SEPTA customer service: not quite there yet (The Next Mayor)

Whenever I read or write about SEPTA, I wonder how Mayor Nutter feels when he think about this city's most schizophrenic quasi-governmental agency. On the one hand, he has no statutory power over the regional transportation authority, which, to be fair, is not just a Philadelphia agency. Sure, he gets to appoint a couple members of the board and the city does send a little bit of cash its way, but other than that, he has very few hard power tools at his disposal.

On the other hand, when SEPTA screws up (Market Frankford reconstruction in West Philly comes to mind), people aren't rushing to the voting booth to vote out the general manager. As with many of other quasi-governmental agencies, when things are running smoothly, you don't hear much about them. When things are going badly, however, people invariably look for someone to blame.

I was reminded of this when I came across this post from one of my favorite blogs, SEPTA Watch:

What is going on at SEPTA? Even after I complained to the new customer service leader at SEPTA back in May, and he looked into it, the clerk who can't sell tickets or do basic math is still there, just as rude as ever.

How can SEPTA possibly claim that they are trying to treat customers better? It's just absurd. And by the way, why doesn't a SEPTA transaction produce an itemized receipt? You have to do all the math in your head or watch out, you will get taken advantage of, and nothing is written down.

Public transportation is one of the most frequently used, highly visible services provided by the government but SEPTA's status as a "regional authority" necessarily makes it impossible to pin the responsibility on any one elected official. The suburban county commissioners, the governor, the mayor and the region's state legislatures all have enough political cover to keep them from really feeling the effects of any unfortunate performances by SEPTA.

While most experiences with SEPTA are probably quite positive (and by that I mean neutral, which is about as good as it can get unless they put television screens and bubble baths in the trains and buses), it only takes one bad experience to permanently color a person's impression. That's pretty clear from the excerpt above which was actually the second such experience by that writer.

Anyway, I don't really have any prescriptions for how to fix this. I just like to write about SEPTA because its like the kid in the school whom the teacher REALLY wants to do well because you like him but he just keeps making bad decisions.

Really, SEPTA, I want you to do well. I really do.