Improving rider-operator relations: A survey and analysis of internal communications
Overview
We wanted to learn what public transit agencies were doing to improve the important relationship between operators and the transit-using public. From an internal communications perspective, what tactics, channels, and messages seemed to help?
To get a broad sampling of input we conducted informal phone, video, and email interviews with titles including: Director; Director of Brand Communications; Marketing Director; Deputy Chief of Staff; Program Manager, Internal Communications; Chief of Public Affairs; Ridership Experience Specialist; Organizational Communications Manager; Planner II; Director of Transit Operations; Development Director; Corridor Operations Director.
In addition to sharing their practices, interview subjects made three fundamental points:
1) As frontline employees, operators represent THE face of the public transit system. Therefore, getting the relationship right between drivers and passengers is core; however, internal comms tend to be underfunded, and goals often were vague or not focused on improving relations.
2) Optimally, the focus on operator/rider relationships begins at the hire and is reinforced in early training.
3) Any communication that reflects the value of the operator and raises their esteem improves rider-operator relations whether or not the communication content itself was about those relations.
The question
This inquiry started with the question around how transit agencies use internal communications to improve the relationship between operators and riders.
Tactics and channels
Summary: Posting notices on bulletin boards is the most common method of communication. In-person communications and employee appreciation events were thought to be most effective for improving operator morale and relations with riders.
By far the most common way agencies communicate with operators is by printing out or posting important communications to a bulletin board in an operator dayroom or breakroom. Several interview subjects expressed chagrin at this old-school approach but indicated it was still the most reliable method of staying in touch with operators.
Onboard communications via radio or ITS are considered an impactful comms tactic, but important messages can get lost in the busy onboard environment.
Most agencies had operator email accounts but operators did not check them consistently. Many interview subjects expressed frustration with the underuse of email.
Facility and vehicle signs were seen as the most reliable channel for communicating best practices on an ongoing basis.
A few agencies had conducted trials of text systems but operators either found it annoying to be communicated with on a personal device or were not attuned to texting.
Regular internal newsletters were a reliable communications method. Operators who paid attention to their email accounts opened them and the newsletters could also be printed out and posted.
Social media was a mixed bag and not used for internal communications at all agencies interviewed. In the instances in which social media was used for internal comms, messages were posted on public social media accounts and therefore needed to be appropriate for public consumption.
Videos were the most preferred tactic on social media (and appeared elsewhere with an internal comms goal, too) and were most useful for improving operator-rider relations when they featured actual operators and staff, since this seemed to raise operators’ pride in their work.
In-person communications were highly valued. Interview subjects spoke of their utility beginning with the questions asked in job interviews, and continuing through the communications made during training (for example, when common rider-operator scenarios were introduced as a part of training), and in-person communications shared informally and formally in the work environment. The “messenger” could be a peer, an immediate supervisor, or administrative staff. In-person communications in the form of operator-appreciation events were seen as highly effective for improving rider-operator relationships.
A ventriloquist’s dummy definitely takes the prize as the most engaging of internal communicators. In this instance, agency management invited an operator who was a ventriloquist to perform his act at a drivers’ event. Agency management worked with the ventriloquist to develop an act in which the dummy played the role of an operator who had been fired for safety violations but who wanted to return to driving with great promises of improvement. This allowed the dummy to illustrate what bad operator behavior looks like in a comic manner, taking the focus off any particular human operator. This appearance was so successful that the ventriloquist and dummy went on to make internal safety videos and community appearances.
What was communicated?
We looked at how agencies communicated basic information to operators such as service changes and also at broader internal communications. Some of the topics that interview subjects discussed included:
New problems
When non-motorized scooters became popular, it had to be communicated to operators how to handle getting them on the bus.
Service changes other than route
In a region with long winter nights, one agency began providing drop-offs anywhere along the line so customers would not have to walk in the cold and dark.
Points of clarification
One agency had instituted free fares for kids “accompanied by an adult.” It became clear after the policy was announced that the definition of “adult” had not been communicated.
Urgent matters
Fraudulent passes were suddenly in circulation. The agency issued urgent information on what they looked like and what operators should do if a rider attempted to use one.
Best practices
The most reliable channel for reminding operators of best practices was considered to be permanent or semi-permanent signs in facilities and vehicles.
Gratitude and praise for operators
Events and in-person communications were seen as the most effective channel for conveying goodwill messages, which were, in turn, seen to have a positive effect on rider-operator relations.
Analysis: Notes on tone
Leading with a positive, even if the communication needed to be critical, likely leads to more positive relations. For example, “You do a great job … we’ve noted concerns” was clearly preferred to the more authoritarian, “It has come to our attention. …”
The overall positive tone set by an organization’s commitment to and deployment of operator-centered events and celebrations was perceived to have a strong effect on building a happier workforce that had better interactions with the public.
Analysis: Insights on channels
To the question “what is your most effective channel to distribute operator communications aimed at improving relations with riders,” most respondents replied that, despite their desire to implement techier methods like text-based messaging or email, bulletin boards still win out over all. When asked about the efficacy of text messaging or email that operators could check on their phones, one interview subject noted that the majority of their operators only have flip phones and did not text.
While operator-focused events and celebrations were not necessarily used to communicate on the topic of relations with the public, such events were seen to have a very positive impact because they improved operator esteem and pride-in-work as well as the operators’ overall positive impression of the organization.
Analysis: Biggest challenges, strategic and tactical
Strategic
Setting internal comms goals: Internal comms goals were often not highly specific and more related to the timing of deliverables than to the outcomes of the communications.
Tracking outcomes: Because of the lack of clearly defined communications goals, interview subjects could often just guess at outcomes.
Tactical
Rewarding service while improving service: There is an ongoing challenge in reinforcing that good work is being done while asking for improvements in that work.
Avoiding nagging: Any form of over-messaging or adding messaging platforms can add to a sense of being nagged.
Takeaways
The communications strategies behind hiring and training materials are key to improving operator-rider relations. For example, the questions asked in employment interviews that supported better relations included providing scenarios operators might find themselves in and asking applicants how they would respond. Similarly, it was suggested that such scenarios be included in training materials.
The most effective internal communications distribution channel was bulletin boards in dayrooms. This asynchronous old-school approach allowed operators to not feel nagged or overwhelmed with too much messaging or suffer “yet-another-platform” syndrome, which could, in turn, add to stress and increase friction with the public.
Messaging delivered with humor was noted as successful in improving morale overall, while asynchronous communication delivered in bite-sized, easy-to-view increments, like in videos, helped decrease messaging overwhelm.
Empowering operators and building a culture that celebrates frontline employees and offers them a clear path to bigger roles in the organization or the industry is essential to improving their interactions with the public. From the comms perspective, this includes:
empowering peers to address and mentor each other;
lifting up operators as good examples to their peers in internal comms and events;
and sending operators into the community, to classrooms and public events, to communicate about public transit.
These communications actions improve community relations and create a positive feedback loop in which celebrated operators influence their peers and others in the organization. Similarly, encouraging agency management and executives to ride on transit and engage operators in their place of work whenever possible shows operators that they matter to the wider organization and improves morale and relations overall.