An online customer survey has put Delhi Metro at the prized second spot among 18 international Metro systems in terms of overall customer satisfaction.
The Delhi Metro lost out to London Dockland Light Railway (which was opened in 1987) in the customer satisfaction survey. The Bangkok Metro finished a close third, a Delhi Metro Rail Corporation official said.
The survey, said a DMRC official, was conducted among the commuters by Global Metro Benchmarking Groups NOVA and CoMET. Delhi Metro, along with London Dockland Light Railway and Bangkok, were the three best performers in the Net Promoters Score (NPS) category, the official said.
The survey analysed the likelihood of customers recommending the service to others on the basis of their satisfaction.
Delhi Metro currently carries more than 26 lakh passengers every day on its 193-kilometre network. London Dockland Light Railway and Bangkok Metro, however, are much smaller rail networks.
While London DLR runs on a 34-kilometre network and carries 2.78 lakh passengers every day, the daily ridership on the 20-kilometre Bangkok Metro is just about 2.4 lakh passengers.
According to a Delhi Metro press statement, more than 41,000 respondents gave their feedback worldwide in this survey conducted online through websites and social media links between April 28 and May 25 this year.
The other metro systems that were part of the survey included Hong Kong, London Underground, Madrid, Paris, San Diego, Singapore, Barcelona, Brussels, Bangkok, Istanbul Ulasim, Kuala Lumpur Rapid PL, Metropolitano De Lisboa, Montreal STM, Newcastle Nexus, Metro Rio and Toronto TTC.
The Net Promoters Score is calculated by the percentage of promoters minus the percentage of detractors, the DMRC statement said.
When asked to list out three top priorities, the respondents from Delhi along with 17 other Metros listed availability as the most important requirement apart from reliability and crowding as the other two parameters.
New Castle and Hong Kong selected reliability as their most important factor.
“The survey was conducted as per the European Norm 13816 and the areas covered were availability, accessibility, ease of use, information prior to travel, information during travel, reliability, customer care, comfort, crowding, and security,” a DMRC official said.