Charter Monitoring
Saturday 27 September 2008
This week, there’s good news on the public transport front – a recent passenger survey showed that buses and trains are meeting their punctuality and reliability targets, but value for money on Metro and Northern Ireland Railways (NIR) could be better .
Punctuality and reliability are the backbone of effective public transport and it’s important that good performance is sustained so that more people think about hopping on a bus or train as a real alternative to the car.
The Consumer Council is concerned by passengers’ increasing view that Translink services don’t offer value for money, particularly since this survey took place before fares went up in August. Consumers are struggling to make ends meet, so fares must be affordable if passengers are to see public transport as value for money. The challenge for Translink is to focus on keeping costs down and increasing passenger numbers.
Public transport’s about much more than the bus or train we take – it’s about the entire passenger experience from the minute we arrive at the station or stop until we reach our destination, and everything in between. Public investment in passenger facilities as well as buses and trains is paying off for passengers, and it must be matched by quality services and excellent customer care. That’s what consumers expect and that’s what they should get.
- All Metro, NIR and Ulsterbus services exceeded their standards for reliability. The target is 99.2. Metro achieved 99.8, Ulsterbus and NIR both achieved 99.9.
- All Metro, NIR and Ulsterbus services exceeded their standards for punctuality. The target is 95. Metro achieved 97, Ulsterbus achieved 97 and NIR achieved 98.
- Passenger ratings for Value for Money on Metro continued to fall - from 71 in Spring 07 - to 64 in Autumn 07 and again to 63 in Spring 08.
- Passenger ratings for Value for Money on NIR also continued to fall - from 61 in Spring 07 - to 60 in Autumn 07 to 54 in Spring 08.
For more information, contact the Consumer Council on 0800 121 6022 or www.consumercouncil.org.uk
