(The following story by Kelly Hannon appeared at Fredericksburg.com on September 20, 2010.)
WOODBRIDGE, Va. — Passengers have given Virginia Railway Express high marks for responsiveness, cleanliness and friendliness.
But improvements are needed in the reliability of ticket vending machines, in the public address system and in giving riders timely service updates on the train platforms.
Seventy-five percent of VRE passengers gave the commuter rail system an “A” or “B” for overall service quality, down slightly from 77 percent in 2009.
When asked to name their top concern as riders, the response was familiar–that the trains run on time. Seat availability and ticket prices were distant second- and third-place worries.
Results of the annual passenger survey were shared last week at VRE’s monthly Operations Board meeting here.
Surveys were distributed on every northbound train on Wednesday, May 12, typically a high ridership day of the week and month.
Surveys were returned by 5,600 people, an increase from 5,100 who returned surveys in 2009.
Amtrak was still staffing VRE’s trains with conductors and engineers at the time of the survey, although a new provider had been selected. New contractor Keolis Rail Services America took over from Amtrak on July 12.
Riders gave Amtrak’s crew a positive review in May. Passengers awarded train crews an “A” or “B” for presenting a professional appearance (89 percent), being knowledgeable about the service (88 percent), being helpful (86 percent), being courteous (82 percent), checking tickets regularly (75 percent), and making timely announcements for stops (75 percent) and for train delays (67 percent).
Dale Zehner, chief executive officer of VRE, said Keolis is aware of the survey and has been challenged to beat this year’s numbers.
Passengers were least likely to give VRE an “A” or “B” on its ticket machines (40 percent), timely platform information (43 percent), and the public address system on the platform and trains (51 percent). VRE fared better on electronic communication with passengers, with 68 percent of riders giving it top marks on its website, vre.org, and on the quality of Train Talk e-mail messages, and 67 percent on Train Talk’s timeliness.
Also, 86 percent of riders thought VRE was doing an “A” or “B” job of keeping its trains clean, and more than 80 percent felt VRE staff earned those grades for friendliness and responsiveness.
Full results are online at vre.org, under the VRE Operations Board meeting agenda for September.
Also at the meeting:
Stafford County and Manassas representatives on the Operations Board voted against a plan to spend a $5.1 million surplus in VRE’s fiscal 2010 budget.
Other localities–Alexandria, Fredericksburg, and Arlington, Fairfax, Prince William and Spotsylvania counties–voted for the plan.
An unexpected $3.1 million was available from fare revenue, and $2 million resulted from a reduction in VRE’s operations expenses.
Zehner said he suggested spending the money on items that would benefit riders, since fare revenue led to part of the surplus.
VRE last raised fares in 2009. As a result, it expected ridership to decrease. Instead, ridership rose.
The approved plan for the $5.1 million provides that:
$1 million will be spent on final design of a third track to Spotsylvania’s new station.
CSX Corp. and the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation will split the cost of preliminary design for the third track.
With the $1 million for final design, the third track will be ready for construction in less than 12 months.
$2.5 million will go to purchase VRE’s 20th new locomotive, allowing the railway to completely replace its 20-locomotive fleet. One new locomotive arrived in July, and another 18 are on order from MotivePower Inc. in Idaho.
$500,000 will bring VRE’s insurance trust fund to $10 million, as recommended by Virginia.
$1.1 million will go into a reserve fund for new rail cars.
An alternative to spending the $1.1 million on rail cars was returning it to the localities that pay a local subsidy to support VRE.
The subsidy amount is determined by the locality’s share of passengers, so the amount given back would have varied.
Prince William would have received around $400,000, and Fairfax would have received roughly $300,000, according to Mark Roeber, VRE spokesman. Stafford would have received about $190,000, Spotsylvania about $35,000 and Fredericksburg about $30,000, he said.
The money could be spent on transportation projects.
Paul Milde, a Stafford supervisor and VRE Operations Board chairman, voted against the plan because he opposed spending $2.5 million on a locomotive.
More than 90 percent of the cost of the other 19 locomotives was funded by federal or state earmarks, funds or grants.
Milde said this success means VRE shouldn’t pay cash for a locomotive.
Stafford supervisor and board member Susan Stimpson voted against the plan because of the $1.1 million line item for rail cars. Instead, Stimpson said, the money should be returned to localities and local taxpayers, since not all residents who pay taxes ride VRE.
Stimpson spoke after Supervisor John Cook of Fairfax said he opposed returning the money to the localities, because at the locality level it may not have as substantial an impact. “I think it would get sucked up into something else,” Cook said.
Stimpson disagreed. “I can tell you that money will matter to my locality,” she said.
She said she would remember the vote.
“I will hold your feet to the fire as soon as I hear you want to raise rates again,” Stimpson said.
Arlington Supervisor Chris Zimmerman said that since VRE needs to maintain facilities to keep and attract riders, he agreed with the philosophy that the railway must plan ahead several years for its needs.
“You can’t snap your fingers and go down to the store and pick up a new rail car,” Zimmerman said.