(07 Nov 2014, 10:34 pm)Andreos1 wrote Two perspectives on social media in the passenger transport sector.

I thought the article from 'moving people' was quite an interesting read and brought up some very valid points, though I wish Go North East had actually challenged the points made in their blog.

I too have often wondered about the ability to have more service-specific posts so that people can follow updates that affect them easily. In fact, Go North East has the structure in place to do this already - they have hashtags for their branded services '#citylink58, #fab56, #blaydonracers' etc, though these are only occasionally used. What's more, customers very rarely use these hashtags (despite stickers being placed on a lot of the 'better' routes to advertise the hashtags and the hashtags being noted on the brand page on GNE's website). For customers to start using the hashtags, I think Go North East needs to be a little bit more proactive when opportunities arise for the hashtags to be used too. Their Northern Rail example is very good though as I follow Northern Rail on Twitter and regularly see updates from Manchester etc when I'm only interested in the train services within the North East the majority of the time.

Although Go North East challenged 'moving people' with regards to no public transport operators offering a phone app giving automatic service updates, I honestly don't think Go North East's app is updated enough to reflect the actual service status (has anyone seen the app showing anything besides 'GOOD SERVICE'?) With the upcoming implementation of AVL, I wonder if it would be possible to link the two up together so that this is more reliable (ie if more than 3 Fab56 buses go over 5 minutes late then alarm bells start ringing and you can click 'OK SERVICE' to find out which services in particular are delayed)?

Have to agree with the point made in regards to customers complaints being on the public domain - though I'd actually argue this could potentially have benefits (to customers) too, with complaints standing a higher chance of delivering results... I'm thinking about the Consett cyclist video which was discussed a few months ago: I think it's fairly obvious that the driver would have received a final written warning (or at worst given the boot) for this incident. Would the result have been the same if this incident was reported by e-mail and it didn't attract so much attention? I think Kevin Carr himself provided a quote for one newspaper? I'm not trying to question the company's disciplinary methods, but I think with anything, it's easier to brush it over and give someone a slap on the back of the wrist if it's kept between just a few people.

I think the main thing which bugs me about Social Media is professionalism. As a company, it's so easy to look unprofessional on Social Media: if you make a spelling mistake, get information wrong or allow your own opinions to be conveyed in messages where you're representing the company. I think we've seen all of these things since our public transport operators started using Social Media, but it's something that needs to be avoided as much as possible.

Technology for the transport industry is constantly evolving and every day new opportunities arise for public transport operators to develop. Go North East's upcoming developments - which we have already discussed - are very interesting and could potentially revolutionise public transport within the North East, if it's done correctly. I believe Go North East has always been the first operator in the North East to try out new technology (Wi-Fi, power sockets, white LED destinations, etc) but have been slow with the introduction of real time technology. I have said previously that I think the time without such technology has allowed Go North East to enhance what it will be offering and 'fix' some of the things which could have been better in Arriva's similar technology. Stagecoach is well behind, with the implementation of Wi-Fi still being considered to be 'new' (indeed something which has influenced the branding of vehicles) and their presence on Social Media still being somewhat limited.