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Merseytravel seeks feedback
on bus network
Report by Airida Balciunaite and
Aleksandra Smirnova
ON Monday, 23 January 2017, Merseytravel held a public
survey, within Southport Train Station, to carry out a survey, on a bus review,
with the aim of getting more people to use the public transport and create a
better experience and atmosphere for the public. Merseytravel wants to increase
the use of public transport and make a targeted investment into the business
that provides public services, including the bus networks, in and around the
Liverpool City Region.
As we are doing our work experience in Southport Reporter, 1 of our tasks was to
find out more about the bus services in Southport and surrounding areas. To do
this we also did a small survey, which was based on the public transport in the
area. We wanted to find out what people think about it and get the views on the
bus or other public transport services in Southport area.
During this we asked a small random section of people a few
questions to find out their opinions. It will be interesting to see if they are
close to what the results of the Merseytravel survey reveal once they finish the
consultation. Incidentally if you would like to find out more information about
what Merseytravel are doing, visit:-
Merseytravel.Gov.UK and look out for the:- 'Local Bus
Service Review.'
In Southport, our findings show that most people who we questioned use, or have
used recently, public transport. The bus operator who operate the most bus
routes, appears to be Arriva with Stagecoach just behind.
The people that we questioned were all from different age groups, who mostly
visited Southport Town Centre, for leisure or shopping purposes. Also, the
greater part of questioned people said that they use the public transport at
least 5 days in a week but some of them don't use it at all, because they have
cars or live in or near the Town Centre. However, mostly these were under the
age of 19 and age 36 above. We will stress our survey was very small, so no real
conclusions can be obtained, but it is an interesting guide.
Further, we found out that the public finds it easy to collect the information,
due to access to bus time tables on the internet or the app that has recently
been introduced to public. As well as that, mostly people were satisfied with
the service and believed that no improvements should be made and that the
pricing is excellent as it's so cheap.
On the other hand, we also received some suggestions as to improvements which
could be done to create a better experience for the customers.
1 of the suggested improvements was to keep all the public transport cleaner,
but especially the buses. For example, there was a suggestion that people
shouldn't be eating in the buses. Another beneficial change which could be made
is to make the public transport prices a little bit lower because some of the
people said that fares are too high. Also, it would really impact the consumer
experience if the buses were more reliable and that they shouldn't be as late as
they are usually. The last idea is of Wi-Fi network on the buses because as some
people have said, some of the public transport doesn't have any Wi-Fi network at
all.
It looks like Merseytravel are doing well overall, but some small tweaks to its
services are required, which were suggested to us, via the people we questioned
along Lord Street this week. If done well, the improvements Merseytravel hope to
bring about could make a huge impact on the demand by customers and to their
experience of the public transport. That can and will have a very positive
impact on the local community in and around Southport, alongside enhancing
facilities for tourists visiting the area. Like the easy to use ticket systems,
that will speed up things for those getting on buses and trains.
We did a quick pole on social media and there is no surprise that only 5 people
responded, however, we shouldn't forget the fact that the survey was on for 15
hours, so this might impact the amount of response. The pole was based on how
many people filled in the Merseytravel online questionnaire, we had 60% people
who were not interested and 20% who said that they completed it and 20% who said
that they haven't completed it.
Please let us know what your views are on the Bus and Train
connections to Southport, via emailing us to:-
News24@SouthportReporter.com. |
