Catch the Bus Week 2016

Transcription

1 Catch the Bus Week 2016 Merseytravel Committee 28 July 2016 Matt Goggins Head of Bus

2 What is Catch the Bus Week? 4-10 July saw the 4 th annual Catch the Bus Week take place throughout the UK Catch the Bus Week is spearheaded by Greener Journeys - a coalition of Britain s leading bus companies and other supporters including Transport for London, Transport Focus, Campaign for Better Transport, the RAC Foundation and the Confederation for Passenger Transport (CPT) Greener Journeys is a campaign dedicated to encouraging people to make more sustainable travel choices. This year, hundreds of organisations Local Authorities, bus operators, and transport groups took part in a focused week of activity across the country, with a particular focus on engaging communities and stakeholders with creative and exciting promotional activity.

3 What did we do in the LCR? Customer-focused event in Williamson Sq. with Merseytravel, Arriva, Stagecoach and Greener Journeys

4 What did we do in the LCR? Customer-focused event in Williamson Sq. with Merseytravel, Arriva, Stagecoach and Greener Journeys All day customer focused event 5 th July in Liverpool City Centre Great opportunity for Merseytravel and Bus Operator senior management to engage with bus customers and non-users Showcase for new Arriva and Stagecoach vehicles to customers and non-users including features such as USB charging and free WiFi Merseytravel Engagement Team on hand to give information about bus services Capital FM to add some additional excitement Chief Exec of Greener Journey there to see partnership in action Freebies and Goodie Bags provided by Arriva and Stagecoach Surveys carried out to obtain more insight into what customers want, feeding into Alliance planning

5 What went well? Engagement, promotion and insight were key outputs of the event Jointly hosted event Merseytravel, Arriva and Stagecoach Extremely busy event in busy location Over 2,500 goodie bags given away Thousands of shoppers saw new buses and were able to speak with Merseytravel and operators about bus services Hundreds of customer surveys returned giving us valuable insight about what people want from their bus service The weather!

6 What did we learn? Surveys helped to capture the views of both users and non-users. Bus users told us They used the bus for a wide variety of reasons, particularly to get to work, education and access leisure opportunities For people who use the bus to access leisure opportunities the most important things are evening services with good frequencies; and discounted tickets Commuters value good connections (with interchanges and workplaces) the most along with frequent services, discounted tickets and personal safety Main things that could be done to improve the bus experience were free and faster Wi- Fi, air conditioning, cheaper travel; and cleaner buses Out there suggestions on board TV, (free) drinks, vending machines, conductors and seat belts

7 What did we learn? Surveys helped to capture the views of both users and non-users. Non-users told us Most could be persuaded to switch to bus, mainly for work or leisure Main reasons for not using were that the bus didn t go where they needed it to, preference for other modes of transport; or too expensive Things that would incentivise more bus use were services running later into the evening, assured public safety, group tickets; and more frequent services

8 What difference does it make? Bus Alliance gives the mechanism to take insight forward Catch the Bus Week press release leading on WiFi as the main thing customers thought would improve bus services Survey results discussed by Alliance members Further work to roll out more free WiFi across bus fleet Halton Transport first operator to have 100% of fleet fitted Recent action by operators to simplify and reduce ticket prices flat fare roll out Simplification and price reduction of Solo tickets as part of Bus Alliance (subject to VPA being signed price reductions for multi-area tickets) Continued in service cleaning regime as part of the Alliance

9 Questions?