Arriva bus passengers give drivers the ‘thumbs up’

An NOP survey of more than 15,000 Arriva bus passengers hasfound that 90 per cent are satisfied with the service they receive– with easy-to-buy tickets and the performance of drivers scoringtop marks.

In a major national customer satisfaction exercise for buscompany Arriva, NOP researchers quizzed bus passengers about everyaspect of their journey experience, from waiting at the bus stop,through boarding the bus and buying a ticket, to the journeyitself.

The research has told Arriva which features of the journeyexperience are most important to its customers, and how well itmeasures up to people's expectations on a number of criteria.

Catherine Mason, Arriva's marketing and customer servicedirector, explained:

So that we provide the best possible service for ourcustomers, we need to know what they think of our services and whatis important to them.

We are committed to delivering a better service for ourcustomers and this research will enable us to focus our attentionon improving the things which our customers value themost.

Catherine Mason added:

Comparative figures show that our bus drivers are ratedas highly as airline staff – customers clearly value ourdrivers and we're really proud of them.

Respondents also rated highly the 'ease of access' (89 per centsatisfied) to Arriva buses and the ease of buying tickets (92 percent satisfied). Conditions and facilities at bus stops were ratedless highly (around 65 per cent satisfied), and Arriva has alreadybegun working with local authorities to encourage them to addressthis area of concern.

Around 70 per cent of passengers said that they were happy thatthey were receiving 'value for money' as they were with the'reliability of service'.

Not surprisingly, punctuality was the most importantfeature. Also important was the availability of seats, another areawhere passengers were pleased with Arriva's performance, and howoften buses run.

Arriva's UK Bus division employs around 13,500 drivers who aretrained in customer service and are able to further their trainingby taking up opportunities to study for BTEC diplomas and NVQs incustomer care.

Arriva will now implement improvements to areas spotlighted bycustomers, with continuous monitoring to confirm increasedsatisfaction and prioritise future work.

Ends

Notes to editors

• NOP Research Group is part of NOP World, one of the world'slargest market research and business information companies,offering both custom and syndicated research, as well asresearch-based consulting, and analytic CRM services around theworld.
• The research was carried out in England, excluding London, inOctober 2003 and involved over 15,000 people.