At TransLink, our customers are at the heart of everything we do every day. It’s a responsibility that fills us with pride and is reflected in our customer promise: to always put you first: your safety, your time, and your connection to the people and places that matter most.

We know the pandemic has forever changed the way you work, travel, and move throughout the region – and as we begin to move beyond the pandemic, the time is right to refocus our efforts and further improve and evolve how we deliver exceptional customer experiences. That’s why I’m so proud to let you know about TransLink’s new Customer Experience Action Plan, which outlines how we will deliver transit that is faster and more reliable, easier to use, more personalized, safer and more comfortable, and helps make our communities better. This is a plan for all of our diverse customers throughout the Metro Vancouver region.

The Customer Experience Plan includes 40 major projects and initiatives. Here are some highlights I’m particularly excited about:

• More contactless payment options and a modernized Compass system that allows more personalization
• More real-time information on our system, our website and throughout our smartphone alerts, and more multi-lingual signage
• Improving the speed and reliability of our buses by advancing bus stop balancing and introducing new RapidBus routes
• Opening more washrooms on the system, and improving amenities at bus stops and exchanges, including additional lighting, all-weather shelters, seating, and accessibility
• Offering special seasonal bus services to accommodate travel to regional parks, beaches, and destinations
• Easier booking for HandyDART customers
• Implementing our Climate Action Strategy to advance a zero-emission bus fleet

Building off the foundation was set in our first Customer Experience Action Plan which was released in 2019, and off your important feedback as customers who use our transit system, this new Action Plan will guide us over the next five years. New to this plan is a customer journey map to help focus our work and ensure that we are putting our resources and investments into projects and initiatives that make an impact to the key moments that matter for you. We know that every time you take a journey with us, it is an opportunity for us to make a positive impression and continually improve your experience.

We received more than 1,200 ideas from our customers and incorporated the ideas of our front-line transit workers. We undertook extensive research of other transit systems, and other sectors, to help us better understand our customers unique needs and preferences. Through our engagement, we’ve heard that there are five priority areas that matter to you most: making transit services more personalized, making transit use easier, making transit timelier and more reliable, creating a safer and more pleasant experience, and offering you better reasons to take transit over using a vehicle.

As restrictions ease, we are excited to welcome you back to a transit service that is more than just getting you from point A to point B. It’s about collectively tackling climate change, delivering exceptional experiences, and continuing to evolve to your unique needs. We are committed to measuring the impact of our investments and will ensure that your feedback continues to help guide every decision we make.

To our half a million customers across Metro Vancouver, we look forward to serving you even better moving forward.

– Kevin Quinn