Shining happy passengers? Value for money and driver attitudes key

21 March 2013

The results of the latest wave of our Bus Passenger Survey are out. 22,000 bus passengers across 20 areas in England. This year we show the drivers of satisfaction and dissatisfaction (fare-payers only) in each of the areas we surveyed. The factors driving satisfaction are broad, but often relate to the bus driver, in particular ‘smoothness/freedom from jolting’. The most prevalent causes of dissatisfaction are ‘on-bus journey time’, ‘safety of the driving’, ‘smoothness/freedom from jolting’, and ‘length of time waited’.

Passengers continue to rate overall satisfaction with their journey fairly highly, but there is still much room for improvement. The proportion satisfied overall with their bus journey varied across areas from 73 to 92 per cent (averaging 84 per cent).

Passenger satisfaction with value for money ranged from 30 per cent to 70 per cent across the areas surveyed (averaging 54 per cent). Are fare levels, combined with the current economic climate, now really starting to hit passengers’ pockets and their views of value for money? Sometimes it can be difficult to find out what fares are, other than by looking on the side of the bus or asking the driver – perhaps the industry is underselling itself?

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