 percent. The improvement follows the launch of Phase II of the Not One More Girl campaign.
The QPR was presented to the BART Board of Directors at the Feb. 22 board meeting.
