Bus users survey results
It’s taken us a while, but at last we can give you feedback on the bus users survey we undertook back in May 2013.
We had a great response of 882, so thanks to the Uni, 6th form college, Colchester Institute and Colchester Borough Council for taking part.
There was lots of positive feedback with the majority of users being satisfied with the connections of the buses with other local public transport, ease of access of amenities, appearance and greeting/welcome from bus drivers, ease of getting on and off buses, number display etc.
However there were a number of issues highlighted.
The two main issues identified were:
- Punctuality – 57% were not satisfied with the punctuality of their bus, however sighted traffic congestion (48%) as the main factor causing the bus to be late
- Timetable provision – issues of missing/out of date/discrepancies between online and hard copy versions/electronic displays not working and overwhelmingly, 56% said they found it difficult or very difficult to actually navigate the timetables
Other key issues were:
- Lack of late running services – particularly those buses mainly serving student population
- Cleanliness of interiors
- Helpfulness, politeness and friendliness of drivers
- Seating and shelter at bus stops both in and outside the town centre
Traffic congestion is an ongoing issue, and a main reason for encouraging more people to use the bus, but it’s a chicken and egg situation, as at the same time it is also a barrier to getting people on the bus in the first place.
We appreciate things may have moved on since we did the survey. For example ECC are currently working on a project taking over responsibility for all timetables at bus stops.
So we are also in contact with Colchester Bus Users Group (C-Bus) to get their view on the timetable issue as they have been auditing the new timetables that have been going up.
As the majority of feedback was about First buses, we are going to share the results with them and talk to them about the key issues raised. We have already shared Network Colchester’s results with them.
We will get an update on the telematic screens, plus find out what the policy is from ECC re bus stop facilities.
Overall the survey provided us with lots of useful information that we can use in our efforts to promote bus use so thanks very much to everyone who contributed and apologies for the time taken to feed back the results.
Here is a summary of the results