Stagecoach South West Michael Watson Managing Director TravelWatch SouthWest 7 th March 2015 Facilitating Economic Growth in the South West

Overview of Presentation Stagecoach South West Recent growth projects Current Challenges Regional Growth Strategy

Stagecoach South West 1000 staff & 350 buses 30m passengers & 16m miles Serving Devon; North Cornwall; Taunton; Exeter; Torbay; Plymouth 4.5% mileage growth 5.5% passenger growth 90% Customer satisfaction Excellent Driver Training Heavy community involvement

Adopting the Stagecoach Ethos Value Frequent Investment Reliability Training

Delivery of Patronage Growth 1.North Devon 2.Cranbrook 3.Gold 4.Dawlish Rail Closure 5.Take 5 6.Torbay Ticketing

1. North Devon Network Opportunity Launch of new network – September 2012 –Low fares (£3.60 day / £11.50 week in Apr 14) –Vehicle Investment of £4m – May 2013 –Heavily promoted Patronage growth in first year of 61% Patronage still growing – currently at 3% Tender win delivered savings for DCC An example of the market correcting itself Epilogue…….Route 6/6A

2. Cranbrook New town with 2,900 new homes –700 having been built in last year Infrequent commercial and tendered services Creation of Route 4 with Devon County Council Growth –72% year 1 –37% currently Exeter zone

3. Gold Service opportunity identified between Plymouth & Torbay New service launched in competition –£2m investment in new vehicles –Leather seats –Free Wifi –Specially selected and trained drivers Existing operator withdrew after one month 900,000 passengers carried in first year Approximately 22,000 carried each week May 2014 –Plymouth to Torquay doubled to every 30 mins –Dartmouth separated and latterly extended to Exeter via the X64 Year on year growth currently at 20% 97% satisfaction with 100% who would recommend to a friend

4. Dawlish Rail Closure Sudden closure Initiative taken to accept rail tickets Fares reviewed……and slashed Reliability maintained at 99.6% 20-30% patronage increases during closure Lower fares maintained after closure 5% patronage growth maintained UK Bus Awards Special Commendation Transport Resilience is multi-modal!

5. Take Five – Crediton Corridor of disparate bus routes on an uncoordinated timetable Devon County Council Tender issued Compliant bid worth £171k Alternative bid worth £71k accepted by DCC Creation of coordinated 15 min frequency corridor with 10 min frequency in morning peak Patronage growth of 20% delivered vs 20% additional resource Longer term objective of building revenue base to justify investment in new vehicles

6. Torbay Eighteen month history of patronage decline in Torbay due to: –Closure of Fleet Walk –Closure of Sea Front –Rebuilding of Paignton Bus Station –Unreliability –Fares Rebranding exercise to transform route 12 into ‘Hop 12’. –Award-winning partnership with ERTC Vehicle invested into route 12 Launch of Attractions Partnership passport Fares measures introduced: –£5.10 day ticket reduced to £4.90 –Extension of Torbay zone to cover Dartmouth and Teignmouth –Introduction of Termrider Current Patronage growth of 10%

Challenges Acknowledgement of the importance of the bus as an economic tool –Trend of public investment being focused in other areas –Decision makers often aren’t bus users –Political football – Kicked into the long grass by talking about the administrative backdrop rather than funding Austerity –BSOG –Concessionary Fares –Tendered Services Cost Pressures –Workforce –Congestion = £330k per annum (delay time, lost patronage, & +2PVR per annum) Role within Strategic Economic Plan

Regional Transport Objectives Facilitating Economic Growth –Structured approach with Devon County Council –Facilitating the evolution of Exeter’s role in the region –Section 106 and the Community Infrastructure Levy Role of the bus in the Strategic Economic Plan –Linking isolated communities –Access to jobs and education –Value for money solution and short delivery timescales –Not as ‘sexy’ as road building & investment in the railways. –Value to city centre economy

Future Investment Aspirations New Vehicles –£6m in last three years –More planned…… Technology –Ticketing –Automatic vehicle location and real time passenger information A holistic view towards highways schemes Bus Priority –Bus lanes –Traffic Signals & network optimisation –Queue relocation Bus Stop Infrastructure –Shop window Services to facilitate the mobility of labour –Linking areas of unemployment to areas of growth

Thank you – Any Questions?