Passengers in a survey have rated Delhi Metro as the “most comfortable mode of commuting” in the city. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation was rated highest in terms of comfort with customers giving it 7.42 out of 10 points followed by its customer care service, which was rated as 7.38. Information dissemination, with a score of 7.30, came third.
Presently, the ridership of the Delhi Metro has reached above 23 lakhs.
The survey was conducted by the Delhi Metro after talking to 85,000 respondents during the ‘Customer Satisfaction Week’ from July 15 to 21 and again on July 26 at the top 22 Metro stations with the highest footfalls.
Surveys were done on eight crucial aspects of Metro operations and each aspect was made the theme of the survey for one day of the week. The topics included availability, accessibility, information, quality of service, customer care, comfort, security and safety and commuter-related aspect outside the Metro station.
Many subheads were created for each of these aspects and the commuters were asked to rate the services on the scale — excellent, very good, good, satisfactory, and need improvement. Some of major subheads were – modes of access to DMRC system, first and last train timings, frequency of trains, facilities for the differently-abled and elderly, purchase of tokens and smart cards, adequacy of lifts and escalators, availability of parking space, among others.
“The findings of the survey reveal that the commuters are largely satisfied with the quality of service offered to them and have rated Delhi Metro as ‘very good’. However, DMRC will not rest on such laurels and will continue to serve its public with utmost dedication and commitment and bringing out necessary changes and improvement whenever required,” said a DMRC spokesperson.
Apart from taking the opinion of the commuters on a range of issues, the survey also gave an insight into the overall profile of the commuters travelling by the system every day. Among the respondents, 75.8 per cent were males; office-going professionals (service sector) and students formed the bulk of the ridership as they comprised 62.5 and 30.4 per cent of the total respondents, respectively.
People belonging to the age group between 19 and 30 years formed the majority among the respondents at 68.6 per cent, while those belonging to the age group between 31 and 50 years were the second biggest group with 21.8 per cent.
Areas where the public felt that further improvement can be made pertain to the quality of smart cards and tokens, condition of roads, drains and pavements, encroachment and tackling beggars outside Metro stations.
Among the Metro stations where the survey was conducted include Rajiv Chowk, Chandni Chowk, New Delhi, Karol Bagh, Laxmi Nagar, Uttam Nagar East, Saket, Vaishali, HUDA City Centre, Shahdara, M.G. Road, G.T.B. Nagar, Hauz Khas, Dilshad Garden, Noida City Centre, and Central Secretariat.
