SEPTA: How may we help you today?

At a time of heightened apprehension over subway use, SEPTA yesterday announced the appointment of an assistant general manager in charge of customer service.

SEPTA's general manager, Joseph Casey, said that the new position had been in the works for some time and was not a response to recent violent incidents that spawned public-safety concerns.

The new appointee, Kim Scott Heinle, will be the first senior SEPTA manager to oversee customer service, communications and research, areas with about 80 employees.

"My intention is to work with SEPTA employees and our customers to help define an agenda that we can implement," said Heinle, 54, who has worked for SEPTA since 1984. "Part of our agenda is that we're listening."

In fact, senior managers will be available to listen to customers at key locations through a program called SEPTA On Site, which Heinle hopes to launch in June.

And they may have a lot of listening to do.

The appointment comes a month after the widely publicized March 26 beating of a Starbucks manager in an underground concourse near 13th and Market Streets, less than a block from SEPTA headquarters.

The victim, Sean Patrick Conroy, 36, suffered a fatal asthma attack triggered by the assault, authorities said. Five youths were charged in the beating.

In addition, crime statistics show an 81 percent increase in serious crimes on SEPTA property in the four years from 2004 to 2007.

At a news conference yesterday, Casey bristled when asked whether the appointment was at least partly a response to public concerns about safety.

Afterward, he said that the move was something he had been thinking about since becoming general manager Feb 1.

"There's been a perception that SEPTA is a bureaucracy, that we don't listen to people, are not responsive to people," Casey said in a phone interview. "We need to change the system to address their concerns."

Heinle said that a main priority would be to improve how SEPTA responds to complaints about courtesy.

He said that he wants front-line employees, such as bus drivers and train conductors, to use discretion when interacting with customers.

If, for example, a passenger approaches a bus after its doors have closed, the driver should consider the circumstances before deciding whether to reopen the doors. If it's late at night, and the next bus won't come for an hour, the driver should let the passenger on, Heinle said.

Heinle said that he believes in "a new service mentality that permits people to do the right thing in an unusual situation."

For the last five years, SEPTA has offered a weekly two-day class on customer service. By the fall, Heinle plans to double the number of classes.

Customers with concerns or suggestions can contact SEPTA's customer-service department at 215-580-7800 or e-mail Heinle at kheinle@septa.org.