Passenger Trains > SMART not so smart yesterday

January 22,2020:


"We sincerely apologize for a communications error that occurred this afternoon and caused a long delay for passengers on our southbound 12:45 PM train. Due to a mechanical issue the train was unable to continue beyond the Marin Civic Center station and we arranged for a bus to transport passengers to the San Rafael and Larkspur stations.


"A communications error occurred between our staff and the bus driver, resulting in the driver going to the wrong site.

"And another mistake occurred when we failed to efficiently communicate with passengers waiting on the platform. We sincerely regret the inconvenience this delay caused. We did not perform to our usual high standards of customer service and will take measures to ensure this situation does not occur again."


Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/23/20 08:12 by GenePoon.

They may have not been smart in your eyes Gene, but I think they were smart enough to be brutally honest with their riders, admit they f'd up and apologise.
Nothing wrong with that.

Nothing wrong with the explanation and apology except that it came hours late.  Didn't help the passengers.  Usually when there is a service disruption, it is announced immediately at the stations and distributed via social media and to those who subscribe to SMART alerts.  I am one of the subscribers and got nothing.

True, they came clean later, and that is more than some other passenger service operators will do.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/23/20 11:15 by GenePoon.

GenePoon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Nothing wrong with the explanation and apology
> except that it came hours late.  Didn't help the
> passengers.  Usually when there is a service
> disruption, it is announced immediately at the
> stations and distributed via social media and to
> those who subscribe to SMART alerts.  I am one of
> the subscribers and got nothing.
>
> True, they came clean later, and that is more than
> some other passenger service operators will do.

Kinda hard to admit you screwed up when you don't know you screwed up.
As soon as they knew, they apologised.

They normally advise of enroute delays, too....of as little as ten minutes.  That does show attention to detail.  Something must have distracted them yesterday.

GenePoon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Nothing wrong with the explanation and apology
> except that it came hours late.  Didn't help the
> passengers.  

Gene you can not have your cake and eat it all with ice cream at the same time.

The explanation and apology, as YOU yourself have posted, is for the fact there was no timely information provided to passengers. As such, you can not come on here and complain that explanation and apology being late. Makes no sense. 

Why are people hitting on Gene?  I VERY much appreciate his alert posting of various incidences, delays, etc.

Thank you, Gene.