Translink 'Need To Improve Services'

The Consumer Council has said Translink needs to improve the punctuality of some of its public transport services.

The advice comes as Translink's Charter Monitoring Results for Autumn 2013 is published, which shows both Metro and Ulsterbus failing to meet their punctuality targets.

The report showed that only 82% of Metro services arrived on time, which falls short of the Charter target of 95%. In addition, the punctuality services of Ulsterbus also fell, with 92% of services arriving on time – again, below the Charter target of 95%.

Commenting on the results, Aodhan O'Donnell, Interim Chief Executive of the Consumer Council said: "These latest results are a cause for concern, as not only are they the poorest set of punctuality results for Metro services for a number of years, overall customer satisfaction with Metro is also at its lowest level since Autumn 2008.

"This is worrying given that Metro services account for approximately a third of public transport journeys."

He continued: "Punctuality is a key issue for consumers. Passengers need to have confidence that they will arrive on time at their destination and these results will not help instil consumer confidence in bus services. Translink must ensure the action taken to address the punctuality of bus services, is having an immediate and positive effect.

"The Consumer Council is supportive of public transport. We will continue to work closely with Translink and the Department of Regional Development and we will be monitoring progress over the coming weeks and months."

(JP)