Letters to the Editor:- "The Merseytravel View – bus passenger satisfaction increases, but operators need to act on fares"
"I'M
delighted that bus passengers across Merseyside have had their say on local
services and the overall satisfaction rate has risen again from last year's
figure to 90%, making it 1 of the best scores across all the areas surveyed by
Passenger Focus that was published in Thursday, 12 March 2015.
If you didn't know. the Passenger Focus was carried out the survey between
September and December 2013 to look at the journey experience of bus passengers.
However, I'm really disappointed to see that value for money is still the lowest
scoring measure of customer satisfaction at 67%, which is really not good
enough, with Arriva, our biggest bus operator, scoring only 61%. While some week
and season tickets can offer good value, these are not a viable option for those
people who don't have the money upfront and can only pay as and when they need
to use the bus. These are the most vulnerable customers who are being penalised
by this structure. Also, bus cash fares on Merseyside for shorter distances are
also very expensive compared to other areas. The structure means that a 'short
hop' of just a mile or so on a commercial route at £2.20 can cost the same as a
journey from Bootle to Aigburth, which again is ridiculous for the customer. I'd
like to challenge this and ask why they can't do staged fares like in other
areas. If they are able to deliver these cheaper fares in places like Greater
Manchester, West Yorkshire and the West Midlands then I can see no reason why
they can't do it also in the Liverpool City Region (Merseyside).
I'm keener than ever to ensure we work hard with partners to improve the
passenger experience and not only see a steady year on year increase in overall
satisfaction but that we really work hard to address affordability issues and
ultimately see further growth in patronage, which has seen a huge decline over
the years.
To address the drop in bus patronage, in my view, there needs to be a complete
re-think of the business model with value for money the secret of its success.
It needs to become a travel mode of choice rather than a mode for those who may
have no choice. Manchester has got a devolution deal that includes bus
franchising and we need to consider whether this is an option to improve these
value for money scores and we need to secure similar devolved power so that we
can potentially address value for money scores this way.
Improving the bus offer is one of Merseytravel's key priorities and we are
currently working on developing and delivering a comprehensive bus strategy for
the Liverpool City Region as part of a multi-modal transport approach. The
outcome is for it to be a customer focussed, cost effective, affordable, best in
class bus offer for the city region, leading to an increase in bus patronage
delivered through collaboration with operators and partners.
We are working very closely with commercial bus operators to manage the network
more effectively and encourage them to look at their product offers. A good
example of us working together can be seen through the introduction of MyTicket,
a £2 flat fare all-day bus ticket launched last year for under 16's in
partnership with the operators, which has had significant take-up. As part of a
wider ticketing review, we are seeing what more we can do for older teenagers
and those still in education and training. We're also continuing to work with
operators, encouraging them to look at their cash fares and how they can bring
them down to a more affordable level. However more action needs to be delivered
in this area, sooner rather than later, not least with the school leaving age
rising to 18 imminently.
Safety remains a key priority for us and it is pleasing to see that the number
of passengers who have concerns about anti-social behaviour when using the buses
has dropped again from last year from seven to four per cent. Initiatives like
Travelsafe play an important role in ensuring that the public transport network
is attractive and safe. Although we already enjoy a low crime rate on buses, by
working with partners such as Merseyside Police, British Transport Police and
operators we are continually improving the way we report, detect and prevent
crime and anti-social behaviour.
Making travelling by bus an easy and pleasant experience will ultimately
encourage existing customers to make more journeys and also attract new ones.
It's also about making sure that the information we provide is clear and concise
and as part of our Transport Information Strategy work we are putting
significant resource into our printed and digital information. Over the coming
months we will be making improvements to the website and mobile journey planner
app to enhance the customer experience even further.
Though bus operators are free to set their own routes and fares on the
commercial routes, we are committed to working in partnership to raise standards
across the network to make bus travel easier and more convenient for the
customer." Cllr Liam Robinson, Chair of Merseytravel.
