{"id":194584,"date":"2026-04-12T18:12:25","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T18:12:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/194584\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T18:12:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T18:12:25","slug":"op-ed-why-the-mta-wants-to-hear-from-you-this-spring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/194584\/","title":{"rendered":"Op-ed | Why the MTA wants to hear from you this spring"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"MTA\t\t\t<\/p>\n

MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber<\/p>\n

Marc A. Hermann \/ MTA<\/p>\n

Sometimes it\u2019s best to keep your thoughts to yourself. The MTA\u2019s<\/a> Spring Customers Count survey is not one of those times.\n<\/p>\n

Starting Monday, we want to hear from riders about their commutes \u2013 the good, the bad, and the ugly \u2013 to help us make improvements to the system we all know and (mostly) love.<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to understand who our customers are and what they care about, and how their perceptions change over time. Honesty is imperative \u2014 not that I\u2019m worried about New Yorkers holding back.<\/p>\n

Over the years, candid responses to these surveys have helped lead to real changes like better lighting in subway stations, improved transfers at Jamaica Station, and new Tap and Ride features to help customers better manage trips.<\/p>\n

The MTA didn\u2019t always do this work ourselves, instead relying on outside firms to conduct market research. But over the last five years, we\u2019ve assembled a top-notch team of in-house experts with the know-how to design and administer a wide range of surveys \u2013 not just the larger Customers Count polls, which go live twice a year, but also smaller monthly Pulse surveys and more targeted studies and focus groups on specific public-facing initiatives.<\/p>\n

These aren\u2019t the cold calls and paper surveys of yester-year. In 2026, we use digital tools to speed data collection and processing, helping to extend our reach while reducing overall costs and staff time. As a result, participation has grown with every cycle \u2013 the Fall 2025 Customers Count Survey got more than 92,000 responses, an 18- fold increase over past studies, where 2,000-5,000 responses were the norm.<\/p>\n

The larger sample populations allow us to zero in on trends at specific geographies, like certain stations or individual bus routes.\n<\/p>\n

Over the next few weeks, advertising for Customers Count will be everywhere. We use multiple channels to encourage participation, including opted-in email lists; QR codes on our digital screens in stations, trains and buses; in-app notifications; and, of course, our website and social media accounts. And to help eliminate any barriers to contributing, the survey\u2019s available in nine languages: English, Spanish, Haitian Creole, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Bangla, Korean, and Chinese.<\/p>\n

The goal is to hear from as many riders as we can. Our network serves a vast and diverse population \u2013 more than 15 million people call the metropolitan region home. And every response strengthens our decision-making. Make your voice heard this spring in the Customers Count survey.<\/p>\n

Janno Lieber is MTA chair and CEO.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber Marc A. Hermann \/ MTA Sometimes it\u2019s best to keep your thoughts…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":194585,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1561,49523,77740,77741,77742,2423,141,77743,9,24,55,54,25013,77744,56,77745,23948,77746,77747,77748],"class_list":{"0":"post-194584","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-bus-routes","9":"tag-commuter-experience","10":"tag-customer-survey","11":"tag-customers-count","12":"tag-digital-surveys","13":"tag-janno-lieber","14":"tag-mta","15":"tag-mta-initiatives","16":"tag-new-york","17":"tag-new-york-city","18":"tag-new-york-city-headlines","19":"tag-new-york-city-news","20":"tag-new-york-city-transit","21":"tag-new-york-commuters","22":"tag-ny","23":"tag-public-transit-improvements","24":"tag-public-transportation","25":"tag-rider-feedback","26":"tag-subway-improvements","27":"tag-transit-data"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}