‘Translink must improve the punctuality of bus services,’ insists Consumer Council

The Consumer Council is calling on Translink to make good on its commitment to operate public transport services that arrive on time.

This follows last week’s publication of Translink’s Charter Monitoring Results for Autumn 2013, which shows both Metro and Ulsterbus failing to meet their punctuality targets.

Speaking about the results, Aodhan O’Donnell, Interim Chief Executive of the Consumer Council said, “These latest results are a cause for concern, as not only are they the poorest set of punctuality results for Metro services for a number of years, overall customer satisfaction with Metro is also at its lowest level since Autumn 2008.

“This is worrying given that Metro services account for approximately a third of public transport journeys,” he added.

Results have highlighted that only 82 per cent of Metro services arrived on time, which is significantly below the Charter target of 95 per cent. In addition the punctuality of Ulsterbus services also dropped, with 92 per cent of Ulsterbus services arriving on time, which is also below the Charter target of 95 per cent.

Continuing Aodhan said, “Punctuality is a key issue for consumers. Passengers need to have confidence that they will arrive on time at their destination and these results will not help instil consumer confidence in bus services. Translink must ensure the action taken to address the punctuality of bus services, is having an immediate and positive effect.

Aodhan added, “The Consumer Council is supportive of public transport. We will continue to work closely with Translink and the Department for Regional Development and we will be monitoring progress over the coming weeks and months.”

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Posted by Newry Times News on Apr 8 2014. Filed under Community. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry