Improving Customer Service on the ISB

As the Internal Shuttle Bus network in the NUS campus evolves with time, the Office of Campus Amenities (OCA) regularly looks to improve the commuting experience. Aside from introducing or amending services to better serve commuters, OCA also continuously works to gradually improve journeys by focusing on improving each ride.

OCA started off identifying safe driving behaviour as an area of improvement for the ISB. Now, all ISBs are equipped with telematics devices that measure the safety of the Bus Captains in NUS. With the areas they need to work on easily identified, the Bus Captains have made much progress to improve their safe driving behaviour; from 2020 to 2021, the safety scores improved by 33%.

With this programme in place, OCA is now looking at transforming another aspect of the ISB: customer service, in a similar data-driven approach. Our Bus Captains are rendering a service to the community, and the way in which they do so makes a difference to each commuter. Examples of areas for improvement for the Bus Captains range from basic expectations like keeping the bus clean and stopping at all bus stops when requested, to maintaining a polite yet firm disposition as they issue instructions to their passengers.

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While the measurement of customer service behaviour is not as straightforward as safety data since it is subjective, we still see great value in establishing a customer service index for the Bus Captains to help them improve. To measure the customer service level of each Bus Captain, OCA is embarking on a Mystery Rider programme. Mystery Riders are ordinary passengers on the ISB who score the Bus Captain driving their bus through an e-Form whenever they ride the bus. Anyone can be a Mystery Rider! All that needs to be done is to launch the e-Form (found at tinyurl.com/isbmysteryrider) by scanning a QR code placed in the bus or tapping on a prompt in the NUS NextBus app, and rate the Bus Captain’s performance in ten areas. All Mystery Riders will be enrolled in a lucky draw with a chance to win $20 in NTUC vouchers every month; every form submission gets you one more chance to win!

Incentives have been rolled out to our bus captains to motivate and encourage them to improve their customer service. Aside from that, our bus captains have benefitted from the introduction of newly-recruited Bus Captains who bring good habits and culture with them. One such Bus Captain is Ms Sandra Mohan, who is well-known online for her kind words and polite greetings. She exemplifies the ISB customer service framework by greeting and thanking each passenger who boards her bus.

This sets a great example for the other bus captains to follow; their efforts have been recognised by our Mystery Riders. “She is very friendly and enthusiastic! One passenger was unsure of the bus route so she advised the passenger on where to alight. She also thanks each passenger when they show their pass (in different languages!)” says Foon Xin Yi, who had a ride on Ms Mohan’s bus. Other bus captains have been stepping up their customer service as well, such as Mr Andrew Lai. “The bus uncle is friendly and patient! He waited for me to produce my student card even though I had trouble finding it from my bag,” says Tan Ler Nie.

To identify the Bus Captains who are doing well and those who need more improvement, OCA analyses the Mystery Rider form data for each Bus Captain. But don’t worry if you don’t know who is driving! For each Mystery Rider, all you need to do to help us identify the Bus Captain is to fill in the plate number of the bus, and make sure to submit the form during the ride while you are on the bus. Our automation will take care of the rest.