Customer Satisfaction

Across the business we seek feedback from our customers. In North America we undertake annual surveys supported by regular one-to-one contact with customers. In the UK we hold user group meetings, local Meet the Manager sessions combined with internally and externally commissioned surveys. Customer feedback drives our programme of service improvements.

We fully recognise that over the last year, some of our customers in UK Bus have been affected by the reductions in service levels which were a necessary response to the recession. Going forward, our focus is on growth including a range of measures to improve our service offerings. Overall customer satisfaction levels have increased slightly to 81%. We have seen improvements in customer perception of ride smoothness and safety, reflecting our investment in DriveGreen technology. Areas of weakness identified include the attitude of some drivers and inadequate on- and off-board information: we will now focus on these areas.

In our UK Rail division we continue to show good levels of customer satisfaction. Despite slight decreases in satisfaction levels in First ScotRail and First TransPennine Express, satisfaction scores still lie above the national average. In First Great Western satisfaction levels have remained steady over the last 12 months, still slightly below average but up significantly from two years ago.

First Capital Connect has shown some improvements but satisfaction remains below a level acceptable to us. We are focused on addressing our customers' biggest concerns - punctuality, customer information and capacity. In 2010 we invested over £1m in improving customer information during times of disruption. We also added more than 6,500 seats and extra services to our December timetable on the Great Northern route. Further capacity increases are planned for the Thameslink route.

In North America we conduct annual surveys of all our contract customers in First Student, First Transit and First Services. The results of our customer surveys give us an overview of how well we manage our contracts. They also provide detailed information on individual contracts, enabling us to develop local action plans.

In North America we have seen customer satisfaction scores improve, particularly in First Student where we have specifically improved our customer service training and focus. This year, Greyhound will launch a new online customer survey process to replace its paper-based system.