City bus services doing well, but passengers want improvements

(CS) Overall satisfaction with the public transport network in Luxembourg City has increased over the past years, a study has found, although bus passengers would like to see more information on delays and increased safety.

A customer satisfaction survey was carried out in August 2013, which showed that use of buses in the capital has increased by 14 percent since 2009, rising to over 36 million passenger in 2012.

More than half of respondents said that they use the bus to go to work, but also when heading for an outing, such as going to the cinema, or running errands.

The most commonly cited reason for using public transport was convenience, and the difficulty of finding parking. Less than half of respondents said that they use public transport because it is more environmentally friendly.

Overall satisfaction increases

At the same time the bus system is getting more popular, with only 11 percent saying that they are not satisfied with it. Meanwhile, 43 percent said they were satisfied, around a third indicated they were very satisfied and 10 percent said they are completely satisfied.

Compared to 2009 this means that fewer people are unhappy with public transport and at the same time more people were very or completely satisfied. The number of people who said they were merely satisfied decreased by 5 percent.

Customers were especially positive about the service's network, the frequency of buses, information provided on the bus about routes and stops, feeling safe on the bus during the day, as well as measures to protect the environment, such as introducing more hybrid buses.

Passengers feel unsafe at night

However, there were also several complaints, with the main issues for passengers being a lack of information about bus delays, as well as feeling unsafe at bus stops and on buses at nighttime. Additionally, passengers were unhappy with the driving style of bus drivers and wished for more comfortable and better equipped bus stops.

Still, a whopping 95 percent of public transport users would recommend it to a friend.

Despite the positive development, however, the car remained the most popular mode of transport, with 61 percent of respondents who live, work or go to school in the City saying that they usually travel by car.

The survey was conducted online by TNS Ilres, consulting 1,027 people living in the Grand Duchy aged 16 or over, as well as 497 frequent Luxembourg City public transport users.