Meeting_Body
SYSTEM SAFETY, SECURITY AND OPERATIONS COMMITTEE
EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
SEPTEMBER 15, 2016
Subject/Action
SUBJECT: EXPO II CUSTOMER SATISFACTION SURVEY RESULTS
ACTION: RECEIVE AND FILE
Heading
RECOMMENDATION
Title
RECEIVE AND FILE status report on the results of the Expo II customer satisfaction survey conducted in June 2016.
Issue
ISSUE
Expo II from Culver City Station to Downtown Santa Monica Station was opened for service on Friday, May 20, 2016. Since then, ridership on the entire Expo Line (Phase I and II) has grown to nearly 45,000 average weekday riders, with about 20,000 attributed to Expo II (Chart 1). With the forecasted weekday ridership at build out of 64,000 (30,000 for Expo I and 34,000 for Expo II), the line has achieved 70% of its target with only two months of full operations. Most notable is Sunday ridership which doubled with the implementation of Expo II.
Chart 1
To better understand ridership on the new extension, a customer satisfaction survey was conducted at all seven of the Expo II stations from June 7-12, 2016. In addition, riders were surveyed at Culver City Station to provide a comparative analysis of before and after extension ridership behavior.
Discussion
DISCUSSION
Nearly 1,000 Expo II Line riders were surveyed following the opening of the extension to understand trends in ridership and customer satisfaction of different service attributes. The following provides results and conclusions from the survey.
New vs. Existing Riders (Table 2-3) - Nearly 70% of the riders surveyed at the new Expo II stations are new riders. Of the new riders, 44% used to drive while 23% used to take Metro and Santa Monica BBB bus service.
Table 2
|
Before the extension, did you ride the Expo Line regularly (3 times or more weekly)? |
|
Existing Riders |
30% |
|
New Riders |
70% |
Table 3
|
How did you usually make this trip before the Expo Line Extension? |
|
Drive by myself |
44% |
|
Bus |
23% |
|
Walk/Bike/Roll |
13% |
|
Carpool/Vanpool |
8% |
|
Taxi/Ridehailing |
6% |
|
Other |
6% |
”First Mile” (Table 4) - Active transportation is the most popular way to get to the stations, even at the three stations with parking (Sepulveda, Bundy, 17th St/SMC)
Table 4
|
How do you usually get to this station? |
|
Walk/Bike/Roll |
50% |
|
Drive by myself |
16% |
|
Bus |
15% |
|
Get dropped off |
9% |
|
Taxi/Ridehailing |
3% |
|
Other |
7% |
Rider Destination (Table 5) - While 73 percent of existing riders at Culver City station travelled east to Downtown LA, two thirds of new riders travelled west to Downtown Santa Monica
Table 5
|
Culver City Station Riders were asked: Which station will you get off at? |
|
|
East to DTLA |
West to SM |
|
Existing Riders |
73% |
27% |
|
New Riders |
36% |
64% |
|
Total |
53% |
47% |
Ride Frequency (Table 6) - The majority of current riders at Culver City Station ride regularly, while a significant portion of new riders are occasional riders.
Table 6
Summary of Findings
• Overall, 70 percent of those surveyed stated that they were new riders, with 44 previously driving and another 23 percent changing modes from bus to rail.
• While the majority of existing riders are regular riders travelling east to destinations near Downtown Los Angeles, a significant number of new riders are occasional Expo users travelling west to Downtown Santa Monica.
• In general, riders feel safe on Expo II, but are concerned about the low frequency of service which leads to overcrowding.
Prepared_by
Prepared by: Conan Cheung, Executive Officer, Finance, (213) 922-6949
Reviewed_By
Reviewed by: Nalini Ahuja, Chief Financial Officer, (213) 922-2296
