Keeping people moving & communities prospering 2017/18 a focus on South Yorkshire
Introduction from
the MD
A warm welcome from First South Yorkshire on behalf of myself and the team of nearly 1400 people who help deliver our services in the region everyday. Our bus services open up opportunities and experiences and help to create strong, vibrant and sustainable local economies. We work hard to deliver for our customers although 2017/18 was not without its challenges, driven in part by changes in customer retailing together with increasing congestion and road-works across many key corridors. We are proud to have increased the number of passenger journeys on our services over the 2017/18 financial year. After a number of years, we were also pleased to return to providing mass school transport to support our local communities after the loss of a local provider. We’ve introduced new ticket machines providing smarter travel solutions and supported this through the local Doncaster, Rotherham and SheffieldBus Partnerships, with the introduction and growth of smartcards, mobile ticketing and the launch of contactless payments. As we move into 2018/19, we continue to invest in our business, services and people and already look forward to introducing further improvements. These include ticketing developments, simplification of our fares structure, new vehicles onto our 1a and 56 services as well as many other initiatives to help improve the service we provide. South Yorkshire is at the forefront of working in partnership, and we look forward to continuing our work with partners in delivering improved, sustainable bus travel and supporting the Region’s economic, environmental and social objectives. Kevin Belfield Managing Director
South Yorkshire 2017/18
Improving our customer offer Technology
10% growth
in cashless payments for bus fares
Across the year we have invested in technology to improve the service we offer. New ticket machines now offer contactless payment and together with mobile ticketing, this supports our aims to reduce boarding times and make journeys more reliably consistent. Our aim is to reach 80% of commercial fares off bus within 5 years, helping speed up journeys and improving the experience for customers. This year we’ve also upgraded the First Bus Travel App so customers always know which bus to catch and where to catch it. It also gives real-time information on all local bus operator services.
Satisfaction
83%
overall satisfaction * An improvement of 1% from the previous year. Customer feedback is vital to our success and improvements to our services. The introduction of the online feedback tool ‘Tell First Bus’ is a good example of how we are listening to customers. Every customer comment we receive is used to identify opportunities to deliver improvements. * Transport Focus: Bus Passenger Survey
Supporting service delivery for our customers
Our buses
450 buses
across our 2 depots in Sheffield & Doncaster Our buses work hard covering over 19.5 million miles per year – they need a lot of care from our engineers which is why our local team undertake regular checks, achieving a 98% first time MOT pass rate. Over 150 of our buses are Euro V standard or better with lower emissions reducing the impact on the environment. With our investment plans for 2018/19, our fleet will reach 40% Euro VI standard. All of our buses are fitted with telematics helping ensure a better ride quality on board, and to monitor emissions and driving standards. 97% of our fleet have CCTV coverage.
Staff & training
1398 staff Our staff work hard to deliver vitally important services for our passengers and they are supported through a range of training and development opportunities. We are delighted to be UK leaders through our ‘Journey Makers’ training course. By delivering training such as this we place the customer at the heart of everything we do.
South Yorkshire 2017/18
Focus on performance Dedicated to safety Always front of mind, safety is our way of life and we actively pursue a target of zero injuries. In 2017/18, we saw staff injuries at work fall by 15% and seek similar improvements in passenger incidents. Our drivers are trained to pull away when safe (PAWS) and are coached in preventative techniques. Successful partnerships such as those with South Yorkshire Police to target vandalism and antisocial behaviour are also achieving results.
Reliability
92%
journeys starting on time We’re working smarter to track and review services, using the latest in real-time information from our ticketing system – and improving and strengthening our control room teams monitoring the buses. This includes our partnership with Stagecoach and Sheffield City Council in jointly operating in the Urban Traffic Control Centre and working together to tackle congestion and improve reliability.
Strengthening our partnerships
Community
Over
£75,000
raised locally
We’re proud to build on local stakeholder relationships and demonstrating First South Yorkshire’s commitment to supporting its community and its staff. We are a business at the centre of our local communities supporting organisations such as Sheffield Children’s Hospital, SY Air Ambulance & St. Luke’s Hospice as well as events such as Armed Forces Day. We have also been delighted to help improve connectivity for young people in partnership with the Football League Trust / National Citizen Service and Club Doncaster.
Journeys
58 million
As a division of FirstGroup, we are delighted to have contributed to our partnership with Prostate Cancer UK in delivering £1.5m in donations over the past three years.
annual passengers in South Yorkshire More people commute to work by bus than all other forms of public transport combined, and the bus has the largest market share (one third) of retail / expenditure trips to city centres.* The total number of passenger numbers increased by nearly 2% as customers benefit from great value fares, which in many cases, cost the same as 10 years ago. Together with partners over £18m has been invested through the Better Bus Area scheme in highway infrastructure over the last 5 years, for example on Barnsley Road, Sheffield. Such partnership work has helped promote economic growth and reduce emissions by improving bus services for passengers. * Greener Journeys
South Yorkshire 2017/18
First South Yorkshire
Contact us First South Yorkshire Ltd Olive Grove Depot, Olive Grove Road, Sheffield, S2 3GA Visit firstgroup.com/south-yorkshire and select ‘Help and Contact’ Customer Services phone number: 0345 646 0707 Customer Services opening times: 0700-1900 Mon-Fri 0900-1700 Weekends and bank holidays Traveline: 01709 51 51 51
www.firstgroup.com
Our numbers in summary
1.8% growth in total passenger numbers
3.3% growth
in commercial (fare-paying) passengers
Over 58 million passenger journeys a year 19.5 million miles
operated a year across our region
1398 total employees A total of 450 buses Reliability of 92%
(number of journeys that started on time)
First South Yorkshire is part of FirstGroup Plc. Our vision is to provide solutions for an increasingly congested world... keeping people moving and communities prospering.