Promoting Bus Travel
To support sustainable travel and secure business growth we need to promote bus travel to a wider range of new users and better meet the needs of our existing users. We continue to work with our partners to achieve this.
- In Glasgow we have developed a partnership with Rangers football club to introduce dedicated bus services to take football fans to and from matches. These services have seen steady growth in patronage and we are looking for opportunities to expand the concept to other major clubs.
- In Aberdeen we have established a new 'Gig n Go' service that offers concert-goers an alternative means of transport after a night out at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre. Around 3,000 people have used the service in the first five months of its operation. The introduction of a similar service in Glasgow from the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre is proving highly popular.
- We have introduced a new service from York University following consultation with the students. The route was set up for students but is open to all and has been in great demand since it started. After just eight weeks the 100,000th passenger boarded the service for which a valid student ID card costs just 50p.
- Working with the University Hospital Leicester we have developed a new service that links the main hospital sites across the city and now carries around 7,000 people each week. It is providing an attractive alternative to the car for staff travelling between hospital sites and for anyone visiting the hospital. Passenger numbers have risen continuously since its introduction in May 2006.
- In September 2006 we introduced the Flying Shuttle, a new limited-stop commuter service running between Bury and Manchester and using dedicated vehicles and drivers. The journey to work now takes 35 minutes and patronage on the service has grown steadily since its introduction.
- A new service has been launched in Glasgow to take passengers from the busy city centre Partick Interchange to the Braehead shopping centre and Xscape entertainment. We are now looking to extend this to an express service to Glasgow airport including intermediate stops at IKEA and Southern General Hospital.
In addition we continue to seek novel ways to promote our services and the benefits of public transport.
- A pioneering texting competition was run in Leeds aimed at highlighting different bus services. Mobile phone users were texted questions about Leeds bus destinations. Once people had made the first contact a new question was texted to them each day for the duration of the 20 day competition. The competition attracted around 3,000 entries.
- The introduction of Rainbow fares (a new concept in bus and coach travel) has been a key driver in improving passenger numbers on bus services between Bracknell and Reading, and Bracknell and London. Great savings can be made on these routes where passengers can be flexible about when they travel. The timetable is colour-coded to reflect the price of the journey and fares start at just £1 (50p children). Passenger growth on these routes has been 45% year-on-year for the last two years.
- To try to get motorists out of their cars we launched a Car Quit Kit. It provides useful tips on how to learn to leave the car for journeys where it is not necessary. The kit takes you through the process of quitting step by step and gives you a car replacement patch - 'a free trial of the bus for a whole day'.
These specific initiatives are supported by a wide range of marketing and promotional campaigns run across our operating companies aimed at encouraging growth in bus travel.