Bristol, Bath and the West

Bristol Customer Panel - summary minutes of autumn meeting

Summary minutes of the
autumn Bristol Customer Panel meeting

Held on Tuesday 14 October 2008, Thistle Hotel


Present:
Justin Davies, Simon Cursio, Alan Willoughby, Suzannah Marsh, Ed Shorney, Jo Curtis, Redvers Skillicorn, Paul Chase, Mac McKenna


This is a summary of the minutes for the October 2008 Bristol Customer Panel meeting.


Panel recruitment:

The panel agreed that more members were needed. An update was given on the current recruitment - there has been a good response and around 20 application forms have been requested.

Cabot Circus:

Justin Davies updated the panel on how the opening of Cabot Circus affected services. Traffic congestion was heavy in the days leading up to the opening, but in the days following traffic had not been as heavy as expected. First will keep monitoring the situation and remain part of ongoing discussions with the owners of Cabot Circus.

Simon Cursio outlined the punctuality and reliability figures for September, including the impact of the suspension of roadworks in the run-up to the opening of Cabot Circus.


Specific service issues raised by panel members included:

Rubbish on buses - it was agreed a staff notice would be issued.

Change tickets - Alan Willoughby explained that each driver has £25 float and difficulties can arise if passengers pay with large denomination notes. The issue of change tickets will be revisited under new UV checking systems we are currently looking at.

It was queried whether some services were failing to stop at stop RM in Cabot Circus. It was agreed this would be checked, though some Cabot Circus stops are not yet in use.

Punctuality concerns were raised about services 4 and 5, 327 and X27 (particularly in the early evening) and Service 45, particularly the first service of the day. It was agreed these would be investigated.

The chair reported that comments had been received about buses on Badminton Road (48/49) querying maintenance issues. It was confirmed that these are older buses but are still well maintained. Justin Davies confirmed that these routes would have new buses in 2009/10.

Comments were also received requesting the reintroduction of the 89 service - it was explained this was a commercial decision to simplify the existing 89/90 services.

Comments were also received that if two buses are coming down Church Road at the same time, the second driver sometimes will not allow passengers to board. This is a particular issue for passengers with pushchairs. This will be investigated.

Panel members asked if routes on Showcase 2 could be split to improve punctuality and reliability. Simon confirmed this would be looked at in overall reviews of services.

Members queried capacity on service 73 on Gloucester Road, with buses sometimes too full for people travelling to Bradley Stoke, especially on Saturday afternoons. It was suggested a new route could be established for match days at the Memorial Stadium. Simon responded that the 73 has had some reliability issues which may explain why buses have been full. The route suggestion will be taken forward.


Service changes:

Simon Cursio outlined a new commitment to only change timetables four times year in order to give customers more stability. This is expected to be last week of January/first week of February, May, September and an option to make changes around October half-term if needed. This excludes tendered services which local authorities control, and the option to make exceptional changes as they arise plus Christmas alterations.

Simon Cursio outlined service changes due from November 2 affecting services 24, 25, 36, 48 and 49. These will be re-timed to improve reliability with no decrease in frequency.

Simon also made the panel aware of a forthcoming campaign for the X62 service. He described how last year customers asked us to keep the service but a year on it is still under-used. The campaign includes a 'use it or lose it' message with a reduced fare offer.

The panel were given the interim results of the current consultation on the 75, 75A, 76, 77 services. Panel members raised various suggestions for these services, which they were asked to submit as part of the consultation.


Recruitment:

General issues raised by panel members included recruitment " Alan Willoughby responded that recruitment is going well and the training school is full, and that retention is slightly better than last year.


Next meeting:

It was agreed that the next meeting would be 6-8pm at the Thistle Hotel on Wednesday January 14.