Customer Charter Audit Quarter 2 – 2015
Introduction
The Bus Éireann Customer Charter Audit is conducted quarterly to establish if the company’s performance levels reach the requirements outlined in its Customer Charter. The Audit is carried out by an independent research company, in three parts:
1. Customers are interviewed about their experiences and opinions of Bus Éireann services 2. Independent researchers observe bus departures and queuing times for tickets/information 3. Mystery shop evaluations measure response times to enquiries and availability of station facilities The Bus Éireann Customer Charter sets out a range of commitments in areas such as:
service reliability & punctuality
bus cleanliness & on-board comfort
display of route number and destination on buses
safety & the enforcement of regulations on smoking and alcohol
appearance, courtesy and helpfulness of bus drivers and station staff
provision of information on services & response times to enquiries and complaints
station cleanliness, facilities and services
The surveys and observations are conducted at eight locations (Dublin, Dublin Airport, Waterford, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Sligo and Dundalk) and cover all service categories (i.e. Expressway, Local/Commuter and City/Town services).
2 1. Customer surveys
Introduction
For the customer surveys, respondents rate their level of agreement with a range of statements covering bus and station operations, information provision, value for money and overall satisfaction. A 5-point rating scale is used, with ‘5’ indicating high satisfaction. Percentages in the following charts show the proportion of respondents answering 4 or 5 (i.e. satisfied or highly satisfied).
Bus Operations
Bus Operations includes the punctuality of buses, and how safe customers feel using them. It also covers the cleanliness and comfort of the buses.
The chart below shows the five-quarter trend for questions relating to bus operations. 84% of passengers agree that ‘Bus Éireann buses leave on time’, and 96% say they feel safe on Bus Éireann buses. 86% say that buses are clean inside and 92% say that buses are clean on the outside. 85% feel that heating, lighting and air conditioning levels on-board are comfortable.
79 97 78 84 71 82 96 83 88 73 81 98 86 87 78 84 98 86 90 87 84 96 86 92 85 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
BE buses leave on time I feel safe using BE Buses are clean inside Buses are clean outside Comfortable heat,light & A/C
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Bus Operations 1
% rating 4 or 5 (Agree)
Drivers and Legal Requirements
This section deals with how customers rate their bus drivers in terms of friendliness and presentation. It also deals with how customers perceive Bus Éireann’s effectiveness in enforcing regulations prohibiting smoking and the consumption of alcohol on buses, and the display of destination information on Bus Éireann buses. 96% agree that Bus Éireann drivers are well dressed, and 88% agree they are friendly and helpful. 96% agree that smoking and alcohol consumption are not allowed on-board, and 97% agree that buses display the correct route number or destination.
94 83 92 95 91 87 94 95 95 85 96 96 96 89 96 98 96 88 96 97 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
BE drivers are well dressed BE drivers are friendly & helpful
Smoking/drinking is not permitted
Buses display correct destination/number
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Bus Operations 2
% rating 4 or 5 (Agree)
4 Station Operations
Station operations surveys deal with the station building and its facilities, the length of time a customer has to queue to buy a bus ticket and the professionalism of the staff.
Regarding station operations, 83% agree that stations are clean, while 92% agree that stations have up-to-date information on bus services. Regarding Bus Éireann staff at stations, 97% of passengers agree that staff are well dressed and 96% agree that they are friendly and helpful.
73 84 94 91 77 87 94 94 83 90 97 95 84 91 97 96 83 92 97 96 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Stations are clean Up-to-date info on bus services
Staff are well dressed Staff are friendly & helpful
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Station Operations
% rating 4 or 5 (Agree)
Information Provision
On information provision, 91% agree that information on services is ‘available and easy to obtain’, while 83% agree that timetable changes are adequately publicised.
83 70 79 78 89 82 89 84 91 83 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Information on services is available & easy to obtain Changes to timetables are adequately publicised
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Information Provision
% rating 4 or 5 (Agree)
6 Customer Satisfaction
70% agree that Bus Éireann services are value for money, and 91% agree that they would recommend Bus Éireann services to a friend. Finally, 92% agree that ‘overall, I am satisfied with the service provided by Bus Éireann’. 63 86 87 66 85 88 66 89 87 75 90 92 70 91 92 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
BE provides value for money I would recommend BE to a friend* Overall I am satisfied with the service provided by BE
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Overall Customer Satisfaction
% rating 4 or 5 (Agree)
2. Observations by researchers of bus departures & queuing times
Observations of bus departures are conducted by researchers at the point of origin of the service. Of the sample of over 600 departures, 100% of services operated, and 86% displayed either a correct route number or destination. 93% of Expressway services departed within 10 minutes of their scheduled departure time.
100 99 96 100 95 100 100 92 94 100 88 92 100 86 93 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Services operating Correct destination/route number displayed
Expressway: departed within 10mins of schedule
Qtr.2 '14 Qtr.3 '14 Qtr.4 '14 Q1 15 Q2 15
Reliability of Service
8 Observations of queuing times at stations for tickets and information were done at both ticket machines and information desks. Queuing times (from point of joining queue to being served by staff member or reaching ticket machine) were 10 minutes or less in all cases at peak hours, and were 5 minutes or less in all cases at off-peak hours. 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Queue at peak times: 10mins or less Queue at off-peak times: 5mins or less
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Queuing Times at Stations
% achieving standard
3. Mystery shops & station inspections
Mystery shopping evaluations are carried out to monitor how Bus Éireann staff members respond to customer queries and complaints on the phone, by email or by letter.
91% of complaint letters received a reply within 15 business days and 24% of email enquiries received a reply within 5 business days. For telephone enquiries, 73% were answered within 60 seconds.
52 68 54 58 52 51 63 59 64 72 56 57 91 24 73 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Complaint letter: answered in 15 business days
Email enquiry: answered in 5 business days
Telephone enquiry: call answered in 60secs
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Response Times to Complaints Letters, Email, Telephone enquiries
% achieving standard
10 Researchers in the bus stations also monitored the availability of customer facilities. These include toilets, sheltered waiting areas and wheelchair access. In the locations inspected, most stations had all facilities available. 73 100 97 100 83 100 100 99 76 100 100 100 62 100 100 100 47 100 100 99 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Comment Cards Wheelchair access to station Wheelchair access to buses Printed timetables
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