Annual Performance 2011-2012
KEY FACTS 2011/12 6.5 million passenger journeys were made on Stagecoach in the Highlands services 9 million miles operated across the Highlands and Orkney 374 staff working from the 7 depots that serve the Highlands 171 buses and coaches 77% of which are fully accessible 3.4m investment in new buses and coaches 99.8% service reliability 92.8% service punctuality
Stagecoach in the Highlands provides local bus services throughout Inverness, Easter Ross, Strathspey, Lochaber, Skye and Lochalsh, Caithness and Orkney. Our aim is to provide safe, reliable, punctual, clean and comfortable services with a good value for money range of tickets and fares. May 2011 to April 2012. our staff We are a major local employer with 287 drivers, 61 engineers and cleaners and 26 supervisors and managers all based locally. All our staff are fully trained in their respective skills, with the emphasis on passenger safety, comfort and courtesy. All our drivers are in the process of completing their Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC). We employ 4 engineering apprentices from within the local community to provide skills for the future. All our staff have the benefit of our Group pensions scheme with employer contributions. our fleet We operate a fleet of 171 buses and coaches. All new buses are fitted with CCTV to ensure passenger and driver safety. The Government requires all buses to be fully wheelchair accessible by 2016. We are well advanced with our fleet modernisation, with 77% of our fleet (excluding school buses)
being low floor or wheelchair lift equipped to provide easy access for the elderly, disabled and buggies. All our vehicles are inspected by our engineers at least every 21 days, and maintained to much higher standards than the legal minimum to ensure safety and comfort. Every vehicle is cleaned daily. reliability Reliability means ensuring that our passengers can have a high degree of confidence that their bus will turn up. Our target is to run 99.5% of all scheduled journeys. We operated 99.8% of all scheduled services with 0.05% lost due to internal reasons and 0.15% lost caused by external factors such as congestion and diversions. In the past year we operated a total of 9 million miles over the year, a decrease of 2% over the previous year due to school contract changes in early 2012. punctuality Punctuality means ensuring that your bus will turn up on time. We monitor our services for punctuality and 92.8% of our services monitored operated within 5 minutes of their scheduled time, traffic congestion being again the main reason for delay. We continue to seek improvements both through rescheduling services and in discussions with our local highway authorities. our fares We endeavour to provide value for money fares and ticket options. In addition to our standard single fares we offer unlimited travel period tickets. Details of our dayrider and megarider tickets are available online and some longer period tickets can also be bought
online for quick and easy payments. We increased fares once during the year by an average of 3%. This was to cover our increased costs of pay, fuel and insurance, and to provide for further investment in new vehicles, plant and equipment. customer satisfaction We carried a total of 6.5 million passengers over the year, a similar level to last year. Despite our best efforts, unfortunately we sometimes give cause for complaint. In the past year we received a total of 361 passenger complaints about our services. That equates to one complaint per 18,000 passengers. We comply with our industry code of practice, and every complaint is investigated and action taken to avoid repetition of the problem. our achievements We have agreed a partnership scheme with the Highland Council, Orkney Islands Council and HITRANS to work together to improve and invest in our local network of services. We have made some further improvements to services over the past year after holding extensive consultations across our networks. The new vehicles introduced on route X99 have provided a luxury, fast and direct service with further developments including a booking system and great value single fares. Our investment in new vehicles has improved reliability and customer satisfaction in several areas and further investment is planned in 2012. our environment We used 1 million gallons of diesel last year, at an average of 9 miles per gallon. We are working to improve fuel consumption through technical measures, and all our drivers have completed a safe and fuel-efficient driving course. Stagecoach Group has achieved the Carbon Trust Standard for reducing energy consumption, and has announced a challenging CO2 reduction programme for the next 5 years. All our fleet runs on low sulphur diesel, with a high-tech additive Envirox to reduce pollution and improve fuel consumption. Vehicle engines must meet increasingly higher Euro standards of exhaust emissions. 66% of our fleet meets at least the Euro 3 standard. We recycle most of our waste, such as litter, used oils, filters, batteries, parts, etc. We also recycle the water we use to wash our vehicles every night. We recently opened a new depot in Inverness, providing enhanced facilities, improving our energy rating and reducing our carbon output.
getting in touch Stagecoach in the Highlands Inverness bus station Farraline Park Inverness IV1 1LT highland.enquiries@stagecoachbus.com www.stagecoachbus.com We have a dedicated helpdesk for customers with disabilities. Contact us on 01463 258933 for assistance or email highland.disabilityhelpdesk@stagecoachbus.com What do do if things go wrong We do our best to meet your expectations, but occasionally things go wrong. If you feel we have failed you in some way please tell us about it. Contact details are above. If you are unhappy with our response, this independent body will review complaints: Bus Passengers Platform, Scottish Government, Area 2D Dockside, Victoria Quay, Edinburgh, EH6 6QQ 0131 244 5306 buscomplaints@scotland.gsi.gov.uk nationwide bus times * Calls cost 10p per minute from BT landlines, charges from other providers or mobiles may vary. *