Public transport remains highly popular in the Helsinki region
On the basis of the customer satisfaction survey conducted in the spring, the customers of Helsinki Region Transport get their money’s worth and overall satisfaction remains high. HSL has sought customers’ opinions through two surveys. In the international BEST survey, overall satisfaction rating was 77%. In HSL’s own customer satisfaction survey, the overall score for regional bus services was 3.9 (on a scale from 1 to 5). The scores were slightly higher for Helsinki internal bus services (overall score 4.00). Passengers find rail services particularly attractive.
Drivers’ customer service skills have improved
HSL area comes out tops in the BEST survey conducted in several European cities. In terms of customer satisfaction, HSL area shares the top place with Geneve. In terms of public transport supply and reliability, HSL area holds the second place. The number of passengers satisfied with the reliability of public transport has fallen by 12 percentage points from last year. The abrupt drop is explained by traffic problems related to severe winter weather which occurred close to the survey period.
In the passengers' opinion, drivers' customer service skills have improved. Helsinki region was the only BEST survey city where satisfaction with staff behaviour improved. The results indicate that the efforts put into in-service training of tram and bus drivers has produced good results.
In addition to Helsinki, Geneve, Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm and Vienna participate in the BEST survey. The survey interviews are conducted over the phone. In 2010 the interview were conducted in all HSL member municipalities and the total number of respondents was 1,600.
Overall tidiness improved on rail services
Impacts of the harsh winter weather show also in HSL’s own customer satisfaction survey. Satisfaction with the punctuality of public transport fell compared to 2009 both in bus services and VR’s commuter rail services. Positive change had taken place in the tidiness of trains.
The overall scores for regional bus services, as well as internal services in Helsinki, Espoo and Kerava improved slightly. Also the scores given to tram and metro services were somewhat higher. Vantaa internal bus services and VR's commuter train services received lower scores than previously.
The total number of respondents to HSL's customer satisfaction survey was nearly 13,000.
