Making a difference for disabled bus passengers

25 May 2018

How does our Bus Passenger Survey make a difference for passengers?

Over the past few weeks we’ve been out and about on the road sharing our latest survey with local authorities and operators. Diving into the results with them helps to make sure we all fully understand what passengers are saying and to draw up action plans to identify improvements where needed. We spoke to almost 48,000 passengers to produce the 2017 Bus Passenger Survey. We measure passengers’ satisfaction with their local bus service for a representative sample of journeys.

Passengers rate their satisfaction with a wide range of aspects of their bus journey including the bus stop, waiting for the bus, on the bus, the outside of the bus and the bus driver as well as their overall satisfaction with that bus journey.

On a recent trip made by a colleague he learnt how our results are making a difference for disabled passengers in Scotland. In our 2016 survey we found that just over eight in ten disabled passengers using Xplore Dundee buses were satisfied with their journey. As a result of our survey Xplore Dundee set up disability awareness training for its drivers. Disabled passenger satisfaction in our latest 2017 survey has now increased to 94 per cent.

This is another great example of how the detail captured about passengers’ journeys by the survey is what makes it unique and powerful. Not only is it being used to help identify the factors that help deliver ‘good’ but that much sought-after ‘great’ passenger journey.

Transport services should be accessible to all. We will continue to work with operators to use our survey to identify issues and priorities for improvement for transport users with disabilities.

It is important that the voices of all users are heard, those with disabilities in particular. A good win for passengers in Dundee.