BRIGG AND NORTH LINCS COULD LEARN FROM LINCOLNSHIRE'S LEAD

On Bigby Road in Brigg the other day we saw one of Lincolnshire's CallConnect buses heading off towards Caistor on the A1084. It's not unusual to see these mini-buses delivering a few folk to Brigg or returning to their base in the old county.
CallConnect is a public bus service that operates only in response to a pre-booked request (on a ‘dial a bus’ basis).
Lincolnshire County Council now tells us that  more than 98% of passengers using  its CallConnect bus service are satisfied with how it meets their travel needs.
The figure was revealed in CallConnect’s latest passenger survey, with 98.2% of passengers expressing their overall satisfaction with the service. The total is a four per cent rise compared to the previous survey in 2010.
Other results from the new survey include:
98% overall satisfaction with CallConnect
98% overall satisfaction with the  punctuality of the service
99% overall satisfaction with vehicle safety and cleanliness
98% overall satisfaction with helpfulness of Booking Centre staff
99% overall satisfaction with the helpfulness of drivers
Chris Briggs, Head of Transportation, said: “It is very pleasing to see that CallConnect continues to deliver an excellent service to customers throughout rural Lincolnshire. It is also testament to the bus drivers and Booking Centre team that they can make these improvements even in the face of our challenging national economic situation.”
Service Manager Paul Sanders added: “We are delighted with the results. They are a reflection of the whole team’s dedication to the service. We really do understand how important rural public transport is to people throughout this area, and that’s why we strive so hard to make the service everything that people need it to be. But we are not resting on our laurels. Even now we are looking at boosting the service still further by extending our Booking Centre opening hours and making improvements to our fleet of buses.”
It was also revealed this week that there were more than a quarter of a million passenger journeys made using the CallConnect service last year.
The total appeared in the service’s annual performance report and is yet another year-on-year rise in passenger journey numbers and underlines the continuing success of a service that has gone from strength to strength since its launch in 2001.
During a busy year, there were more than 252,000 passenger journeys made on CallConnect, an increase of 1.3% over the previous year, contributing to an overall increase of almost 25% since 2010.
For more details about the survey, performance report or CallConnect itself, contact the CallConnect team on 0845 234 3344; visit www.lincsinterconnect.com or text CallConnect to 82727.
Most CallConnect services are fully flexible and are operated by modern fully accessible minibuses.
Anyone can use CallConnect for any purpose such as shopping, medical appointments, work, training or just meeting friends.
In most cases CallConnect will pick up and set down at designated locations in each village or town. Passengers with a disability or those living in more isolated locations (where there is no natural pick up point) can be picked up and returned to their home address, if it is safe and practical to do so.
You can use CallConnect to travel to any location within each service operating area, and if you are travelling further afield you can connect with the main Interconnect bus service or other local bus or train service.
Registration to become a CallConnect member is free, but you must be a CallConnect member on 0845 234 3344 to be able to book a journey.
Lincolnshire County Council is clearly well to the fore with CallConnect. But has our own own top-tier authority,  North Lincolnshire, taking it onboard?                    



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