Press Releases - News - Translink
Government funding and Translink expertise pay off as transport targets met -Translink’s Annual Review millions more passenger numbers
20th June 2008:
Group Chief Executive of NITHC and Translink, Catherine Mason, discusses with passengers NITHC and Translink’s Annual Review. The Review reveals that more people are choosing to travel on buses and trains with three and a half million more journeys during 2007/08 and customer satisfaction is at its highest level since records began 14 years ago.
NITHC / Translink today (20 June) published their Annual Review showing that more people are choosing to travel on buses and trains with three and a half million more journeys during 2007/08 and customer satisfaction at its highest level since records began 14 years ago.
The success follows increased investment by Government in buses, trains, track and passenger facilities and ongoing changes and improvements to services which customers have liked.
Group Chief Executive of NITHC and Translink, Catherine Mason said, “The best measure of success is how many people are choosing to us our services. In the last 4 years, we have seen more and more growth - around 7 million more journeys by bus and train. There are now nearly 80 million journeys a year beating Government targets - and three years early.
“We are giving our passengers more frequent, comfortable, speedy journeys and accessible vehicles and stations. It is good that we are getting it right for our customers and we intend to keep on making the changes that persuade more people to choose the bus and train.
“For us this means value for money, vehicles that are modern and clean and staff who are professional, friendly and helpful. Particularly popular highlights of the year include extra bus links to the airports, Park & Ride, extra Ulsterbus town services throughout Northern Ireland and more rail services between Ballymena, Antrim and Belfast.
There has been a lot of investment in the past year in our network in new buses, new facilities such as Lisburn Buscentre and improvements to rail halts. Also, our programme of rail engineering work has continued and all projects are carefully managed to deliver the benefits ‘on time and on budget’.
“We are proud to provide an invaluable service for the Northern Ireland community and are delighted with the success we’ve had in improving public transport. But while we are committed to building on this success there are some big challenges ahead; the cost of fuel is rising and congestion is getting worse meaning the average speed of our buses is falling.
“Excellent public transport is the right choice for the community – it makes everyone’s quality of life better and plays a big part in the sustainable development of our economy and environment.” Catherine concluded.
Ends
For further information please contact Keelin Kelly at Morrow Communications on 028 9039 3837 or email k.kelly@morrowcommunications.com
Notes to Editor
Key Highlights
- Rail - New rail timetable from Ballymena and Antrim to Belfast with more services at peak times. New park and ride facility at Ballymena is already full and new trains are a great success. Endeavours to make Enterprise a great service are ongoing but Translink recognises a departure to Dublin and back every hour is needed and is working with Irish Rail and Government to put this in place. Successful and innovative measures have minimised weather-related delays by 20%.
- Bus - New Ulsterbus town services introduced along with better rural links as part of a rolling programme rejuvenating the entire network. 305 new buses purchased - including Europe’s first fully accessible coaches – which has reduced Translink’s average bus fleet age to meet the Government’s Regional Transportation Strategy for 2012, 4 years ahead of schedule, and ensuring Belfast has one of the youngest urban bus fleets in GB or Ireland. The Bustrak real time information system at Metro bus stops which ‘counts down’ the time until the arrival of the next bus is rolling out across Belfast. New buses for school services and all new (non urban) buses and coaches are fully seat belted.
- Airport Services - The Goldline 200 express coach service between Belfast and Dublin Airport and city centre now runs on an hourly basis, 24/7. A new hourly bus service(109a) links Lisburn to Belfast International Airport (BIA) and Antrim. The Airport Express 300 service from Belfast to BIA runs through the night and every 10mins at peak hour and the 600 service to Belfast City Airport runs every 20mins throughout the day.
- Infrastructure and Facilities - A new buscentre opened in Strabane, a new buscentre at Lisburn is complete and will be open to the public from this month and a new rail station at Newry underway. All rail stations and halts are also being improved with new signage, lighting, seats, platform surfaces, shelters and ramps or lifts where possible. Engineering work started on the rail track north of Ballymena to extend its life, allow trains to go faster and provide a smoother ride for passengers. Sprucefield and Black’s Road Park and Ride continue to be very popular as are newly extended facilities at Moira and Ballymena rail stations.
- Customer Service - Colleagues from the Translink Callcentre and Rail Services have received accreditation from the Institute of Customer Service – this is a new standard being rolled out to others in Translink who meet and talk directly with customers. The Callcentre now provides many additional, useful functions such as Smartpass top ups, while the website now offers 5 European languages, newsfeeds and tourist information. To reflect the fact that there are more customers, there are also now more people working for Translink to make sure they get a great service – numbers of colleagues driving buses and trains and on board trains have increased. Translink also managed to avoid increasing fares in 2007 unfortunately this year the cost of fuel has meant an increase in fares between 3 and 5%. During 2007 Translink asked customers what they thought of services and found that satisfaction is at its highest level since measuring began 14 years ago. Scores were slightly lower during the difficult autumn period, compared with spring, due to worsening weather and increased congestion.
- Accessibility - A programme to ensure everyone has access to public transport is progressing well with ramps and lifts being incorporated at halts and stations. New buses and trains purchased are also fully accessible.
- Accreditations and Awards - Translink picked up 6 awards during the year including best large station and best overall station at the 2007 International Station Awards.
- Integration - 10million journeys were made on integrated tickets. Translink is striving to build on this and increase the number of tickets available online.
- Safety - Ongoing safety campaign includes Safety Bus visits to schools, a campaign which has won many awards for innovation. Enhancing safety across all its operations and building upon an already very good safety record is absolutely crucial for Translink. A lot of time and resource is invested into hard hitting communications campaigns, regular risk assessments on bus routes, full installation of a Train Protection Warning Systems on track and rolling stock, integrated safety exercises with the Fire Service, Ambulance Service and PSNI to keep emergency plans fresh in people’s minds. Translink also actively prosecutes those who trespass or misuse crossings, damage property or engage in anti-social behaviour.
- Sustainability – Translink has employed a biodiversity officer. It also works with TIDY NI, and is working to reduce further the already very low emissions from buses and improve air quality. Translink pioneered the introduction and use of low sulphur diesel in NI and has one of the youngest bus fleets in GB or Ireland with the ‘cleanest’ / least emitting Euro 3 and 4 engines. Many new vehicles also have catalytic converters and particle traps as well as idling limiters which shut down idle engines. Translink is also working to reduce energy use at its facilities and its Fortwilliam Train Care Centre now uses 20% less energy than in 2005/2006.
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