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First Bus Portsmouth Map
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And First is involved, in part, in today's blog. A prize winner no less!Customer service tested.
Customer patience tested!
Oldham Town Hall
There are three ways to get ftom Oldham to Manchester by public transport: Metrolink tram, First Bus and Stagecoach. fbb's aim was to discover how fares and level of service compared. The aim was to do this from his capacious armchair using either phone or internet. So, as a starter, off go identical emails to the three operators.
The enquiry Tuesday 18th September
Single Adult fare from Oldham to Manchester
Day return fareSingle Adult fare from Oldham to Manchester
Weekly ticket
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Responses Tuesday 18th September 
Thank you for contacting the Metrolink Customer Experience team.
We will respond to your email fully within 15 working days from receipt of your correspondence, if your enquiry is urgent then please contact the Customer Experience team on 0161 205 2000 where a member of the team will be available between 07.00 and 23.00 Monday to Friday, 08.00 and 20.00 Saturday and 10.00 until 18.00 Sunday.
Once again thank you taking the time to contact us.
Kind regards
Customer Experience Team
Kind regards
Customer Experience Team
Metrolink 2
Thank you for contacting Metrolink Customer Services.
We endeavour to respond to your email fully within 15 working days from receipt of your correspondence, if your enquiry is urgent then please contact Customer Services on 0161 205 2000 where a member of the Customer Relations team will be available between 0700am and 2300pm Monday to Friday and 1000am until 1800pm Saturday and Sunday.
Once again thank you for taking the time to contact us.
Kind regards,
Cheryl Hubbard
Customer Services Manager
We endeavour to respond to your email fully within 15 working days from receipt of your correspondence, if your enquiry is urgent then please contact Customer Services on 0161 205 2000 where a member of the Customer Relations team will be available between 0700am and 2300pm Monday to Friday and 1000am until 1800pm Saturday and Sunday.
Once again thank you for taking the time to contact us.
Kind regards,
Cheryl Hubbard
Customer Services Manager
Why two (slightly different) replies? 15 Working days? Endeavour to reply? To reply to a factual query? Rubbish service.
Thank you for contacting us. One of our Customer Care Team will respond to you soon.
Soon? Why not straight away? Time will tell what "soon" means.
NOTHING
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Response Thursday 20th September
First Manchester
Good morning,
The cost of an adult weekly ticket is £18.00, a day saver is £4.50, a single fare will be £3.80.
Thank you for taking the time to contact us.
Kind Regards
First in Manchester
Website Team
The cost of an adult weekly ticket is £18.00, a day saver is £4.50, a single fare will be £3.80.
Thank you for taking the time to contact us.
Kind Regards
First in Manchester
Website Team
First prize goes to First for sending the required information first. And it's the same on-line; which is encouraging.
But no single fares can be gleaned from the interwebnet.
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By Friday 5th October no replies had been received from either Metrolink or Stagecoach; so fbb sent off a gentle reminder. It said, simply, "I await a reply to my query of Tuesday 18th September."
Responses Friday 5th October
Metrolink 3
Thank you for contacting Metrolink Customer Services.
We endeavour to respond to your email fully within 15 working days from receipt of your correspondence, if your enquiry is urgent then please contact Customer Services on 0161 205 2000 where a member of the Customer Relations team will be available between 0700am and 2300pm Monday to Friday and 1000am until 1800pm Saturday and Sunday.
Once again thank you for taking the time to contact us.
Kind regards,
Cheryl Hubbard
Customer Services Manager
And, of course, they always reply twice. And, of course, they always reply twice.
Metrolink 4
Thank you for contacting the Metrolink Customer Experience team.
We will respond to your email fully within 15 working days from receipt of your correspondence, if your enquiry is urgent then please contact the Customer Experience team on 0161 205 2000 where a member of the team will be available between 07.00 and 23.00 Monday to Friday, 08.00 and 20.00 Saturday and 10.00 until 18.00 Sunday.
Once again thank you taking the time to contact us.
Kind regards
Customer Experience Team
Here we go again; we've been here before, Cheryl (see above), and we're still waiting. Another 15 days? Hope not, it was only a very simple fares query. But; soon afterwards ...
Metrolink 5
Hello Mr White
Thank you for your email. Please accept our apologies for the lateness in replying it would seem that your initial email was missed and for this I cannot apologise enough.
The prices are as follows for tickets from Oldham Mumps to the city centre:
Single adult £3.20
Peak (Monday-Friday before 09:30) adult return £4.80
Off-peak return £3.50
Adult weekly £19.00
To be able to purchase the weekly pass you would have to first become a member of the travel club. This is free to join, application forms can be found on www.metrolink.co.uk in the ticket info and buy online section of the website, alternatively you could take a passport photograph along with proof of identification into a travel shop, where a membership id card will be made while you are there which gives you a unique six digit membership number. This membership number is needed to purchase the weekly, quarterly or annual pass.
Once again thank you for taking the time to contact us and apologies once again for the lateness in replying.
Best Regards
Tom McCormack
Customer Experience Advisor
fbb is somewhat uncertain as to what a "Customer Experience Officer" might actually do. As a retired Omnibological Information Engineer and an unpaid and part-time Exegetical Experience Communicator, and a former Senior Pedagogic Educational Co-ordinator, fbb is somewhat bemused by some of these "vacuous" job titles. Equally baffling is the need to join a free club and be given an identity card and a number ...
... ("I am a free man, I am not a number") just to buy a ticket. Crazy.
Still waiting. fbb will try again later this week if nothing materialises. Perhaps write to Sir Brian direct?
Response Monday 8th October (at last!)
Dear Mr White,
Thank you for your email regarding service 76.
I was concerned to read that you do not appear to have had a response from September. This does follow (think you probably mean is "does NOT follow" - fbb) our customer code of conduct which is that we will provide a response as quickly as possible and always within one week. Please accept my apologies for this delay and my assurance that I will be investigating why the this delay has occurred.
The fares you requested are:
Single Fare (adult) - £2.90
Day return ditto - £3.90 dayrider unlimited travel ticket for all Stagecoach Manchester buses
Weekly ticket - £12.00 megarider unlimited travel ticket for all Stagecoach Manchester buses
I trust this information is helpful. If you have any further query please do not hesitate to contact me.
Best regards
Andrew Howard-Smith
Marketing Assistant
So, after multiple e-mails and 20 (twenty!) days, fbb has the fares information needed to complete his "Contrast and Compare" blog for travel from Oldham to Manchester.
Bet you can't wait?
Thank you for contacting Metrolink Customer Services.
We endeavour to respond to your email fully within 15 working days from receipt of your correspondence, if your enquiry is urgent then please contact Customer Services on 0161 205 2000 where a member of the Customer Relations team will be available between 0700am and 2300pm Monday to Friday and 1000am until 1800pm Saturday and Sunday.
Once again thank you for taking the time to contact us.
Kind regards,
Cheryl Hubbard
Customer Services Manager
And, of course, they always reply twice. And, of course, they always reply twice.
Metrolink 4
Thank you for contacting the Metrolink Customer Experience team.
We will respond to your email fully within 15 working days from receipt of your correspondence, if your enquiry is urgent then please contact the Customer Experience team on 0161 205 2000 where a member of the team will be available between 07.00 and 23.00 Monday to Friday, 08.00 and 20.00 Saturday and 10.00 until 18.00 Sunday.
Once again thank you taking the time to contact us.
Kind regards
Customer Experience Team
Here we go again; we've been here before, Cheryl (see above), and we're still waiting. Another 15 days? Hope not, it was only a very simple fares query. But; soon afterwards ...
Metrolink 5
Hello Mr White
Thank you for your email. Please accept our apologies for the lateness in replying it would seem that your initial email was missed and for this I cannot apologise enough.
The prices are as follows for tickets from Oldham Mumps to the city centre:
Single adult £3.20
Peak (Monday-Friday before 09:30) adult return £4.80
Off-peak return £3.50
Adult weekly £19.00
To be able to purchase the weekly pass you would have to first become a member of the travel club. This is free to join, application forms can be found on www.metrolink.co.uk in the ticket info and buy online section of the website, alternatively you could take a passport photograph along with proof of identification into a travel shop, where a membership id card will be made while you are there which gives you a unique six digit membership number. This membership number is needed to purchase the weekly, quarterly or annual pass.
Once again thank you for taking the time to contact us and apologies once again for the lateness in replying.
Best Regards
Tom McCormack
Customer Experience Advisor
fbb is somewhat uncertain as to what a "Customer Experience Officer" might actually do. As a retired Omnibological Information Engineer and an unpaid and part-time Exegetical Experience Communicator, and a former Senior Pedagogic Educational Co-ordinator, fbb is somewhat bemused by some of these "vacuous" job titles. Equally baffling is the need to join a free club and be given an identity card and a number ...
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But at least we've got the info. And the last remaining reply?Response Monday 8th October (at last!)
Thank you for your email regarding service 76.
I was concerned to read that you do not appear to have had a response from September. This does follow (think you probably mean is "does NOT follow" - fbb) our customer code of conduct which is that we will provide a response as quickly as possible and always within one week. Please accept my apologies for this delay and my assurance that I will be investigating why the this delay has occurred.
The fares you requested are:
Single Fare (adult) - £2.90
Day return ditto - £3.90 dayrider unlimited travel ticket for all Stagecoach Manchester buses
Weekly ticket - £12.00 megarider unlimited travel ticket for all Stagecoach Manchester buses
I trust this information is helpful. If you have any further query please do not hesitate to contact me.
Best regards
Andrew Howard-Smith
Marketing Assistant
So, after multiple e-mails and 20 (twenty!) days, fbb has the fares information needed to complete his "Contrast and Compare" blog for travel from Oldham to Manchester.
Bet you can't wait?
Next Bus Blog : Saturday 13th October
I'm glad to see that First have produced a "proper" map of the new East Hampshire routes, rather than a diagram. But it does look a bit cluttered in places, because they've included all services, even those that run Sundays only, schooldays only, once-a-day-in-the-morning-peak only, etc. For the purpose of helping us to understand the new routes - and maybe convincing us that the new network really is simpler than the current one - it might have been better not to show these "non-standard" services on the map. Instead, I'd list them in a box (plenty of room in Langstone Harbour or the Solent), so you know what's missing, and can check the timetable if it's something that might be useful.
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