Scottish Government

Main Findings

• In general, levels of satisfaction were high. Amongst the numerous aspects of service explored particularly high levels of satisfaction were recorded with access to bus stops and demeanor of the driver. Lower - but still high - levels of satisfaction were found with regard to the smoothness of the journey (state of the roads), value for money, cleanliness of bus stops and information at bus stops.
• A markedly higher level of satisfaction with overall service, value for money, information available at the bus stop and frequency of service is evidenced among respondents aged 60 or over, than those aged 16-59. Satisfaction ratings for value for money increased by some 6 points for the 60+ age group, but only slightly among the 16-59 age range. This is most probably related to the introduction of free local off-peak travel for elderly and disabled people from October 2002.
• Those using the bus 3 or more times per week (frequent users) exhibit little difference with those who use the bus less, with the exception of "cleanliness of the bus stop". Satisfaction with this has declined for those who use the bus less than 3 times a week and increased for those who use it more.
• Differences between income groups indicate that those with higher incomes are less satisfied with their bus services, particularly in relation to value for money, and for information prior to travel.

Introduction

These surveys are the first to be carried out across Scotland aimed at assessing bus passenger attitudes towards local bus services. It is intended that they will become part of an ongoing assessment of satisfaction and attitudes towards Scotland's bus services.

The aim is to monitor changes in satisfaction levels, so as to complement and contribute to statistical monitoring of the bus and coach market. This will provide a more rounded picture of local bus services, and will enable future decision making and policy development to take account of passenger's needs and preferences.

Methodology

Bus user focus groups provided the key inputs to the development of the survey questionnaire, this ensured that the survey covered all aspects of bus services which passengers are concerned about. These focus groups were also instructive in focusing the attitudinal questions on the service aspects most important to bus passengers, and that the vocabulary used in the questionnaire would be familiar.

The survey comprehensively covered the key aspects of local bus services, using passenger's experiences of one particular recent journey. This enabled bus passengers to clearly focus on their experiences when responding to questions relating to their attitudes regarding the bus service they are familiar with.

Telephone interviews were on average 18 minutes in duration and were undertaken of a representative sample of bus passengers over 15 years of age that had traveled locally on a bus at least once during the preceding month. The interviews were carried out in accordance with the MRS code of conduct and quality assurance criteria.

Passengers are asked to state their level of satisfaction regarding around 30 aspects of the journey they are considering, using a rating scale of 5 (very satisfied) to 1 (very dis-satisfied). The ratings were then averaged and multiplied by 20 to provide the results presented here. Also shown is the composite average that is useful to present and characterise a "Scottish" experience. A direct question relating to service reliability was introduced in the November 2002 survey; this allows this aspect to be considered separately from service frequency and punctuality.

Respondents were selected from a series of pre-determined postcode sectors throughout Scotland to provide for coverage of urban/rural respondents and between the regions of Scotland. To further reflect the diversity of passenger experience within Scotland four urban/rural classification areas (or typologies) were adopted:

• Large Urban Settlements with over 125,000 population;
• Other urban settlements with populations between 10,000 and 125,000;
• Accessible small towns and rural locations with populations of less than 10,000 within 30 minutes drive of a settlement of 10,000 or more;
• Remote small towns and rural locations with populations of less than 10,000 over 30 minutes drive of a settlement of 10,000 or more.

The regions of Scotland covered by the study were:

• Central, Fife and Tayside
• Grampian
• Highlands & Islands
• Lothians
• Scottish Borders and Dumfries & Galloway
• Strathclyde

Within each area a quota control was applied to the data collection and this was based on:

• Age (16-59/60+)
• Gender (male/female)
• Frequency of bus use - (infrequent/frequent)
• Car ownership - (no car in household/at least one car in household)

General demographic data is also collected, as is information on trip purpose.

The sample interviewed in May and November 2002 was 1,849 and 1,754 respectively, the age distribution of each sample is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Age distribution (numbers) May 2002 and November 2002

Car ownership characteristics amongst the sample are collected in order to identify any differences regarding satisfaction amongst those do and do not own a car. In both surveys the majority of the sample have access to a car as illustrated in Table 1.

Table 1: Percentage Car Ownership levels for May 2002 and November 2002 samples

Table 2: Bus Passenger Satisfaction levels by Area Type for May 2002 and November 2002

n/a: results not available as question added in November 2002

Results

Table 2 shows the levels of satisfaction recorded in May and November 2002; overall these levels are high. Of note is frequency of service that records less satisfaction in both accessible and remote small towns and rural areas, than the large urban classification. Comparison between May and November surveys reveal no pronounced differences with the accessibility of the bus stop and information at the bus stop recording the highest and lowest satisfaction levels respectively.

Table 3: Comparing satisfaction levels by age for May 2002 and November 2002

Categorisation of satisfaction among 16 - 59 and the 60+ age groups in Table 3, seeks to reveal the differences between those who are retired and may therefore have differing needs and perceptions of their bus service. Responses from the different age groups show a consistent pattern, that those over 60 years old are more satisfied with their bus service than those aged between 16 and 59 years. This is evidenced in the ratings on overall service, information available at the bus stop and frequency of service. Value for money, as well as showing a pronounced difference between age groups, shows an increase of 6 points between surveys amongst those aged 60+, an increase most probably related to the introduction of free local off-peak travel for elderly and disabled people from October 2002.

Differences in satisfaction levels relating to frequency of bus use are shown in Table 4 to be marginal. However, cleanliness of the bus stop, a measure that characterises the "shop front" of the bus service is seen to be improving amongst regular users and declining amongst more casual users.

Table 4: Comparing satisfaction levels by frequency of bus use for May 2002 and November 2002

Comparison of satisfaction amongst those who own, and those who do not own cars, in Table 5 indicates that the rating for overall service remains high at between 83 and 85 points. Differences between the satisfaction ratings of these two groups are revealed to be minimal, with the exception of value for money that was significantly lower amongst car owners in May.

Table 5: Comparing satisfaction levels by car ownership for May 2002 and November 2002

Bus Passengers were asked what sometimes discouraged them from using their local bus service. In May just under half (45%) of respondents stated that "nothing discourages them" and this increased a little in November to 51%. Of the reasons stated as dissuading; "cost" moved from the most common response in May (12%) to second most common in November (7%), it was replaced by "use my own car" (14% in November).

The satisfaction ratings by household income show little change between the May 2002 and November 2002 surveys for all the service aspects shown in Table 6. Those earning less than 15,000 per annum were generally more satisfied than those earning greater than this per annum for both the May and the November surveys. Value for money and information prior to travel show a marked difference between income groups.

Table 6: Comparing satisfaction levels by household income for May 2002 and November 2002

Conclusion

This key findings report is based on the first two surveys carried out across Scotland as the start of an assessment of changing satisfaction and attitudes towards Scotland's bus services. It is intended to undertake further surveys to monitor levels of bus passenger satisfaction.

These surveys provide an interesting overview of passenger satisfaction levels. These are revealed to be high. They point to stable satisfaction levels over comparatively short periods, with the exception of older people's increased satisfaction with value for money most probably related to the introduction of free local off-peak travel for elderly and disabled people from October 2002. Any changes in satisfaction amongst bus passengers in general will be discernable following subsequent surveys.

Some of the results suggest that passenger satisfaction is a complex issue with the expression of each individuals satisfaction level depending on a number of factors (eg age, frequency of use, gender etc). Generally high levels of satisfaction have been observed with a number of systematic differences clearly evident (eg increasing satisfaction with age). Interestingly, the results show that bus passengers will have levels of expectation with regard to individual features of their local services and that they perceive satisfaction within that context. For example, the levels of satisfaction expressed may not depend upon the frequency of service and this may be because passengers do not expect high frequency in remote areas and can be equally (or similarly) satisfied with a lower frequency as are passengers who live adjacent to high frequency services in large towns.

These surveys targeted a sample of the Scottish population who had traveled locally on a bus, at least once, during April and November 2002 for the May and November surveys respectively; the results do not therefore reflect the views of people who did not use a bus during these months.