Survey shows improvement in Arriva customer satisfaction in Darlington (From The Advertiser Series)
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Survey shows improvement in Arriva customer satisfaction in Darlington
1:02pm Saturday 16th March 2013 in News
By Vicki Henderson, Darlington reporter
CUSTOMER satisfaction with bus services in Darlington has increased by more than five per cent in the last year, according to an independent survey.
Bosses at Arriva say they are delighted at the result and have pledged to continue their efforts to improve customer experience in the town.
The company carries out the survey each October, using independent firm GfK NOP to question passengers using Arriva buses on different routes and at different times of day to build up a picture of what they think of the service.
The results published by Arriva do not show the exact figures from the survey, but instead provide a percentage increase or decrease in customer satisfaction from the 2011 survey in a variety of areas.
Among the results were a five per cent increase in feelings of personal safety on Arriva buses, a 12 per cent improvement in response to questions about the frequency of services and a seven per cent increase in satisfaction about the cleanliness of bus exteriors.
Arriva has pointed out that the survey took place before its recent Polish and Promote initiative to improve the cleanliness of its buses and ahead of the roll out of new gas buses in the town.
John Rochford, area manager for Arriva in Darlington, said: “We are looking to invest in Darlington and give people a better service.
“The survey showed us that people really value good heating and ventilation on the buses. The views on the frequency of the buses were also much improved and we think that is down to the new North Road bus priority scheme and also we’ve made a few tweaks to our timetable elsewhere.
“Customers want buses that are punctual and reliable and that’s our main focus. We want to improve all the time and it’s something we are constantly working on.”
Nick Knox, area managing director for Arriva North East, said: “This improvement is the direct result of hard work by our employees across the network and we were really delighted to receive this report.
“While these results are very pleasing, we are never complacent and we have many more improvements in the pipeline. We want to make sure that our service is the very best we can deliver.”
Comments(5)
MSG
says...
6:24pm Sat 16 Mar 13
It would be nice to have a bus service to say whether it is good or bad in some cases.
The bus services around Darlo's villages are a disgrace.
joeninety
says...
6:27pm Sat 16 Mar 13
The Darlington run buses are an absolute disgrace, maybe a new management might improve things. The drivers need to take some lessons from the Scarlet Band ones on politeness and curtesy towards passengers.
Ann
says...
7:09pm Sat 16 Mar 13
Quite frankly I am very surprised that these are the results, the bus service in Darlington is appalliing. I have found myself complaining to Arriva about the service more and more in the last couple of years due to late or no-show buses. Their complaints department is in Luton and they take at least two weeks to investigate, but it is a waste of time as they have never fully addressed my complaints. Mostly the reason given is "mechanical failure" and I get a couple more free journey tickets, but the service never improves. Darlington must have the worst buses in the North East if they keep breaking down!!!!
They keep changing the timetable to implement "improvements" which never actually improves the service but makes them worst and extends my travelling time. The last improvement to the timetable changed my bus from work to an earlier time so now I have to get a later bus due at 5.35pm which never actually turns up on time. So even though I finish work at 5.15pm and the bus stop is just 5 mins from work, I have found myself still waiting for the bus at nearly 6pm some nights during the winter. This is obviously not good, when the bus stop is on the side of a busy dual carriageway with no bus shelter.
Also the buses are really dirty, and I don't mean the general rubbish that ends up on them during the day. None of the buses look like they have been actually washed out for the last 10 years as they are full of grime and dust, and outside is no better, Do they ever get washed?
And they want you to use public transport. I am starting to think that it is about time I learned to drive, but with the cost of learning to drive, buying a car, fuel, insurance, vehicle tax, etc this is obviously not going to be cheap.
red7worth
says...
8:57pm Sat 16 Mar 13
WAL666 says...
4:51pm Sat 16 Mar 13