LIRR faces long ride to rider satisfaction

It’s fine to have an eight-point Long Island Rail Road customer pledge. And good that the LIRR has transparency enough to admit human error in last month’s system meltdown.

But wait a minute. Aren’t most of the points included in the draft LIRR pledge, released yesterday to counter criticism from Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and others, supposed to be the LIRR’s job daily? Shouldn’t a railroad almost always offer “a safe and reliable ride,” “accurate and timely information,” and “comfort,” the first, second and sixth items?

The disconnect between the pledge and customer satisfaction is stunning, according to a ridership survey also released yesterday.

According to the survey, customer ratings dropped year over year for those using the LIRR in the mornings, afternoons and evenings on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

This is not good.

But a look at the railroad’s preliminary report on the Sept. 29 meltdown — when 249 trains were canceled, terminated or late — shows evidence of the disconnect, too.

Riders complained about a lack of useful information that evening — although, according to the report, the LIRR fired off 84 customer email alerts, 80 tweets on Twitter, 26 message board postings, 18 Web page updates and 19 Facebook postings.

That was a total 227 attempts to communicate with customers — not including station and platform announcements.

How did so much amount to so little?

The LIRR essentially answers that question in its preliminary report — with promises to be more specific about the length of delays when they happen and where customers can opt to find buses or some other way home.

The railroad points out that customers were surveyed after a fare increase, service cutbacks and two severe snow storms. Paying more? Getting less? And getting stranded during wind, rain and snowstorms? Who wouldn’t be angry?

But the railroad’s attempt at a defense falls dangerously flat. The most damaging part of the customer survey indicates that riders know they aren’t getting value for their hard-earned bucks.

And that’s not the weather’s fault.

To its credit, the LIRR seems to be taking the hint. There’s talk of some service restorations — a big deal in these hard times. Here’s a chance to spread goodwill even further: Get rid of the $10 service fee for ticket refunds during service disruptions.

Meanwhile, the LIRR, after years of promising better communication with customers, appears to be learning that quality, not quantity, matters.

It’s going to be long ride back to customer approval. It might be helpful to add a few “stations” — hard measures of success — along the way.

It’s one thing to pledge better service; quite another to deliver it, consistently.