Annual Performance 2011-2012
KEY FACTS 2011/12 11 million passenger journeys were made on Stagecoach Bluebird services 12.9 million miles operated throughout Aberdeen City and Shire, Moray and Buchan 537 staff working from the 8 depots that serve the North East of Scotland 204 buses and coaches 88% of which are fully accessible 3m investment in new vehicles 99.7% service reliability 85.3% service punctuality
Stagecoach Bluebird provides local bus services throughout Aberdeen City and Shire, Buchan and Moray. Our aim is to provide safe, reliable, punctual, clean and comfortable services with a value for money range of tickets and fares. May 2011 to April 2012. our staff We are a major local employer with 406 drivers, 92 engineers and cleaners and 39 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. Two of our young managers were highly commended at the UK Bus Awards in 2011. All our drivers have completed the first stages of their Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC). We employ 6 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 204 buses and coaches, 13 of which we replaced over the past year with a total investment of 3m. Further investment planned in 2012 will include 2.5m on 10 diesel electric hybrid vehicles, set to be the first of their kind in North East Scotland. 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 88% of our fleet 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 3 weeks, 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. We operated 99.7% of all scheduled journeys with 0.1% failure due to internal reasons, and 0.2% due to external reasons such as congestion and diversions. In the year we operated a total of 12.9 million miles over the year, an increase of 0.8 million over the previous year. punctuality Punctuality means ensuring that your bus will turn up on time and we know that customers value reliability and punctuality above all else. We monitor a proportion of our services for punctuality and of those monitored 85.3% operated within 5 minutes of their scheduled time, traffic congestion being again the main reason for delay. In the year we particularly targeted those areas that show the greatest variability in the journey times and we have introduced amended timetables on many routes to better cope with this variability. This approach has improved our recent punctuality to around 92%. As well as continuing this process we will also maintain our dialogue with the local highway authorities to seek improvements for the benefit of customers 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. During the year we simplified our megarider tickets introducing a series of megarider zones offering improved travel networks at great value prices. We increased fares 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 11 million passengers over the year an increase of 11% over the previous year. Despite our best efforts, unfortunately we sometimes give cause for complaint. In the past year we received a total of 1297 passenger complaints about our services, an increase of 2.5% over the previous year. That equates to one complaint per 8,400 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 quality partnership scheme with Aberdeenshire Council to work together to improve and invest in our local network of services. We also signed a Bus Punctuality Improvement Plan involving Aberdeen City and Shire Councils and First Group for the Aberdeen-Buchan corridor. We have made some improvements to services over the past year including the introduction of a new service linking a number of coastal towns and villages with two major cities, Aberdeen and Dundee. The new high quality express service is operated with high specification coaches offering a luxurious travel option. A brand new and innovative service linking Aberdeenshire with Edinburgh Zoo and particularly targeting those visiting the Pandas at the Zoo was also launched in early 2012. our environment We used 1.2 million gallons of diesel last year, at an average of 8.25 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. Our staff green team, comprising of a selection of staff from various disciplines and depots across the company are dedicated to reducing the carbon footprint of the company by promoting green messages to staff and evaluating any possible changes to depot procedures which could help the environment.
getting in touch Stagecoach Bluebird Union Square bus station Guild Street Aberdeen AB11 6NA bluebird.enquiries@stagecoachbus.com www.stagecoachbus.com We have a dedicated helpdesk for customers with disabilities. Contact us on 01779 470077 for assistance or email aberdeen.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. *