Mystery Rider ProgramsIn many of our contracts, Veolia Transportation engages a third-party organization that conducts mystery rider programs for us. These programs routinely audit our bus routes and measure drivers’ compliance with expected behaviors, such as greeting and helping passengers, proper dress code, and appropriate behavior on a variety of safety and passenger care standards. Mystery ride reports are done on a periodic basis (monthly, quarterly, etc.) at different schedule times and on different routes to ensure that we are getting the most accurate representation of how well drivers are executing against our standards. This program has had the most success when the auditors are anonymous and remain a “mystery” to our operators. Mystery riders are specially trained to evaluate the essential criteria. Although the third-party vendor randomly selects the rides to check, we also reserve the right to use a certain number of “checks” to proactively verify driver behavior on particular routes. For example, if we suspect there may be an issue with a particular driver while out on the road, we can proactively have them “mystery shopped.” This gives us concrete feedback with which to coach and/or discipline the driver. The data we receive from these questionnaires is shared with our clients and used to coach and further train drivers. We also use the results to recognize and encourage drivers who scored well and to bring attention to the ideal behavior set. Some of the items that our mystery riders monitor include the following:
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