After some current discussions in other threads I thought it would be good to see what people think makes a bus service good (in order of importance)
Such as, on time, real time info, frequency, direct routes or have to change buses, age of buses, seats .... The list goes on.
In no particular order:
- Punctuality. The timetable needs to be realistic, with enough padding that, unexpected situations like car crashes aside, the service is near-always punctual. Most traffic congestion is eminently predictable, and far too many bus timetables appear to be planned on the basis of the office junior ragging round the route non-stop in his souped-up Citroen Saxo.
- Add to that ABSOLUTELY NO early running under any circumstances whatsoever, time should always be waited at the timing point unless a Police Officer instructs the driver not to do so. Timing points should be frequent (every few stops) and realistic (i.e. it shouldn't cause an obstruction to wait for time at them). For what it's worth I've noticed that GPS tracking has largely solved this
- Keep things moving to keep journey times short. Ticketing should be off-bus or touch in/out contactless, and dual door should be used on any route where at a considerable number of stops you have both boarding and alighting passengers, though it is probably not necessary on classic "suburb to central bus station" type routes as these don't have much of that.
- The vehicle should be of good quality, the seats comfortable, the pitch not just set for dwarves and the design, inside and out, look attractive.
- Attention to detail is important. Buses should be cleaned frequently and be designed for easy cleaning (e.g. don't design in awkward-to-get-to but visible spaces). Panels shouldn't be left vibrating - such issues should be properly fixed. Windows should be cleaned properly, including removing the scruffy-looking crayon marks round the safety markings you get post-MoT.
- Information is key. Timetable information should be easily available, online, at stops, in a mobile app etc, and should be in Google Maps too. The same with real time information. Also London-style spider and stop layout maps are good for highlighting connections etc. All buses should have next stop displays and audio announcements on board including connection and "important landmark" information - indeed, I'd like to see this a required part of PSVAR because of how much it helps the blind and partially sighted, it's not just good customer service.
- Connections - where these are important they should be co-ordinated properly, with connections waiting for a delayed bus where feasible. Ticketing should not penalise making connections (notably some bus companies do now do this - for instance Stagecoach in the Lakes can issue through single and return tickets between any two locations even if a change of bus is needed).
- The service should be actively controlled, with a combination of GPS, IT systems and experienced staff, so that if an incident occurs vehicles can be repositioned to maintain service, rather than the classic "well, they all went out this morning but we have no idea where they are now" as I have actually been told when I phoned a bus control room about disruption a while ago. London gets this bang-on right.
- The infrastructure (bus stations, stops etc) should look as good as the buses do (as above). Ideally, operators should work closely with local Councils to get overtakes etc put in place to ease the effects of traffic as well as quality stop infrastructure.
- The fare should be reasonable - what's remarkable about UK bus operations is that while most of it is wholly commercial and there is little actual competition in most areas, they by and large are!
That's a starter for however-many-it-was. For what it's worth, you see much of this in bus companies that Alex Hornby has had a hand in, but it's much bittier in others - though Stagecoach in the Lakes does manage much of it.
