RATP Dev leverages on detailed surveys across its international networks to better understand local expectations.
RATP Dev is placing a focus on customer experience across its international networks thanks to customer surveys to better understand customers’ needs, leading the way in public transports by offering personalised solutions.
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RATP Dev, a subsidiary of RATP Group, operates and maintains networks in over 100 operations across 15 countries. They ensure the transportation of close to 840 million passengers a year. RATP Group runs Paris’ multimodal network, one of the densest in the world and is our launching ground for trialling many new passenger initiatives.
At RATP Dev, the passenger experience comes first. The company has created a range of core principles it aims to abide by when running its networks.
These include:
- Adapt user experiences to each local context;
- Continuous improvement for constant improvement of customer satisfaction;
- An extensive services availability that takes into account mobility as a whole and being there for everyone;
- Digital and human combinations to enrich the range of user services.
Better understanding of local expectations
To uncover passenger pain points and tailor the actions and initiatives that will help make a customer’s journey more enjoyable, RATP Dev supports customer surveys.
The results from the surveys have seen a range of projects rolled out across RATP Dev’s networks to improve customer satisfaction and the network appeal.
Denis Masure is the General Manager Australia New Zealand for RATP Dev. He explained how important these surveys are and their impact the decision making of the organisation.
“RATP Dev is present worldwide, and we pride ourselves in tailoring our solutions and customer experience solutions to the local context and specifics.”
“We avoid duplicating off-the-shelf solutions, and surveys help us identify the specific needs of passengers on each network to bring them the best solution.”
Continuous improvement through regular measurement of customer satisfaction
Customer surveys are part of the continuous improvement principle adopted by RATP Dev to set the highest standards of customer experience in its networks. As Masure said, “These surveys support RATP Dev’s day-to-day initiatives such as the Welcome Program, which is our passenger-centric customer experience programme adaptable to each type of network. It aims to understand our customers better and improve their customer experience.”
One method included in the Welcome Program is the Voice of the Customer workshop: “This pragmatic, hands-on method, with its action follow-up plan, is used to analyse customer feedback from surveys and comments left online by passengers. To ensure a holistic approach to customer experience, we make sure we have team members from across network represented, from the frontline staff such as customer service agents, and executive directors, and have them work together to identify customer pain points, come up with solutions and set up an ambitious and realistic action plan.”
These actions and results are shared with the rest of RATP Group’s networks forming the Welcome Program community, collecting best practices and setting the standard higher for customers’ experience. This knowledge sharing within the community cultivates RATP Dev’s expertise on customer experience.
This strategy has proven successful many times, especially in Cairo. RATP Dev was successful in acquiring the operations of the metro Line 3 since 2021, and in two years of operations, managed to increase customer satisfaction from 75 to 90%. Several actions that were proven in other networks of the RATP Group were implemented, including the overhaul of passenger information with a simpler, more legible metro line map and network plan; and the installation at stations of artwork by local artists celebrating the Egyptian history.
This cultural initiative has been implemented in other networks, such as in Tuscany, Italy, where buses are turned into art exhibition spaces for local artists to display their works.
To increase the customer satisfaction rate, another initiative developed by RATP Dev was the implementation of video games for its metro customers on the Cairo line 3 (available through QR Codes), to entertain passengers and make their journey a fun time. These QR codes are placed inside metro trains and give access to the selection of RATP Dev games. The aim is to associate the company’s logo with a source of fun and happiness in the passenger’s subconscious.
Best practices tailored for Australian passengers
With 120 years of experience operating the Paris metro and knowledge sharing from its international networks, RATP Group aims to bring the best solutions to Australian customers, while ensuring they are tailored to their specific needs.
RATP Groups’ decades of experience led to the development of a unique expertise in station design, with a special focus on universal accessibility. This includes signage that can be easily understood by all passengers, especially passengers with special needs – with physical or cognitive disabilities.
To ensure a customer-centric design, RATP worked with associations for the diversely inclusive during the full overhaul of the Châtelet-Les Halles station (Paris central railway station), to clarify the orientation signs and make the station accessible to all. The results saw improvements for all passengers and a renovation of the interior spaces of interconnection areas for accessibility.
RATP Group has also accumulated years of experience in handling international customers utilising airport links and offering them the latest innovations to make their journey easy and seamless.
Since 2020, Orlyval shuttles between Paris and Orly International Airport have been equipped with LCD displays screens that offer adapted information in real time, which includes flight schedules, interconnections, RSS feeds and international news.
As Paris is hosting the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, RATP has successfully trialled new solutions to ensure international passengers and sport fans travelling on its network would benefit from the same high-quality service, and even improve it. On the fully automated Line 14, which south extension to Paris Orly International Airport will open in June, an AI-driven crowding solution is being tested to provide passengers with crowding information.
All these innovations demonstrate RATP Group’s ability to offer the latest implementation-ready innovations to its passengers and tailor them to the local network, which is the company’s objective for the passengers of Sydney’s new airport line.
Worldwide customer survey
As part of our worldwide survey, RATP Dev surveyed Sydney residents around potential barriers to public transport use and what they are looking for in metro style transport.
Out of our 500 respondents from Sydney, 54 per cent perceived public transport to have better environmental impacts while only 33 per cent perceived electric cars as having a greater impact.
Most perceived public transport benefits in Sydney are related to better city living with 67 per cent of respondents saying it offers everyone the possibility to move around (for an average 65 per cent in 12 territories worldwide). Furthermore, 66 per cent said it contributed to improving the quality of life, 5 points above the average worldwide percentage, placing the Sydney population among those with a positive perception of public transport and, therefore anticipating high standards aligned with this perception.
“Residents will be looking for a service that is reliable, accessible, comfortable, efficient, with access to clear and accurate information and a personalised customer experience across Sydney Metro,” Masure said.
“As we want to attract new customers and support sustainable urban development around these stations, we know how critical the customer satisfaction will be.”
“A good integration with other transport modes is a crucial element people will be looking for.”
Being a part of the Sydney Metro – Western Sydney Airport project from the design phase is giving RATP Group the added benefit to understand and tackle barriers to public transport use.
“RATP Dev runs and maintains 23 metro lines, 13,700 bus, 22 tramway lines, and urban or intercity rail lines around the globe,” Masure said.
“To do so efficiently, our first duty is to have flawless engineering to ensure optimum availability and timeliness, which are the prime needs of passengers. And RATP Dev has unrivalled expertise in this field. But putting the customer at the centre, as we do, goes beyond that, with relevant, timely and accurate information for passengers. With high standards of comfort, not only in terms of cleanliness, but also in everything that contributes to the travel experience, such as train and station temperature, lighting, etc. And, even beyond that, there’s the individualised customer experience we develop through our mastery of digital innovations and feedback programs. It’s by intervening at all these levels, thanks to our passenger understanding programs, that our teams mobilise to guarantee a customer experience of the highest standards.”
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