Martin Dean, Go-Ahead Managing Director – Bus Development and CPT President, discussed the recent research by KPMG – commissioned by the CPT – in the first seminar.
The seminar highlighted that while patronage has fallen, those operators who have met the demands of customers have been very successful. Another point raised was that some of the reasons behind the decline were out of the industry’s control.
“Our detractors will say ‘if you know your market so well, why has there been continued patronage decline?’,” Mr Dean says.
“My first answer would be that those operators that have been most responsive to customer demand have been very successful and have buck the trend of customer decline. My second response is that so much of the decline needs to be normalised for factors outside of our control and this leads me nicely to the research.”
The research, described by Mr Dean as “fascinating”, has provided a comprehensive analysis of the factors that are driving demand for bus travel in England [routeone/News/24 October].
“One of the reasons this research is so important, and I’d go as far as saying it’s a game-changer, is that it lays bare what we already know in the industry: So much of patronage decline is due to factors beyond our control,” he says.
Mr Dean says that that doesn’t mean the industry should be complacent and “just shrug our shoulders”, but that it shows the importance of working in partnership with key stakeholders as so many factors influencing demand are only actionable through co-operation.
The seminar closed with Mr Dean urging people to use research, saying that it quantifies some of the issues the industry has.
“Despite the challenges before us, I think we’ve got a bright future if we’re prepared to adapt,” he adds.
