Raised Expectations

As an industry, we’re quite adept these days at shouting aloud about any investment in vehicles we have made. Though some do it better than others—and some local media are more receptive than others—25 years of telling the world of our investments pays off in terms of positive PR and, ultimately, ridership increases. It was rare beforehand that we would say anything.

Such press releases can also have a negative impact and this was evident last week during two separate conversations with passengers, all of whom had their expectations raised following years of reading our good news in one of the local rags.

One felt that it was about time we invested in new vehicles for his route. He stated that other passengers felt like him. This was a major “killer” service of strategic importance to us and to him. When I pointed out that the buses he used day in day out were actually only just about five years old, having been part of a substantial upgrade, he cited an unacceptable breakdown rate because of the “old” vehicles.

Breakdowns are sometimes unavoidable but clearly unacceptable to passengers. I felt that the vehicles’ and route’s reliability were very good indeed and, later, was proven right when looking at the stats. Breakdowns were a myth, as was the fact that the vehicles were “old”. But it’s perceptions that count.

The second occurrence was a conversation with two women who raised the question, when was their route going to benefit from the sort of investment they see around them and in the local papers. How do you tell people that their route doesn’t set the world on fire, is cross-subsidised by the “killer” route, and will never carry the sort of investment of which the ladies were hoping. Actually, you tell it straight but that doesn’t mean they understand. And it’s a story that never appears positively in the local newspaper. They look around them at the new stock and feel left out. Another case of raised expectations that will probably lead to moans and groans to other passengers. To them, a five-year-old bus of the sort about which the earlier passenger was complaining would be luxury.

Should we then abandon trumpeting our purchases in the local press, reverting to the old ways of the pre-privatised industry when we let the vehicles speak for themselves? I did wonder, but only for a minute. I then recalled the uplift in passengers after telling the world of our major investment. It generates a visible, tangible, measurable shift. It just seems that it will get harder and harder to bleed that extra business out of the population in the future.