Patronage Growth Sub-Group

Background and Context

The purpose and frequency of bus use is evolving, with the pandemic a primary catalyst for the recent pace of change. The rise in hybrid working has reduced the number of commuting trips taken by bus. The increase in online shopping and the cost of living crisis has impacted upon bus journeys for retail purposes. Overall, there has been an increase in trips for leisure purposes, and a reduction in journeys in what has traditionally been the peak hours for bus travel.

The number of trips taken by those eligible for free travel through the national concessionary travel scheme for the elderly and disabled has fallen by approximately 20%, while the launch and success of the free travel scheme for under 22s has resulted in over 105 million journeys by card-holders since the scheme launched in January 2022.

Purpose

The Patronage Growth Sub-group was chaired by Paul White, Director of CPT Scotland, and considered the factors behind reduced patronage and the actions that should be taken to grow bus use. The group aimed to review and coordinate activity that could support patronage growth in the short term as well as considering a collaborative pathway for increasing patronage in the medium to long term.

The Sub-group aimed to achieve the following:

• Identify the barriers to patronage growth
• Highlight the barriers to patronage growth that can be tackled by the wider Taskforce, and which may be societal changes
• Outline steps that can be taken collaboratively to address the barriers to patronage growth in the short term
• Co-design a pathway to increase bus patronage in the longer term

Sub-group Structure

The sub-group was comprised of representatives of the organisations below:

• Representative for large bus operators
• Representative for small/medium bus operators
• Transport Focus
• Transform Scotland
• Transport Scotland
• Bus Users UK
• Association of Transport Coordinating Officers (ATCO)
• Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA)

Actions & Outputs

Actions and outputs during the life of the group were:

Item 1

Develop joint Transport Scotland and industry marketing campaign to encourage passengers to return to bus.

Action

“Choose the Bus” campaign ran between March and May 2023.

Item 2

Consideration of barriers and opportunities to support patronage growth and recommendations for future.

Action

The sub-group made the following recommendations:

• Given the changed context post-Covid, the group agreed that using pre-Covid patronage levels as a benchmark and comparison for current provision and passenger levels and future targets was no longer appropriate. Given the level of economic and societal change since the pandemic began and the resulting shift in travel patterns, the group recommend that this benchmark is no longer used.
• Growing public support is an important aspect of growth. All Taskforce stakeholders should work together to identify, understand and address negative perceptions related to bus use. Greater public understanding and support will help patronage growth.
• Ensuring the operating context and challenges faced by the bus sector are well understood is critical to patronage growth. Further research, ongoing monitoring and data sharing between Taskforce stakeholders should take place to support a deeper understanding of post-pandemic travel patterns, how they might further evolve, and the abilities of different stakeholders to impact upon this.
• The sub-group agreed the importance of ensuring that the environmental and public health benefits of bus are well and widely communicated, including considering opportunities for further joint marketing.
• The sub- group recognises that the delivery of the Bus Partnership Fund is a key part of delivering overall journey satisfaction and improving punctuality. The group recommends that operators and local authorities accelerate the identification and development of Bus Partnerships.

The work of the Sub-group has provided the foundation for long-term, strategic action on the future of bus in Scotland and demonstrated the value of close collaboration between local and national government, industry stakeholders and passenger groups.

Case Study: Choose the Bus Marketing Campaign 2023

As part of the wider work to support the recovery of the bus industry, Transport Scotland and industry delivered a national marketing campaign aimed at encouraging increased bus travel over two phases between March and May 2023. Using industry insight and experience, operators collectively recommended the campaign focus on two key audiences - leisure passengers of all ages and over 60s concessionary passengers.

The campaign had strong reach and engagement across channels and there was a marked increase in concessionary journeys and cardholders during the campaign period, especially when compared to pre-pandemic levels.

The overall reach of the campaign was around 30 million.

There were over 9.7 million impressions on social media, with an 88.15% increase during the second phase.

The campaign successfully directed traffic to choosethebus.scot (with over 58k link clicks to the page from social and digital adverts) and the Traveline Scotland website (with almost 40k referrals).

Journeys made through the Older and Disabled Persons’ Scheme rose to 71% of pre-pandemic levels. (Based on mean monthly journeys made in Mar-May 2023 against mean monthly journeys in Mar-May 2019). Pre-campaign journeys averaged 61% of pre-pandemic levels, meaning an increase of 10%.

Journeys made through the Older and Disabled Persons’ Scheme increased by 5.8% in the campaign period versus the period prior, and by 7.8% on the same period in 2022.

Older and Disabled cardholders increased to 1,572,070 by 31 May 2023. An increase of 1.5% from Feb 2023 and 12.5% from May 2022.