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Bring back NRPS!<\/strong><\/p>\n
Remember the National Rail Passenger Satisfaction Survey (NRPS)? It was a very simple, quarterly customer survey with a decent sample size. It asked logical questions and was so easy to digest that it drove not only healthy competition across the railway but broke data and verbatim feedback down so compellingly that any decent manager would be able to create an action plan around it. Along with an obsession, in some parts, with a more complicated survey called Wavelength, Covid was the dagger blow to NRPS and although we\u2019ve been promised that an equivalent will materialise, owned by GBRTT or the Department for Transport, don\u2019t hold your breath. We need it badly, not least to hold errant operators to account. Maybe sometime this year, someone with conviction will reintroduce something that resembles NRPS.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s all gone quiet over there!<\/strong><\/p>\n
When GBRTT was originally created, albeit in a shadow sort of format, I didn\u2019t have much sympathy for the way in which it was grandstanding and audacious about the future and its role at the epicentre. Social media was awash with bright-eyed industry professionals, as well as those who\u2019d been round the block a few times, almost bragging about joining GBRTT and folk left behind, mainly in TOC-land, felt like losers. Almost three years on, it has seemed as though the GBRTT team have been pretending or convincing themselves that GBR is actually going to happen, and they are now a bit more circumspect. Even if GBR does eventually materialise \u2013 which, in my opinion it should, sorry \u2018must\u2019 happen \u2013 you have to feel for those on its books. They\u2019ve been waiting a long time, some have invested the prime of their careers to this bright future and they deserve to be rewarded for their patience.<\/p>\n
I pray that 2024 is a big, booming summer for transport companies. It\u2019s the boost everyone needs right now<\/p>\n
Value your marketing departments<\/strong><\/p>\n
The \u00a32 bus fares initiative has been a great fillip for the industry. All good things come to an end, and this scheme may do so during 2024. My fear is that the bus industry both on a pan-organisational level and within the individual operators does not have the marketing resource and nous to ensure that those customers who have been converted to bus, remain as believers when the fares go up. There needs to be real urgency and rigour towards marketing in the run up to the end of the \u00a32 scheme. Hell and fury should be foisted on those companies that don\u2019t prioritise the commercial departments and don\u2019t invest in campaigns to \u2018create reasons to travel\u2019 and promote the excellent propositions on offer. I know a great website \u2013 www.greatscenicjourneys.co.uk<\/a> \u2013 which showcases fab journeys and places to visit and stuff to do by public transport and has a team of customer service experts ready to help operators improve the experience they provide for customers and get bums on seats. Shameless plug, I know, but I pray that 2024 is a big, booming summer for transport companies. It\u2019s the boost everyone needs right now.<\/p>\n
Fears around personal security<\/strong><\/p>\n
Groundhog day<\/strong><\/p>\n
Opening the floodgates<\/strong><\/p>\n
Respect bus industry professionals<\/strong><\/p>\n
The forgotten frontline<\/strong><\/p>\n
37.5% cheaper than an adult bus fare<\/strong><\/p>\n
An interminable silence<\/strong><\/p>\n
An unhealthy lack of competition<\/strong><\/p>\n
Simple pleasures<\/strong><\/p>\n
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This story appears inside the latest issue of\u00a0Passenger Transport<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n
DON\u2019T MISS OUT \u2013 GET YOUR COPY! \u2013\u00a0click here to subscribe!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
The post My hopes and fears for the New Year<\/a> first appeared on Passenger Transport<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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