I am a car driver. I love my car because I can get anywhere I want quickly and easily.
But it costs a fortune and when it breaks down I am left stranded.
"No problem, I'll go by bus" thought I just the other day, so I rang Traveline to get the details.
Quickly and easily I was told the time for the next bus into Durham - 4 miles away - and they even told me how much it was - £2.10 single and £3.10 return.
Not a bad price - and it turned up bang on time.
Brilliant!
Finding £3.10 in cash in my house is not easy, but I raided the change jar of a pocketful of 20ps and was on my way.
45 minutes later I arrived in Durham having gone on a very pleasant sojourn through the villages and shopping centres west of Durham.
And here is the big problem for me - as a car driver: 3/4 of an hour to go 4 miles.
At every opportunity for the bus to head towards Durham, it didn't!
Now if there was a feeder minibus that could take us Langley Parkers up to the main road, where we could get on a big bus and head straight to our destination, stopping only to pick up passengers from feeder services along the way, it would take far less time.
Surely this would be better. For me as a car driver, it certainly would.
But here is the surprising thing. When I asked a couple of my older female fellow passengers they said they would prefer to sit on a bus for an unnecessary half an hour each way than change along the way - even when I suggested that this hypothetical minibus could pick them up from home, and wait until the big bus arrived, they were not convinced.
I then asked what their response would be if this service of mine was introduced; would they complain. "No, we'd just get on with it".
So, a question is, do we need to be designing services around existing customers, or around potential new customers?
Hmmm . . . .
Cameron
But it costs a fortune and when it breaks down I am left stranded.
"No problem, I'll go by bus" thought I just the other day, so I rang Traveline to get the details.Quickly and easily I was told the time for the next bus into Durham - 4 miles away - and they even told me how much it was - £2.10 single and £3.10 return.
Not a bad price - and it turned up bang on time.
Brilliant!
Finding £3.10 in cash in my house is not easy, but I raided the change jar of a pocketful of 20ps and was on my way.
45 minutes later I arrived in Durham having gone on a very pleasant sojourn through the villages and shopping centres west of Durham.
And here is the big problem for me - as a car driver: 3/4 of an hour to go 4 miles.At every opportunity for the bus to head towards Durham, it didn't!
Now if there was a feeder minibus that could take us Langley Parkers up to the main road, where we could get on a big bus and head straight to our destination, stopping only to pick up passengers from feeder services along the way, it would take far less time.
Surely this would be better. For me as a car driver, it certainly would.
But here is the surprising thing. When I asked a couple of my older female fellow passengers they said they would prefer to sit on a bus for an unnecessary half an hour each way than change along the way - even when I suggested that this hypothetical minibus could pick them up from home, and wait until the big bus arrived, they were not convinced.
I then asked what their response would be if this service of mine was introduced; would they complain. "No, we'd just get on with it".
So, a question is, do we need to be designing services around existing customers, or around potential new customers?
Hmmm . . . .
Cameron
No comments:
Post a Comment