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Excellent customer experience
Providing an excellent customer experience for all services and touchpoints
Improving the day-to-day experiences that Aucklanders have on our transport network and engaging with AT as a customer remain a priority. In 2018 AT’s Board and Chief Executive made the bold and necessary call to become more aligned to customer needs, be more responsive, and genuinely improve the experience that people have on Auckland’s transport system. We established a Customer Experience function and have been working to improve the experiences that Aucklanders have when dealing with AT, our services and the transport network. Evidence shows that these experiences are improving for many more customers and our communities. During COVID-19 disruptions and change over the past years, AT endeavoured to be as agile as possible in responding to customer needs and concerns. We also learned how important a continuous evolution of our digital experience and customer service is to provide quick and easy access to information and other AT services. We took the following actions to keep our people and passengers safe and informed during the crisis: • We re-introduced off-peak fares during
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Alert Level 2 to help spread public transport demand to allow for physical distancing • Weekly consumer research was extended to gauge and track customer sentiment and anxiety about being safe from COVID-19 when using public transport and informed our response • We updated the new ‘occupancy’ feature on
AT Mobile and Public Information Displays to provide customers with a real-time view of space available on board buses and trains during Alert Levels 2 and 3. AT’s response was recognised by other transport authorities around the world and won awards in New Zealand: • ALGIM Special Awards – Winner • IDC Smart Cties Asia Pacific Award – Finalist • Smart Cities Award for Australia /
New Zealand – Finalist • Auckland Council Project Excellence
Award–Winner. During each alert level change, AT sent regular electronic direct mail to over 900,000 customers, supported by alert messages on AT Mobile, social media posts, information on our website, as well as posters and information displayed at transport stations and on buses, trains and ferries; 95% of customers travelling during the various alerts levels had registered following promotional efforts, providing additional COVID-19 contact tracing capability.
New customer service channels
AT is strongly invested in understanding and improving the services and experiences we provide for our customers. New and enhanced service channels were piloted and introduced, such as web chat, customer care team upskilling to handle the growing number of customer interactions through social media channels, and easier website navigation for customers to let us know about problems on the network so that we can direct that information to the appropriate teams for action. New personalised communication channels in AT Mobile were introduced for rapid, targeted and relevant communications during travel disruptions; 84% of notifications were considered ‘useful’ by customers. These improvements mean that we can communicate directly with over a million Aucklanders via email, app notifications, the AT website and social media travel alerts, for minimal incremental cost. We have introduced colour coding on the AT Journey Planner, making it easier for customers to navigate the public transport network, are increasing the usage of te reo, and improving wayfinding for more efficient transfer between services. We are now able to show service alerts by integrating Train Line Status updates and other route-based service alerts in real-time.
Use of Te Reo
In October 2020 we included the use of te reo within AT Mobile for the first time. We also incorporated te reo in signage at Te Onewa Northcote Point wharf and it will be fully integrated throughout the Downtown Ferry Terminal. AT Mobile users now have the added option of seeing bike and walking routes to destinations. Routes are designed to guide customers to cycle friends routes as much as possible, such as cycleways and shared paths. This is our first step towards offering a wider variety of travel options when planning journeys. New accessibility standards have been defined for digital channels for make it easier to use for blind and low vision customers. Our website and app provide support for screen readers, larger font sizes and keyboard-only navigation. We have introduced a new ‘Voice of the Customer’ programme which helps inform business decisions, and improved consultation and co-design solutions for our customers, Local Boards and stakeholders. Thirty thousand tertiary students can now obtain their discounts by loading their concessions online in minutes, saving time and travel to service centres. A new digital solution using Ministry of Education data automatically determines if a student qualifies for the secondary school student AT HOP card concession, thereby removing the need to them to reapply for the concession each year. Earlier this year we collaborated with the Auckland Council Customer Services Group to offer AT HOP sales and services through the Warkworth Service Centre. This initiative resulted in extended opening hours for the community at a lower cost.
including requests from elected members and councillors, official information requests and emails to the Chief Executive, with a reduction from 25 days to 11 days resolution from the previous year
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The AT Contact Centre received 220,186 calls and written queries during the 2020/21 financial year
80% of those calls were answered within 20 seconds, and 78% of customers rated their interaction with AT as either 4 or 5 out of a 1-5 rating
384,000
customers were supported through our retail service centres
500,000
users were supported through to the AT website AT Park customers has 50,000 active users per month
Over 60% of public transport customers use AT Mobile, with over 250,000 active monthly users, with customers rating the app 4.5/5
