Press releases - Rail, bus, coach and tram

Passengers have their say on Manchester’s buses

14.07.2010

As part of its drive to improve bus services and make a difference for passengers, the independent watchdog Passenger Focus has found out what over 1900 passengers in Manchester think about their bus services. Overall satisfaction was 84%, with Arriva’s services rated 86%, Stagecoach’s 85% and First’s 84%.

Satisfaction with key attributes was: getting a seat (86%), length of time the journey took (76%), journey‘s smoothness and freedom from jolting (74%), length of time spent waiting for the bus (68%) and punctuality (67%).

This bus passenger satisfaction research which was published today is part of an ongoing nationwide programme of bus passenger satisfaction research in 14 areas – a mix of metropolitan, urban and rural areas to reflect the different type of journeys that passengers make. The surveys took place in Cumbria, Merseyside, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Medway (Kent), Stoke-on-Trent, Brighton, Plymouth, Swindon, Cambridgeshire, Cornwall, Hampshire and Shropshire. 

Over 18,500 passengers participated in this detailed investigation which looked at many aspects of passengers’ journeys. This report is the biggest single survey of bus passenger views ever to be published in England.

Julie Warburton, Passenger Focus manager, said: “Our research has found that most people are happy with many aspects of bus services in Manchester. This broadly reflects the investment made by operators and Great Manchester Passenger Transport Executive (PTE) across the city’s comprehensive bus network. However, over a quarter (28%) of fare-paying passengers were dissatisfied with value for money and more than a quarter (28%) of all passengers were also unhappy with the frequency of buses on their service.

“Passenger Focus has explained these findings to Great Manchester Passenger Transport Executive (PTE), Arriva, First and Stagecoach and is pressing them to focus their efforts on delivering what passengers want."