Customer Dialogue for transport operators: managing passenger acceptance

Punctuality green, mood red: what really bothers passengers and what matters to them first.

A timetable change, a network redesign, a new fare: you usually read the reactions in the local paper. In the Customer Dialogue, your passengers write anonymously what they think about your questions and weigh each other's contributions. Via QR code in the vehicle or at the stop, no app, in a few minutes.

After 21 days you know your passengers' priorities. And you have acceptance you can prove.

Proven with more than 60 clients in business, public administration & politics. On average, our clients did not know 8 of the 10 strongest contributions.

What you get

1. Trade-offs instead of wanting everything: In a survey everything is important. Not here. Reliable connection or higher frequency? Whoever has to choose shows what counts.

2. Early, not in the press: You see acceptance problems in the first weeks, while you can still adjust.

3. By line and region: The segment analysis shows where a measure has support and where it falls apart. Commuters often see it differently from occasional riders.

4. Justify investments: With solid priorities you can defend your plans to funding bodies and boards, in your passengers' own words.

How it works

• Strategy workshop: Three hours. We arrive with a concept and set the questions with you, for example on timetable, service or information during disruptions.

• Launch: Within 48 hours the dialogue space is ready in your design. We write the poster and QR texts, you put them up.

• Dialogue: Three weeks, moderated daily. We check every contribution before it goes live. You follow along live.

• Result: Report with priorities, consensus and decision matrix, a one-pager for management and a ready-to-send response to passengers.

Why BrainE4 is different

• More than a satisfaction barometer: Your barometer shows where you stand. The dialogue shows the why behind it, with passengers' own suggestions. Both can run side by side.

• No comment section: No names, no stage. Anyone who wants to disagree writes their own contribution, and it has to hold its own in the duel.

• Your passengers, not the loudest: At public events the same people always speak. Here what counts is what many support. Organised groups gain no advantage.

• Insight Guarantee: In the strategy workshop we record six assumptions per question: what you expect. We mix them covertly into the contributions. If on average at least five of the top 10 are new to you, your knowledge has doubled. Otherwise we refund the dialogue.

For whom

• Transport company management: when a timetable change or network redesign is coming and you want to know the reaction in advance.

• Service and marketing: when you want to improve fares, comfort or information and the budget doesn't cover everything.

• Communications: when you want to know what passengers really need from you during disruptions.

In practice

City of Bern: Transport planner Sebastian Clausen was planning traffic-calmed streets and shared spaces in the Wyler district and wanted real backing instead of assumptions. The dialogue with residents gave it to him, documented and traceable. Read the interview

«Physical participation alone is no longer enough today.» Sebastian Clausen, transport planner

Loterie Romande: A network of 2,400 points of sale, from the city shop to the mountain kiosk. 20% took part, twice the market standard. For any operator with many locations the same question: what applies everywhere, and what only locally? Read the interview

«We needed facts to make better decisions at point-of-sale level.» Jean-Luc Moner-Banet, CEO

Ideal for:

Timetable change · Network redesign · Fares and passes · Comfort and cleanliness · Information during disruptions · Stops and transfers

Frequently asked questions

Can we even reach our passengers?
Via QR code in the vehicle, at the stop or through your channels. Taking part takes a few minutes, with no app and no sign-up by name. We write the texts.

Are we inviting a wave of complaints?
A shitstorm lives on applause, and there is none here. Insults stay out, criticism stays in. If a criticism still ranks high, many people see it that way. Then it's better to know early.

What if commuters think differently from occasional riders?
That's exactly what the segment analysis shows. You see where a solution works for everyone and where different groups need a different approach.

Do we have to implement what comes out on top?
You get a ranking, not an order. What you implement and communicate is your decision. We write the response to passengers ready to send.

All questions and answers

See more

Video: The Customer Dialogue in brief. Watch the video

Customer Dialogue: From offering to budget decisions. Learn more

Try it yourself: An Idea Duel from your passengers' point of view. Experience the Idea Duel

Your passengers ride with you every day.
Ask them before the timetable is set.

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