More Metro staff to help deal with troublemakers
Metro bosses are moving more frontline teams onto stations and trains in a bid to tackle antisocial behaviour and fare evasion, and improve the experience for passengers.
Metro operator Nexus has increased frontline teams to care for customers and provide “a fresh new look” in response to record numbers of customers using services.
The changes mean more trained teams will be on duty, particularly in the evenings when customers say they want to see staff most.
Metro’s Customer Service Advisors also have new colour-coded uniforms.
Customer support teams will wear blue jackets to provide a mobile presence, while concourse teams will wear a new red berry-coloured uniform at busy stations to offer advice and help customers at ticket machines and when passing through gates.
Nexus says the shake-up will "free up” more resources to tackle antisocial behaviour and fare evasion as ticket gates will be in use across the entire operational day as it is rolled out in run up to Christmas and the new year.
Metro Operations Director, John Alexander, said: “Our customers said they wanted to see more staff on duty across the Metro network and we are delivering that.
"We now have more people than ever before working in frontline roles.
“The changes we are making allow us to put more staff
at stations and on trains, right across the day and night, to provide customer support and deal more effectively with issues of fare evasion and anti-social behaviour.
"It means we have staff at stations for longer, with ticket gates in use over the entire operational day.”
There will be an increase in customer support teams patrolling on board trains and more frequently at outlying stations which are unstaffed.
These employees will also have new equipment to support them in their roles, including body-worn CCTV cameras and new two-way radios and will work with police and other stakeholders to educate youths about safety and travelling responsibly.
Val Dejong, Customer Services Manager said: “It’s fantastic news that we are getting more visibility of staff on the Metro. The public will be getting to see us a lot more. We will be out there during the day and in the evenings.”