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The opening session of Day 1 of the 3rd MENA Transport Congress and Exhibition 2018 was held under the theme: Measuring and Increasing Happiness in Public Transport. The session stressed the leading role of the UAE across the world in diffusing happiness highlighted by the appointment of Happiness Minister; which underlines the keenness of leaders to diffuse happiness across the community.
The session discussed several topics focusing on exerting additional efforts to make customers happier, and setting standards for measuring the mobility experience and commuters welfare. It also examined how such standards can help measuring the competitiveness of public transport, service quality and data-driven designs.
Ms Ann L. Note, Chairperson of Business Management and HR, UITP, who directed the session, indicated that happiness was a psychological state experienced by humans, and could only be achieved if satisfaction was gained. When living a hpapy experience, people attempt to replicate it in order to pronlong the happiness duration.
She asked attendees: How to measure the happiness of public transport users? How can we achieve happiness? Can happiness be achieved by fulfilling needs? She responded that the highest levels of happiness would be obtained if we were able to make others happy.
In the same session, Takao Nishiyama, Executive Director of Foreign Affairs at the East Japan Railway Company, stressed the importance of satisfying customers by carefully listening to them and meeting their demands and expectations, which prompted his company to introduce a system of statements to probe opinions of as many customers as possible. Then such statements are examined and responded to, and accordingly the service will be improved.
He stressed that technology and optimal application of technology were among the most important factors of bringing happiness to clients.
Bruno Sharid, CEO of Transdiv Latin America, Southern Europe and MENA, Chile, pointed out the need to migrate from a culture of transport to a culture of making the transport journey enjoyable and satisfying to customers.
"The happiness of passengers is achievable through three factors: providing safe and hassle-free access to destinations, achieving the set objective precisely, and obtaining journey information before and during the journey," said Roger Fahnberg, Senior Vice President, Fast Traffic, Sweden. He noted that his company's goals were to increase the number of riders to several folds, ensure riders satisfaction and happiness, encourage companies dealing with the company to be strategic partners, and gear the financial returns of companies with customers and riders satisfaction rating.
"We have only succeeded after making significant top-down changes in our approach and methodology. We have delegated additional powers to employees dealing with riders and customers to make them capable of taking decisions and resetting the direction.”
Ahmed Ali Al Baloushi, Executive Director of Oman National Transport Company (Mawasalat), said: "Since 2015, we have changed our policies, brand and the profile of the company. Although we are the only state-owned company providing transportation services in Omani cities and abroad, we have added more services to keep up with the expectations of our customers. We try to provide services such as shaded bus stops, Wi-Fi, and Google Maps. We have given employees a host of benefits as we recognise employees happiness reflects on customers happiness.
Leila Francis, President of Middle East and Hyderabad cum Chairperson of Kiwis Downer, Australia, concluded the session by quoting an interesting initiative where her company attempted to delight customers by making the final bus trip to customers' homes rather than the last stop, as were the rest of the day's journeys.
"We launched: (Think as the Rider Thinks) programme where we invited our employees to put themselves in the place of commuters to think as riders tend to think and anticipate their needs. Riders’ happy feeling changes depending on the journey, objective, and timing. This has made us capable of innovating a lot of entertainment means for the happiness of riders,” she added.
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