Transport Focus’s latest bus passenger survey has great results – even better if you look at the ‘neutral’ passengers
Last week Transport Focus published its latest bus passenger survey.
It’s no surprise now that the result shows passengers are pretty happy with the services they’re getting. Taking those who are very or fairly satisfied with their overall journey experience, satisfaction was an impressive 88%, one percentage point up on last year.
Actually, I think the results of the survey are more impressive than the headline figures used by Transport Focus. Transport Focus quotes those who are very or fairly satisfied, but I think it’s legitimate to include those who are neutral – neither satisfied nor dissatisfied – because at least they aren’t complaining.
When you include this category of passenger, the results are stunningly good. Taking the five major operators individually, overall satisfaction levels range from 93% to 98%. The figures for satisfaction with punctuality, on-bus journey times and attitude are equally impressive, with the lowest mark across these categories being as high as 81%. Even when it comes to value for money, the lowest mark is still pretty high at 78%.
Only opinion that matters
Whenever I see the results of Transport Focus’s surveys I’m left wondering why we ever have a debate about the rights and wrongs of current bus policy. Passengers at least seem pretty content, and that’s good enough for me. In fact, I’m not sure any other opinion really matters.
Not that the views of passengers appear to matter to the Labour Party. Matt Rodda, Labour’s buses spokesman, attended the Transport Focus event publishing the latest survey results. I’m told he delivered a speech that made clear that a Labour government would re-regulate buses.
To be fair to Matt Rodda, I’m also told that he was obviously reading from a pre-prepared speech and showed no real sign of actually believing what he was saying. I don’t blame him for that, since re-regulation is formal Labour Party policy and he had no real choice but to say what he did.
But that’s not really my point. All political parties have policies of principle based on a certain ideology, at least in terms of macro policies to do with taxation, the economy, investment priorities – the big ticket items.
What’s to fix?
But when it comes to more micro policies, and to an extent I would include bus policy in that, you might think that political parties would base their policies on what works for people – in this case, bus passengers.
If passengers are happy with their services, and in this case it seems they are, what is there to fix? What will regulation put right that needs putting right? Passengers aren’t sending a message that the current approach isn’t working.
Still, at least Matt Rodda had the decency to attend the Transport Focus event. Sadly, Nusrat Ghani gave us another video recording rather than attending in person. She may well have had a diary clash, but this is becoming a bit of a habit!
