Delivering High Quality Customer Service
We are committed to delivering our promise to our customers. Achieving customer satisfaction lies at the centre of everything we do and is essential to realise our vision to transform travel and attract more people to use our services.
Developing effective partnerships
We work closely with local authorities across the country and with Network Rail, the rail infrastructure provider. In our UK Bus division we have a growing number of partnerships aimed at offering better, more stable services to our customers. Our UK Rail division continues to build better ways of working with Network Rail, including joint control centres to improve the management and communication of delays.
In North America we regard every contract as a partnership. We communicate and cooperate regularly with our customers to check that our service meets expectations. For example, we have worked with schools and authorities on truancy, child behaviour and bullying issues. We work with our First Vehicle Service customers on improving the performance of their vehicle fleet.
We continuously strive to improve the way we monitor performance delivery. In particular we are committed to reducing cancellations. A series of new service performance indicators allows us to improve the way we measure and manage our cancellations reduction. However, in many cases our ability to deliver our services depends on factors beyond our direct control such as, road congestion and the condition of the rail infrastructure. Partnership working is therefore essential to achieving our aims.
Investment
Investment is a further key factor in improving service performance and customer service excellence. We continue to make significant investment in new vehicles, property and the development and training of our employees. Our investment in new technology will improve access to information on our services and simplify ticket booking and purchasing processes. In North America we have invested over $6 million in the installation of child and theft alarms which we continue to roll out on our First Student buses. This will increase the safety and security of our passengers.
Communication and Engagement
Effective engagement with our customers is essential to match our services to their needs. As part of our engagement processes we collect feedback on service quality and effectiveness. To achieve this we use a range of methods tailored to local needs. Examples include customer panels, 'meet the manager' sessions, 'mystery travellers', customer focus groups and customer opinion surveys.
We will continue to seek new and innovative ways to deliver the best possible customer service.
Further information about our customer initiatives can be found by following the links below:
Key Developments in 2007/08
- 7% growth in passenger volumes in our UK Rail division.
- Continued high contract retention rates in North America.
- More than £130 million invested in improving our trains and stations.
- Announcement of the highest investment in our history of £100 million in new buses for delivery in 2008/09.
- Long-term service performance improvements in the majority of our operating companies.
- Extension of the ftr (a new concept in public transport) to Leeds. ftr will be introduced in Swansea in 2009.
- Customer satisfaction on the ftr service exceeds the average for other services.
The Yellow School Bus Commission
This year we established a Yellow School Bus Commission chaired by the Rt. Hon. David Blunkett MP. It is seeking to examine and quantify the potential benefits of yellow school bus-style dedicated home to school transport. It is also looking at ways to bridge the funding gap associated with using higher specification vehicles with specially trained drivers. Although supported by First the Commission is entirely independent and The University of Aberdeen is a crucial partner providing academic research.