The Metro-North Commuter Council held its 2009 President’s Forum on March 11, from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm. The meeting took place in the MTA Board 5th Floor Board Room at 347 Madison Avenue in New York City.
President Howard Permut, joined by a number of his staff, gave opening remarks and then answered questions and comments from riders. This was Mr. Permut’s first Forum since taking over as president in 2008.
In his remarks President Permut noted that in 2008 ridership rose to 84 million, the highest in Metro-North history in all markets. In addition, overall customer satisfaction with MTA Metro-North Railroad in its largest market (inbound customers traveling on its Hudson, Harlem and New Haven Lines) climbed to 94% in 2008, setting a record high for the second year in a row. This marked the fourth consecutive year that customer satisfaction has increased.
Metro-North’s East-of-Hudson customers enjoyed on-time arrivals 97.5% of the time. This marks the fourth consecutive year on-time performance has been 97.5% or greater.
He also mentioned that Mean Distance Between Failure (MDBF) was 108,000 miles, above the Railroad’s 100,000 mile goal. There is an ongoing commitment to rebuilding or replacing each class of rolling stock. He added that the new M-8 cars slated for the New Haven line will be begin arriving late in 2009 with most coming in 2010.
Permut also spoke about Vision 2013, a planning process that sets new corporate goals for the Railroad’s five-year business plan in the pursuit of excellence.
- Achieve Zero Injuries
- Transport 100 Million Customers
- Achieve 98% On-time Performance
- Achieve 98% Customer Satisfaction
- Achieve 9% reduction in cost per passenger (from $11 to $10)
- Achieve $75 million increase in non-passenger revenue
- Increase employee teamwork, development and improve communications
- Provide timely and effective communication to customers and external stakeholders
- Demonstrate commitment to incorporating sustainability
Members of the public then asked questions or made comments on a variety of topics ranging from the format of brochures and timetables to the condition of train cars to parking issues to bus connecting services. A full Summary of Proceedings will be available on the MNRCC website shortly.