Press releases

An incredible 91 per cent of customers using Arriva buses are impressed with the service that is being provided.

An independent GFK NOP survey of nearly 19,000 passengers, the largest in the UK transport industry, covered all aspects of a customer’s journey experience, from waiting at the bus stop, through oarding the bus and buying a ticket, to the journey itself.

Arriva uses the research as part of its training programme for drivers, as well as measuring the impact of £34 million of investment in new buses and CCTV cameras.

The survey is now part of annual research by GFK NOP for Arriva, which began in 2003. Since 2004 more people have become satisfied with the reliability, punctuality and frequency of Arriva buses in the UK.

Mike Cooper, managing director for UK Regions, said:

These results show that all our employees' hard work and investment in new buses is paying off.

This survey is the biggest of its kind in the UK and is a vital tool in ensuring the customers get the services they want. We are able to drill down into the figures and see how individual depots are fairing, which allows us to identify best practice.

This underpins our Arrivalution project, which has reviewed networks, pricing strategies and new technology implementations to deliver profitable passenger growth.

We are committed to working with other partners such as local authorities and the Highways Agency, to ensure local passengers get the services they deserve.

These fantastic results are down to our employees efforts, and this is demonstrated by the fact that 90 per cent of passengers praised the attitude of our drivers.

An area where Arriva customers are hoping for an improvement is traffic jams, with over a quarter of people unhappy with congestion on the roads across the UK.

Notes to Editors

• The research was carried out in England, excluding London, in October 2006 and involved nearly 19,000 people. The survey was based on similar criteria set for the 2003, 2004 and 2005 surveys.