(27 Mar 2014, 5:45 pm)Dan wrote I moved to Monkwearmouth at the time of the most recent North Sunderland consultation, and almost every bus I was on in that time (of the services affected) were fully stocked with consultation leaflets. The Nexus Travel Shop had copies of the leaflets, and on one occasion I saw a man (can't remember if he was a Nexus employee or a GNE employee, though I'd assume the latter) was handing out said leaflets at Park Lane.
The process should have been the same for the 1/24 consultation. There should have been plenty of opportunities for people to pick a leaflet up, so I really can't explain why people living in the area didn't ever receive a copy of the consultation.
As for a small percentage being returned - the same could be said about people who vote in General Elections. A lot of people will criticise the Government for how the country is run, but I suspect a large number of those people will be those who didn't bother voting...
If the majority of customers don't like a set of proposals, Go North East simply cannot go ahead with them - no matter how much work has gone into designing the proposals. The reason why the online presence was removed for these consultations was to avoid 'spoof responses' - people who barely use the services having a say on something happening which will affect the people who do use the services regularly, it's just not fair. I personally haven't filled out the ANE survey because I don't ever use the services in the consultation, so I have no idea what questions further into the survey say - but the company must have a rough idea of what they want to change without first consulting customers.
With not living on a GNE route that has had changes since the online consultations were removed, I can't comment - other than what I see, hear and read on here.
I am sure the same irregular passenger on an affected service can just as easy take a number of leaflets, as they can complete a number of 'spoof' online responses.
However, as with the election (and passenger surveys) the uptake of these consultations need to be increased to show a bigger sample.
From the responses to a consultation and out of all the people in favour of a GNE proposal in one North Sunderland consultation - where do they go, cos it certainly isn't on the new service.
Then when the next consultation comes out a few months later, the majority are in favour of the GNE suggestions again, repeated several times over with a few tweaks along the way.
63% of 693 people doesn't give a fair result of a survey, neither does 63% of 500 returned consultations.
edit: The last North Sunderland consultation had over 300 responses.
(27 Mar 2014, 5:50 pm)Kuyoyo wrote The initial consultation was around travel habits which the network was then designed around (hence the last X17 on a morning arriving in Middlesbrough at 0915 and the first one out is 1625). This survey is now to see what can be done to tweak the network for the next planned change in July. I think most of the passengers consulted in the first wave responded to the consultation (as they were handed out on the buses themselves by the drivers and 'Arriva Angels').
That is an excellent way of ensuring passengers are included.
The more people who can be consulted, then I am sure the bigger the success in the changes.
Companies need to be proactive in doing so. They wont increase the sample by removing one of the mediums.
I wonder what the costs are in this ie Promotion of changes in several mediums versus a smaller sample and changes being made 2/3 times over (as in North Sunderland and SE Northumberland) until a solution is found.