Customer Service Advisors/Inspectors

[notepanel]

I don't know whether it's just me, or whether the numbers have actually reduced as a result of AVL etc, but I feel I haven't seen as many Inspectors or NX Representatives around town or at bus stations.

Whilst waiting for no more than 20 minutes on Lower Bull Street this afternoon, there seemed to be a great deal of passengers who were unaware of what buses went where, or what stop a bus went from. These people were asking mainly fellow passengers or the driver. Obviously, many of the people being asked didn't have a clue, whilst understandably the bus drivers only had a limited knowledge mostly of their depots routes.

I was thinking could NXWM not introduce 'Customer Service Reps' at such locations. These would differ from inspectors in that they would primarily be there for customer service, rather than operations and hence would have no operational control. They would just be there to assist customers queries regarding routes, stops & ticketing, and be able to deal with things such as lost property & recording complaints. They could also have radio contact with AVL & the buses to chase up and more importantly be informed of delayed services so they could in turn then inform the passengers of the disruption.

The biggest bonus over the inspector is that they would be on less pay. I appreciate there are also Route Managers for instance, but these can only be on part of the route at a time!

You could argue that this is what the Travelshops are for, but for example in Birmingham that can be quite a distance away (assuming you even know it is there) whilst at Wolverhampton it is ran by Centro - presenting issues with lost property for instance & complaints for instance.

I'd be interested to hear other peoples thoughts on this matter....

[Westy]

If its anything like the managers at our place, you can never find them when you want them!

[Trident 4609]

Usually a few inspectors/route managers in Wolverhampton. There were about 4-5 inspectors in the station today

[vinh1000]

Usually a few also down Lloyd House

[Stu]

A while back I was waiting for a bus in the city centre, and I was stood smoking a ciggie next to one of the big signs they have dotted around the interchanges; someone stopped me and asked where they needed to catch a bus from to get to wherever it was they were going, I forget now, but I simply turned, studied and looked at the map and then pointed them in the right direction.

These fancy interchange map signs are not just there to look pretty, they're also to be used!  ;D

[Ashley 4569]

I agree with you Stu, most shelters have timetables, central areas have maps yet people dont bother with them half the time, they just hold up a service quizzing drivers, makes you wonder why they spend the money in the first place putting the information out there in such a vast and informative quantity

[Kevin]

The thing is I hear a lot of people asking about specific roads, which aren't going to be on any map / information point and it's asking a hell of a lot for the drivers to know even if they go past it sometimes, taxis however.....

[Ashley 4569]

To add to your point Kevin, i got on a YW49 at Kings Norton yesterday and the guy in front of me was asking "do you go to the green?". The driver didnt know. The guy then asked "do you go past Mcdonalds?" I think the driver said 18 but im not sure he totally knew what to say. I only asked if that bus was going to solihull because reading President blinds is almost impossible