”My Bus” scheme beats the school run

A UK passenger-transport executive is attempting to drive down the numbers of parents using their cars for the school run by an innovative training programme for bus operators.

Metro, the passenger-transport authority for West Yorkshire, worked with Liverpool-based training consultancy Carol Doyle Training on the “My Bus”yellow school-bus programme to eliminate more than 1,000 car journeys a week during peak hours. The programme was highly commended in the latest UK National Training Awards.

Metro secured Government funding for “My Bus” in 2003 and, with Carol Doyle Training, created a driver-training workshop to equip drivers with customer-care skills, confidence and awareness of the significance of the scheme.

“Previously, a large proportion of school-bus drivers felt under-valued by their respective employers, and many of them did not know the best way to deal with situations or recognise the benefits of providing high levels of customer service. When designing the training, we metaphorically stepped into the drivers’ shoes, and from this viewpoint we could see and feel what would be important to them on a training course,” said Carol Doyle.

The classroom-based course combined two elements – fundamentals and behaviour – and was delivered to groups of between four and 12 drivers. The emphasis was on informality and drivers were encouraged to discuss their own experiences and to advise each other.

Over an 18-month period, a total of 74 drivers attended 18 training sessions,which were validated by evaluation forms, feedback from managers and a parent-satisfaction survey.

All the drivers were rated “good” in terms of customer service and their ability to drive safely, and most were rated “excellent” in customer service by Metro’s monitoring staff.

“At the time of the nomination, 54 ‘My Bus’ buses served 77 schools across the county,” said Metro’s yellow-bus liaison officer,Mike Nolan. “On average, 50 children are registered to use each secondary-school service and 21 for primary schools. To date, there are 100 brand new ‘My Buses’ serving 112 schools throughout West Yorkshire.

“An average of 64 per cent of new bus users formerly travelled to school by car, meaning up to 1,800 cars a week are being removed from the roads at busy times of the day. The average family using the service is saving 43 minutes a day.

“This is an example of the public sector setting the standards across private-sector operators for the benefit of passengers, and is the only major scheme of its kind in Britain.”