Airconditioning systems and the dreaded feedback form

After writing Dust Buster Bus, I decided I’d try and find out how regularly the air conditioning system is cleaned on Singapore’s main public bus providers.

It is Sunday 18th June 2006. Both SMRT Bus and SBS Transit were sent this message:

Hi,

I would like to know how frequently the air conditioning vents and system gets cleaned and overhauled in your buses.

Thank you
joanne

I’m curious to see which company will respond first and how they will respond. Will they be as slow as the LTA? How transparent will they be about their standard operating procedures to the public? Will I get a response that says the airconditioners are maintained regularly but get no indication of how regularly?
I sent the query through the respective companies’ web site.

Interestingly, SMRT Bus (the former Trans Island Bus Service) separated the Contact Us page from the Feedback page. Clicking the Feedback link brings you directly to a form that is relatively simple to fill.

In contrast, SBS Transits’ Contact Us page tells you what numbers to reach them at and requires you to click on another link to this horrendous feedback form that pops up in a separate window! Will anyone actually fill all those fields up? Is my sex relevant to my feedback? Are they doing a survey on whether females are more likely than males to leave feedback?

Whoever is doing the web sites of both these companies should be shot. They’re out of whack on a Safari browser, they lack any cohesive structure or branding. Slapping on the logo at the top of every page is not branding. Look at the way the web pages are named.

While it’s nice to be able to get to the feedback form in one click, was it necessary for SMRT Bus to separate “Contact Us” from “Feedback”? Isn’t leaving feedback a way of contacting the company?

It boggles the mind why SBS Transit would offer their hotline phone numbers first on the Internet and then offer their overly long and complicated feedback form on a separate page. And why should there be more than one hotline?

Contact Us pages on the Internet should always be a simple form as the first point of contact (or at least an e-mail address). Voice, fax, hotlines, mailing addresses should be an alternative. If people wanted to call or fax, don’t you think they’d use the phone book instead?