READING Buses is celebrating an increase in customer satisfaction following the release of results from a survey.
Transport Focus’ national 2024 ‘Your Bus Journey’ survey saw them rated 8th best in the country.
This means it ranks well above the average for bus companies in customer satisfaction.
Reading Buses once again took part in Transport Focus’ Your Bus Journey survey, which asks customers on-board buses and at bus stops about how satisfied they were with their most recent journey.
More than a thousand of those people were surveyed in Reading.
It showed that Reading Buses improved its overall customer satisfaction level to 89%– up from 86% in 2023).
This puts it 6% higher than the average results from across England.
Among the key elements that drove satisfaction for Reading’s bus users were its bus drivers, with 91% of customers being satisfied with the driver, versus the English average of 87%.
Satisfaction with punctuality also improved significantly, with an 83% satisfaction rate, compared to the national level of 75%.
The survey also examined how people pay for their journeys; contactless payment has increased with 30% of customers paying by this method–up from 27% over the previous year.
There has also been a resurgence in smartcards which rose to 22% from 12%.
Cash has now fallen to below 10% (at 8%) for the first time as a method of payment on the bus.
Robert Williams, Reading Buses Chief Executive Officer, said: “We are delighted by the results of the latest survey.
“Nine out of ten customers are satisfied with their bus journeys with us – which against a backdrop of roadworks and increasing congestion, is something we should be proud of.
“It highlights the importance of our team, with all the metrics used to rate the drivers such as smoothness of driving and distance stopped from the kerb higher than the national average.”
He added: “Pleasingly, 15% of customers said that using the bus was more convenient than their own car, with a further 22% saying it was more convenient than other modes of transport.
“That’s more than a third of customers opting to use our services because they are more convenient than other modes of transport. Indeed, more than half (51%) of all customers had access to a car but were on the bus – something that we have been working hard to achieve.”
Overall, he explained that the company was happy with the results, but there is still work to do,
“We are of course delighted that we can see some real positives in the survey.
“However, there the survey also helps to highlight things that our customers believe we can improve on to reach the top spot, which is incredibly valuable to us.”
