25 Nov 2014, 12:43 pm
#470
(25 Nov 2014, 12:00 pm)marxistafozzski I can accept that Dan and GNE cant keep everyone happy all the time...
Instead of hanging around bus stations, they could get out into the communities, hold public forums with the public invited along for tea and biscuits, talk with local parish councils, shit like that if it is possible, in bus station yesterday didnt seem to do much, people have somewhere to go so may not have a great deal of time to hang around and talk...
I will reserve judgment from now till I see the feedback from the consultation...
Bus companies are damned if they do, damned if they dont...
For me, I dont think I have been too critical about GNE in the past, if I believe they do something right I will say so, on the flip side, If I aint happy, again I will say so
It's the first time Go North East has held a face-to-face consultation instead of a faceless method (ie web-based or paper-based). As I and others have already suggested, it shouldn't have been knocked and suggested to be a bad step. I have said that I personally didn't think that the consultation yesterday was particularly effective, and I justified my reasoning behind this yesterday.
Go North East promoted its new buses very well last year, and through to the start of this year too. It shows that they do know how to grab the attention of customers. I wish some of these techniques had been adopted for yesterday's consultation, but unfortunately this was not so.
I'd assume that minimal feedback would have been gained yesterday, and this is not what senior management would have had in mind. This is why I have suggested that the company would have gone back to the drawing board to look at improving the face-to-face consultation method, or by reinstating one of the previously used more successful methods.
The section of the post regarding the loss of 'insiders' was not directly made about any one person; it was a general statement, having looked back at all of the posts made over the past few days, the fair majority of which were negative.
(25 Nov 2014, 12:06 pm)cbma06 The problem with the GNE consultation yesterday and the poor turn out, the fact is that there were only 1 to 3 GNE reps there with a plain brown table which looked like a table from the canteen or something with some plain sheets of paper and about 10 pens, there was nothing jumping out towards passengers saying that this is a GNE consulation for proposed bus changes, there was no back drop with the GNE logo, nothing to entice children over with their parents ( like free branded pens, balloons etc... what stagecoach/nexus gives out) or have any kind of proposed routes on a map on a background, while I was at the Interchange yesterday for an hour only a tiny handful of passengers did go over to talk to them. it was badly organised. a lot of passengers coming round from the Grangetown bus stops were just walking past as their wouldn't know. The passengers coming off the 20 wouldn't know because most of them would be heading straight down towards the town itself, the display should of been between service 20 stand and X35 stand. GNE most have some kind of background with their logo on it somewhere in one of their depots or even at riverside offices.
The last time sunderland had a consulation with service 20 included, their proposed that service 20 was going to South Shields, and when the changes happened service 20 wasn't touched.
I have attached a photo for those who didn't get to see the set up yesterday.
The company did have the banner to attract attention - it said something like 'Give us your views', with Go North East logos and all. I'm guessing that this was not set up when you got there, judging by your post, but it was certainly there at 12:30pm.
Free pens and balloons would have been great to attract attention, and again, fits in with the idea of the company's previous events used to promote new buses being launched on services.
Look at the abundance of feedback forms that they had waiting to be filled in - I think it shows that the organisers of the consultation event certainly wanted to get a lot of feedback, but the event itself was carried out poorly...
(25 Nov 2014, 12:17 pm)Andreos1 If a representative from the company doesn't feels as though the comments about the company are wrong or factually incorrect - then surely they can report them?
If the representative from the company feels the comments about the company do have weight, do have merit or there is something behind the posts - then surely they can act on them?
If the representative is bored and no longer wishes to comment - then no matter how much back patting or ego massaging they get, then they will leave. One commented on how much he loved to troll a certain member on here.
One insider (BFK?) was pilloried when he admitted that the Renown with the dodgy reverse select was allocated to the 2a/c - when umpteen posters prior had identified the other routes it could have operated on, without the need to select reverse.
Whilst I have no idea whether it was related, he seemed to disappear/vanish soon after this.
Should people not comment or pass judgement incase an insider decides to no longer post?
Whilst appreciative of insider information, I don't think the board should withhold genuine and fair comment - 'just in-case'.
Remember, it works both ways and one or two insiders have dished out quite a bit towards members on here - some of it unwarranted, untrue and uncalled for.
Posts in the past have been reported on the grounds of being factually incorrect or unwarranted, which is why I have often made posts to provide the counter-argument. They too have sometimes made posts to provide a counter-argument, but as with my posts, it seems that the points contained within the posts aren't listened to, and some members of this forum continue to hold their view and disregard anything else that has been said.
Some of the comments made against all three of the North East's 'big operators' are often far from fair; indeed, I've made some in the past myself. From some members, it comes across as an attack to the company based on their negative views on other topics in the past. The suggestion I made wasn't to stop these posts altogether, but to look for the positives, too...
(25 Nov 2014, 12:18 pm)Scott Usually, a public consulatation is one of the last stages of bringing in any changes to a service. By now, the buisiness case will have been prepared, all fleet allocations will be sorted, and all documenation prepared for the changes. The consulation being a chance to collect feedback on the changes.
When Northumberland County Council axed the post 16 transport provision, their consulatation documents hinted strongly of there intention. Many of the question's where geared towards their evential desicion. Basically what I am saying is that any public consulation has one aim, to get feedback on the plans on the table, but not discuss any alternative options.
Given the quality of customer service that Go North East offer, I believe that they will take into consideration customers views, but by now they will be fairly certain on what option they will take.
A public consultation is carried out once the company has drafted its ideas for proposed route changes, based on suggestions from customers and their own data showing passenger trends.
Like I said before, the company has designed its business case around its proposals, but these have to be altered in accordance with feedback gathered from the public consultation. If the majority of the feedback is negative (ie "No, I don't want this to happen."), then the company will make alternative plans based on their data and the feedback gathered. It would be silly of them to change a service when the majority of the feedback gathered was against the plans.
Thursday's meeting with senior management, local councillors and Nexus will be when things are confirmed (either to proceed and register the new services, or to change a few of them slightly to meet the needs of local councillors).
