12-27-2023, 07:29 PM
Not sure why Bytor is so defensive of anything GRT or Keolis for that matter. It's a known fact the customer service blows and the management is even worse. Any regular GRT employee would completely agree as well. There is plenty of anecdotes from GRT staff as well as some news stories about how GRT drivers and other employees have a hard time coming to terms with their managers, bringing up complaints such as safety or being overworked and many others. They are frequently on strike as well and while it's often in regards to pay, they also have a lot of other grievances. It took them a lot of haggling with each other to bother to invest in putting a door beside the driver which was both in reaction to the pandemic but safety in general, as they are often assaulted be it spitting or a physical attack.
Rainrider22 is justified in saying that the customer service is very subpar and that the organization of the agency is a bit disorganized. Others who have been also making the point that our fare card system is junk are also correct because it really is and this is not in comparison to Presto or anything, it is just really mediocre. It's just a really D tier system from the software and the website front end to the physical failures such as payment pillars often malfunctioning, the vending machines being unavailable for whatever reason and simple things like needing to tap your card a bunch of times just so it registers. You can tell there wasn't a lot of money spent on it both in the functionality and the user experience.
Thankfully, as he pointed out, the on the ground staff are usually very good. Some aren't, but most of them are pretty decent to deal with and usually lenient when it comes to letting you on if you don't have the fare as long as you can pay for the next trip. Some may in fact say no sorry, I can't let you on which I think is pretty rude, but it's their bus. GRT really should have a policy where they will almost always let someone on without fare as it is good for customer retention. If you lost a loonie, for example, and they driver left you out in the pouring rain on your way to work, you might think twice about continuing to use it. Ensuring your customers actually want to use your service is an important thing. Such a policy may result in abuse, but there could be ways to mitigate it. For example, they could be required to tap their card and the driver makes a digital note that they have had X amounts of free rides. That wouldn't solve people who may say well I use coins, but whatever. Transit isn't meant to make a lot of money, it's meant to provide the public a service. The most important way you do that is ensure the user experience for each customer is as ideal as it can possibly be. On that note, that's one area GRT and Keolis need to and can continually seek to improve. That includes having customer service employees who are nice (it's not hard to make sure they are...any good business owner is going to know if their staff are not pleasant) AND having a fare card that can immediately update the funds to all buses. Saying the customer wrong and was bullying the GRT employees and being unreasonable in wanting immediate access to the fare credit they have just deposited is lol. There's no excuse as to why that can't work because it's possible, other than our region just wanted to spend as little money as possible.
Rainrider22 is justified in saying that the customer service is very subpar and that the organization of the agency is a bit disorganized. Others who have been also making the point that our fare card system is junk are also correct because it really is and this is not in comparison to Presto or anything, it is just really mediocre. It's just a really D tier system from the software and the website front end to the physical failures such as payment pillars often malfunctioning, the vending machines being unavailable for whatever reason and simple things like needing to tap your card a bunch of times just so it registers. You can tell there wasn't a lot of money spent on it both in the functionality and the user experience.
Thankfully, as he pointed out, the on the ground staff are usually very good. Some aren't, but most of them are pretty decent to deal with and usually lenient when it comes to letting you on if you don't have the fare as long as you can pay for the next trip. Some may in fact say no sorry, I can't let you on which I think is pretty rude, but it's their bus. GRT really should have a policy where they will almost always let someone on without fare as it is good for customer retention. If you lost a loonie, for example, and they driver left you out in the pouring rain on your way to work, you might think twice about continuing to use it. Ensuring your customers actually want to use your service is an important thing. Such a policy may result in abuse, but there could be ways to mitigate it. For example, they could be required to tap their card and the driver makes a digital note that they have had X amounts of free rides. That wouldn't solve people who may say well I use coins, but whatever. Transit isn't meant to make a lot of money, it's meant to provide the public a service. The most important way you do that is ensure the user experience for each customer is as ideal as it can possibly be. On that note, that's one area GRT and Keolis need to and can continually seek to improve. That includes having customer service employees who are nice (it's not hard to make sure they are...any good business owner is going to know if their staff are not pleasant) AND having a fare card that can immediately update the funds to all buses. Saying the customer wrong and was bullying the GRT employees and being unreasonable in wanting immediate access to the fare credit they have just deposited is lol. There's no excuse as to why that can't work because it's possible, other than our region just wanted to spend as little money as possible.