An inside look at how the TIC manages peak periods, disruptions and events

At 6 a.m., many Denverites are just starting their day, whether it be with an early morning workout, cracking eggs and sizzling bacon over the griddle, or simply smashing the snooze button on their alarm clocks to squeeze in another five minutes of sleep before having to get out of bed. At that hour at RTD’s Telephone Information Center (TIC), agents have turned on the phones and are prepared to tackle any challenge the agency’s customers have.

Before the phones start ringing at the TIC, located in the Customer Care wing of the 711 building at the corner of West 31st Avenue and Fox Street, the center’s information specialists spend the early morning hours getting everything ready for the day. Setup takes anywhere between 5 and 10 minutes, and it includes logging into all of the systems that allow information specialists to track bus and train locations, manage customer ticketing accounts, and receive commendations and complaints.

At 6 a.m. sharp, the lines activate – and the calls start immediately.

“[When the TIC opens], it’s generally a steady flow of calls coming in,” said Daniel Shea, Telephone Information Center Manager. “Some periods, we’re just kind of waiting for calls to come in, but for the most part, it’s generally a steady influx of calls.”

Shea, who oversees the TIC and its agents, relies on a service delivery model that is heavily focused on the individual customer, focusing on each call one by one to ensure the highest level of customer service possible.

“We know that the vast majority of customers are in a time-sensitive situation,” Shea said. “We stay with them until the issue is resolved as best as we can. It’s a focus on quality over quantity.”

In the morning peak hours (6-9 a.m.), customers calling in are typically inquiring about service disruptions that could be impacting their trips, such as route or line delays; real-time locations of vehicles; whether the customer is at the correct stop or station; and ticket- or fare-related issues.

“People are typically checking up on their routes to make sure there’s nothing new that they need to have at the ready for that particular day,” Shea said. “It reflects more on what’s going on out in the world at that time of the day.”

Evening peak hours (4-7 p.m.) are slightly different in terms of why customers are calling. Calls in the evenings tend to focus more on the human element.

“I think in the afternoon, we typically see more people issues versus managing navigation issues,” Shea said.

Denver’s status as a major city means there is always something going on, and being one of the only cities with a professional team for the five major sports leagues, major events are a common occurrence. This inevitably leads to major events conflicting with the evening peak hours, a situation the TIC is well-prepared for.

“We typically partner with either the Digital Customer Relations Liaison (DCRL) team, Service and Planning, and Bus Dispatch for anything that we might need knowledge of in advance,” Shea said.

RTD’s DCRL team is the agency’s digital customer care frontline, fielding questions and inquiries from RTD’s social media platforms and customer comments sent through the agency’s website. The DCRL team also serves as the nerve center for the division. The team is the first to be informed of planned and unplanned service disruptions, ensuring the TIC, sales outlets and public information teams are provided the knowledge to field inquiries from customers and the media alike.

Strong collaboration is key when major events bring tens of thousands of customers onto the system, and no event tested RTD more than when pop superstar Taylor Swift performed two nights in a row in 2023 at Empower Field at Mile High Stadium.

“Street Operations did a fantastic job of being out there, meeting people and providing real-time support to customers,” Shea said. “It’s our job to support operations, but in events like that (the Taylor Swift concert), Street Operations was really on their game and did a really good job just delivering information to us (the TIC) and customers in person.”

Typically, the monthly volume averages between 40,000 and 45,000 calls, which stays about the same throughout the year.

“We have a slightly higher call volume at the beginning of the year, and we’ll have a slightly higher volume at the end of the summer,” Shea said. “Those spikes typically line up with the routine service changes we have.”

Shea also attributes the spike in calls during the summer months to customers getting out and about, enjoying the gorgeous Colorado sunshine, and heading out to the hundreds of concerts and events across the metro region.

During the average week, the TIC sees more calls on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, days employees on hybrid office schedules typically go to their offices.

Next week, RTD begins the largest rail maintenance project in its history, shutting down the downtown loop to replace the track through that section of the rail network. This project has required every division and employee to be on their A game, and the TIC is ready and eager to tackle any challenges that come their way as a result of it.

“We’re pushing knowledge and information about the upcoming work,” Shea said. “We are prepared to speak to it.”

Shea and his team of supervisors will closely analyze call intake to better understand the customer experience during the disruption so they can be of better service.

“The staff are well-informed and can provide real-time information as soon as it's asked of them,” Shea said.

In terms of staffing, Shea is confident in his agents to jump in when needed to ensure no call goes unanswered.

“We definitely have the opportunity to bring more staff online, if needed,” Shea said. “It’s a contingency we could utilize, and I feel like we have a pretty good scope of what volume trends look like and enough experience with unplanned outages that volume spikes will be manageable. We pride ourselves on being flexible and being able to pivot so quickly with knowledge and information, because we have the ability to receive it effectively from our partners.”

While collaboration is a key pillar in the success of the TIC, being human is the most important job of a TIC agent.

“We focus on de-escalation and connection to make sure that our customers are aware that we’re a system working in an imperfect world,” Shea said. “We’re always working to get better.”

Instead of simply giving the facts and hanging up, TIC agents engage in meaningful conversation with their customers to build trust so that they can know when they call into the TIC, their questions will be answered as honestly as possible and their concerns will be heard.

“Establishing a positive relationship with customers invites them to call us back in those moments of uncertainty,” Shea said.

“We cannot anticipate the future, unfortunately, but when it happens, we’re here.”