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Warm reception for Hot Spots…
Councils and supporters rally to cause Every year we publish a round up of pinch points, snags and bottlenecks and send it to our local authorities. This year we have widened the distribution and put the document on our web site. It has already met a positive response. Illustrated area reports were sent out in September to local authorities, government agencies, pressure groups, Chambers of Commerce, local partnerships, MPs and other influential parties. Response has been brisk and positive. Transport 2000, national campaigners on public transport issues, has already brought the matter to a wider audience of like-minded people through a highly detailed article in their latest newsletter. The chairman of the Greater Nottingham Transport Partnership has undertaken to support our cause. And hats off to Nottinghamshire County Council who have already pledged improvements at Toton Corner (Hallams Lane/High Road), Chilwell (Cator Lane) and Swiney Way/Ranson Road. Work should start within months, with improvements at Attenborough (Blue Bell) to follow in the next financial year. Other local authorities have promised to come back to us once they have studied the reports. Director of Service Delivery Jeff Counsell said: “We put a good deal of effort into compiling these lists each year and taking driver’s eye view photographs to illustrate the reports. Traffic congestion is the biggest problem which we face and the only serious impediment to us offering a really competitive alternative to the motorist “It is pleasing to see the results coming in so quickly, and that our case is being taken seriously by partners at Local Authority” The current Hot Spots report can be found on our website by clicking here Free Travel facts revealed in survey
“bus companies and partner authorities deserve fair deal” The introduction in April of free travel after 9.30am for over-60’s meant an overnight change in the world of bus travel. As expected, more people are travelling, but surprisingly these are mainly existing users making extra journeys. The rules are that bus operators can actually be no better off – and there are already worries that there are not enough seats for other customers. The scheme was announced out of the blue in the run up to the 2004 General Election – now bus companies and local authorities are trying to assess the impact. In the first 6 months, trent barton has recorded a 30% increase in the overall number of journeys taken by customers over 60. Now independent research commissioned by the company reveals: Most extra journeys are being made by existing bus users rather than by brand new ‘converts’ These existing customers are travelling more frequently and are travelling further One free journey in four now involves at least one change of bus The free scheme has encouraged pass-holders who used to set off earlier in the day to travel after 9.30am (it is still half fare up until that time) Some pass holders are also making journeys much later in the day, including during the afternoon rush hours. This may be because they are starting out later and making longer journeys Pass-holders are now tending to go out by bus as couples rather than by themselves; this is reducing car use slightly. 30% of those surveyed had a car available People spoke in glowing terms of the service provided by trent barton, (especially our drivers, clean modern buses and clear information). We also scored better than any rival bus companies in 98% of cases. But even although their journey was free, and not made at the busiest time of day, people still voted timekeeping as a downside of bus travel.
Commercial Director Ian Morgan commented: “It is important for us to understand what makes the market tick – especially after such a major change. “This research shows how popular we are, but it also reveals how important it is for the bus to keep to time – even when it is FREE. “Those who say that buses are all about price have to get it firmly into their heads that there will be no wholesale switch to public transport until timekeeping can be guaranteed. Indeed this survey demonstrates that there has been no major shift from the car – just existing bus customers using the product more. “You will have heard it said that bus companies must be making more money under the new scheme. That isn’t true; the legislation says that we must be no better off, so the amount of top-up we receive for each pass holder will be reduced. “But the same law also says that we must be no worse off – and our case to Government will be that the new scheme is leading to overloading which is already starting to dissuade other customers. We are not opposed to the scheme, all we want is a fair deal – and to be fair to our partners in local authority, that’s what they deserve from Government too. After all, they were not consulted for the April change, and it is vital for us all to be fully prepared for the so-called National Free Scheme which is planned for 2008”.
New faces on the flyer
…and they’re loving it!
Telemarketing has been successfully used in retail; now it is helping us win new bus customers. A recent trial on the spondon flyer showed that telemarketing costs could be recovered well within 6 months, and that the new customers were highly likely to stay with us. Our telemarketing campaign began by building a database of likely bus users – those who live within a convenient range of the service and whose lifestyles are similar to those of existing customers. Then we commissioned a professional telesales team to contact the targeted households in the early evening. The callers, who are briefed thoroughly on the spondon flyer brand, need to find out whether the person they’ve called has ever used the bus, and if not, would they be up for a free trial? Marketing Manager Sarah Taylor explained: “We chose Spondon because we wanted a tough target for our first trial. The flyer is already used by a high proportion of the community and if we could actually use telemarketing to win new business here, it ought to be possible anywhere. “As predicted, it was hard to find people who had never travelled with us, but out of 175 people who qualified to take part in the free trial, 102 came forward. They were sent a voucher for a free FRIO (13 trip ticket) with an information pack and 75 people actually used it. The telesales team contacted them again a week or two later and those still interested then progressed to the final phase, a second FRIO. “By the end of the trial close to two thirds of the original volunteers had become converts to the spondon flyer. From tracking research we were able to work out their travel patterns. Some had become almost daily users, others would travel less often, but we were able to build up a picture of all these trends and work out what it was worth in fares. “The good news is that even if we don’t count the occasional users by assuming that they could have travelled anyway, this campaign will still cover its costs well inside 6 months. Based on what we already know about bus usage, there is every chance that the new customers could stay with us for up to ten years. “Our new customers seemed very impressed with our quality standards. Comments made by the new spondon flyer customers included: ‘All the drivers are so friendly and helpful’; ‘It’s almost as quick as using the car’; ‘absolutely excellent’; ‘I don’t have to pay for parking in Derby any more’ – and many other similar words of praise”. A second telemarketing project has now been completed for our rainbow 4 brand and we await the results with interest. 20 years on
and Deregulation has worked, except… Some may still be in denial about bus deregulation (which celebrated its 20th anniversary on October 26th) but the facts are clear. Just about everything about buses has improved dramatically in the last 20 years – except one thing, and we’ll come to that later! HIGHER SATISFACTION – Government statistics show that bus customer satisfaction levels are at an all time high. PASSENGER DECLINE was 5 times greater before deregulation. PASSENGER GROWTH is now showing throughout the UK – and motoring is far cheaper now in real terms, so that’s an even greater achievement. HIGHER STANDARDS – because bus drivers are more qualified than ever. 186 trent barton drivers have achieved NVQs, and on-the-job training is more thorough than ever. BETTER BUSES – modernisation has swept through the industry which now boasts an average fleet age of just over 7 years, comfortably inside the national target of 8 years. The trent barton fleet is actually under 4 years average age. SAVINGS FOR ALL – thanks to deregulation, the tax payer provides 66% less in bus support. INCREASING USE OF BUSES – there were 23.5 MILLION passenger km last year, the biggest upswing for almost a decade. Managing Director Brian King said: “Those of us who have worked in both the public and private sector bus industry still shudder at how much waste and bureaucracy there was before deregulation, when the end user, the customer, was a long way down the agenda. “At trent barton we have shown how in a free market, new products can be developed and existing markets grown, entirely commercially. You only have to look at red arrow, rainbow 5, H1, connect, spondon flyer – the list goes on. “Just about the only thing that hasn’t improved in leaps and bounds since 1986 is our timekeeping – because motoring has grown cheaper and traffic is increasing by the day. “Re-regulation will not solve that. Whether buses are publicly or privately run, the customer’s top priority of reliability will remain the biggest problem. “We prefer to work in close partnership and are blessed with enlightened local authorities in our part of the East Midlands. We believe that binding targets should be set so that both sides deliver to the full – with penalties if those targets are not met. “The sooner this hollow debate about regulation is settled, the quicker we can devote all of our energies to the job in hand”. Quote of the month
In a speech to a major transport conference in Leeds to mark 20 years of deregulation, Stagecoach chief Brian Souter described the Passenger Transport Executives as the “bureaucratic beast from the 1960s lagoon”. “Their habitat is large office buildings, they have long chains of command, are painfully slow at making decisions and they feed on large sums of public money”, he said. Gimme Shelter So you’re thinking of travelling by bus for a change. You’ve seen our distinctive blue buses on rainbow 1, and you can see at a glance that they’re clean, new, frequent and that they run at all hours of day and night. So you take the plunge. And your first experience is…a grotty bus shelter layered with graffiti, with cloudy plastic panels at one end and a gaping hole at the other, broken lighting and weeds growing on the roof. 
So all our investment in fleet, branding and quality service is done for before anyone sets foot on a bus. What an advertisement for public transport! You’ll see the same story repeated time and time again in some areas – particularly in Erewash and Amber Valley. Brand Manager Graham Price, for one, has had enough. He has collected a pile of photographic evidence which he has sent personally to every Amber Valley councillor along the rainbow 1 route. Meanwhile rainbow 5 Brand Manager Cherryl Holland was so dismayed by the state of shelters in Long Eaton that she also took pictures and sent them to her MP. Now she’s been invited to a meeting with Erewash Borough Council to discuss the issue. We will let readers know if there are any improvements. It is frustrating enough already when we can’t get the bus lanes and priority measures that we badly need. But we can do without customers being turned away before they even try us. Keeping bus shelters clean and in good repair doesn’t seem to be a problem in the City of Nottingham so why should it be a problem elsewhere?
Fares, not cuts
…and you’re worth it, say customers
A new fares package for the radcliffe line and xprss brands came in on October 22nd, ending speculation that the service might have to be cut to balance the books. (Readers will recall that these routes were launched 18 months ago with a fleet of new buses, improved frequencies and other timetable extensions, but although the investment encouraged many new customers it was not enough to cover the increased costs of the new look service.) In a radical review of fares, peak hour return trips to Nottingham rose by 70 or 80p but off-peak SupaSavers by only 10p. Commenting before the price increases were introduced Commercial Director Ian Morgan said: “These are strong brands serving communities which are up-and-coming. But unlike our busiest routes which have lots of intermediate trade, the business is mainly one-ended with very little in between. “We invested heavily in radcliffe line and xprss 18 months ago and research tells us that people really like the improvements we made, but sadly for us, we have still finished up worse off financially. “In weighing our options we concluded that making cuts in a service which people liked so much would get us nowhere. On the other hand, the main fares were below average levels. Whilst we are not pretending that we wouldn’t sooner avoid increases on this scale, the new fares are still excellent value for money. It’d be hard to even park in Nottingham for what we charge – let alone put up with the hassle. “The off-peak increase is only 10p all-in. Peak hour customers have several choices. They can switch to Cash Saver, which hasn’t changed. They can switch to FRIO, which works out cheaper than the old fare. Some may decide to travel at a different time of day to cash in on SupaSaver. “We have a good team who deliver top service with clean, modern buses at high frequencies seven days a week through to 3am at weekends. In short we offer excellent value for money, which is far more important than price alone. Brand Manager Keith Wright was out and about in the first days of the change. Keith reports: “People are relieved that we did not cut back the service, and there are very, very few complaints about fares. On the other hand, there is plenty of praise for the drivers and the buses, which shows that we are delivering a quality service that people are prepared to pay for”. amberline impresses – and Jay is a star The relaunch of our 125 route between Derby, Heanor and Hucknall as amberline seems to have impressed at least one Horsley Woodhouse customer who writes: “Firstly I’d like to congratulate you on the transition from 125 to amberline. The buses certainly look the part, are comfortable and smartly refurbished”. 
But our customer saved her most glowing praise for driver Jay Keily. When he was unfortunate enough to suffer a breakdown, Jay loaned his phone to 5 or 6 customers, stood in the pouring rain to shepherd people safely on to another bus and even gave up his jacket and umbrella to help people off one bus on to the other during the persistent downpour! Not long after, Jay came to the rescue of a lady who had fallen over at the roadside and eventually needed an ambulance. On another occasion he had no hesitation in getting out of his cab to help a partially-sighted customer across the road. Our customer continues: “It is things like these that this world really lacks in general, but to have a bus driver so caring and concerned for people he doesn’t even know, we truly are the lucky ones” Jay is currently studying for his NVQ. Nottingham for Sale What’s the most important thing about buses, trams and trains? Well, when all is said and done, no matter how good they are, it’s the places they go to that create the market. That’s why in one of our biggest ever pre-Christmas promotions we are reminding people on our rainbow 2, 3 &4 routes, radcliffe lines, xprss and calverton connection just what a cracking place the City is for Christmas shopping – even more so now that its crowd-pulling new Primark store is open. Marketing Manager Sarah Taylor said: “There’s no need for voucher promotions and special offers at this time of year; Nottingham is one of our biggest ‘assets’ and we are making sure that people put it on their Christmas shopping list – by bus of course” rainbow 5 brings up the rear The much-talked about I love rainbow 5 campaign is now on the streets. 
21 of the distinctive full-rear ads are already turning heads on the 9-buses-per-hour rainbow 5 between Nottingham Beeston and Long Eaton. There are still 4 more to do – and we have a cunning plan…watch this space! read all about it....Guru immortalises trent barton Best Impressions design guru Ray Stenning is well known for his work promoting buses and trains all over the UK. But his latest publication ‘the really good bus company revisited’ is entirely devoted to trent barton and a portfolio of top brands from Ray’s drawing board. Click here to view “It is a classy publication which shows why our branding turns heads and has been good for our business. Ray is obviously so thrilled to be working so closely with the marketing team from ‘the really good bus company’ that he uses us to demonstrate best practice in the industry. “That goes both ways – we are proud of his work too”. 15 reborn As our photo shows, the Ilkeston – Sawley 15 route, one of our top performing brands, has a new look. 
The five buses on the 15 have been given the full treatment – a complete interior makeover and repaint into new livery – and were relaunched on October 29th. Every bus route has its moments for traffic, but it has to be said that 15 is a constant battle. Its route from Ilkeston through Sandiacre and Long Eaton to Sawley crosses over major roads which carry nose to tail traffic over the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire border – and there are no bus priorities on the route at all. Things can change on the roads very quickly, and no two days are the same, so constructing a timetable to cover every eventuality is a pretty tall order. Then to make matters worse, it doesn’t take much to happen on the nearby M1 or A52 before traffic overflows on to the 15 route at every turn. Brand Manager Paul Matthews, who has organised team sessions for every 15 driver, said: “Despite all of its snarl-ups and bottlenecks, 15 is in growth. We get complaints about timekeeping from time to time, but very rarely a complaint against any of the drivers. “This goes to show that people sympathise with the obstacles that drivers face – and that the crew keep their cool under pressure. Even though punctuality is their number one requirement customers will stick with us if we give them a comfortable, clean bus and a friendly helpful driver behind the wheel. One thing which will help in future is Real Time Information – at least customers will know how many minutes away the next bus is, which will take the anxiety out of waiting. The buses have already been fitted with Real Time equipment, and Derbyshire County Council is arranging for the new digital stop displays along the route. Paul Matthews continued: “We will not be going live with Real Time until we are confident that the existing systems are working properly – so we will probably need to hang back until next summer, but that’s better than making a promise that can’t be delivered”. Feast of Freshers’ FRIOs Pictures from a packed University of Nottingham Freshers’ Fair in September show the Broadmarsh team hard at it promoting our rainbow 4 and 5 brands to new students. Brainchild of rainbow 5 Brand manager Cherryl Holland and Team Leader Michaela Adam, this was the first time trent barton had taken a stand at the event. As well as boxes of timetables, a new campus map was produced showing the routes taken by rainbows 4 & 5. A few weeks previously, Cherryl had simplified the rainbow 5 route so that all 9 buses per hour would take the University Boulevard route instead of 3 peeling off along Woodside Road. The team banked a remarkable £27,000 in FRIO sales. 
Cherryl (with glasses) and Michaela are pictured hard at work, while Tim Holyoake (left) and Don Gilchrist take a rare breather to pose for the camera. Ticket scam foiled An eagle-eyed rainbow 4 driver spotted a Cash Saver fraud which resulted in fines of over £400. The story had begun some time previously when a ticket check revealed that a lady going by the name of Sarah Adcock had altered her Cash Saver expiry date. She was visited by the Police and cautioned. In order to get another ticket this ‘customer’ actually disguised herself, changed her name to Sarah Jackson and gave a different address. Then she did the same thing again! This time our driver spotted the rogue card. The police charged her with fraud which led to fines and costs totalling £435. Brand Manager Jamie Cheatle said; “What the driver has done is in the interests of honest everyday people who form the vast majority of our customers. Ticket fraud is theft – and that’s theft from other customers at the end of the day. “This is not the only incident of its kind. The Police have been knocking on a number of doors recently, and we’ve also changed the Cash Saver ticket to make it more secure”. Secret sunset wedding seals dream romance Lee Morrell started at Sutton as a driver in May 2003. A young lady named Linda joined the same team the following March. The two started dating that December, bought their Pinxton home the following year, and transferred to Langley Mill depot for a fresh start in February 2006. The couple sealed their romance by getting married on holiday in Turkey this September – a plan which had been a year in the making and had been kept a secret from family and friends. So with only crew and a few other passengers as witnesses, Lee and Linda tied the knot on a Turkish gullet cruise in the bay off the coast of Marmaris. They had arranged for families and friends to find out after they had departed on holiday – and all were invited to a special reception which Lee and Linda had carefully planned for their return. The two are pictured on that romantic occasion against a Marmaris sunset. 
Linda’s smiling face will be familiar to readers as winner of this year’s ‘Outstanding Achievement’ award – when, on her very first day at Langley Mill, she came to the rescue of a seriously-ill customer. For all we know, Lee may become just as well-publicised. As June’s Driver of the Month, he’s very much in the running for the £1,000 Holiday Prize next year. Return to Turkey, perhaps? Trotters do it again The Trent Trotters (a team of Sutton Drivers led by Bernard 'Taff' Crocker) are pictured at a well-known spot in the grounds of Chatsworth after completing the 'transpeak challenge' on Sunday 24th Sept. The challenge consisted of a team event covering a 26 mile course including running, cycling and orienteering. The ordeal started at Ladybower reservoir at 06.30 and finished at the Queen Mary's Bower in the grounds of Chatsworth at 4pm. The Trotters entered in aid of the British Heart Foundation and raised a magnificent £1,330 for the charity. The settled weather for the photocall at Chatsworth was a far cry from the murky conditions over the moors earlier on in the day. Pictured left to right in our group photo are Trotters Geoff Stockdale, Richard Hill, Kevin Wood, Bernard Crocker, Martin Wallace and Trina Wallace. Richard (a relation of Martin and Trina) was the only non-Sutton driver on the team. 
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