Travel West Midlands & Centro-WMPTA Partnership Routes
Customer Charter

Services 1, 377, 451, 934, 993 & 997

Introduction

Travel West Midlands is the largest bus operator in the West Midlands. Centro and The West Midlands Passenger Transport Authority (Centro-WMPTA) are responsible for developing and promoting public transport services and encouraging people to use them. We believe that by working together we can improve the bus journey experience and are introducing a Customer Charter initially for partnership routes 1, 377, 451, 934, 993 and 997. Our aim is to provide customers with the best possible service, before, during and after your journey. We are introducing a number of measures aimed at improving your experience that will be applied to each route as they are enhanced and will include:        

• improvements to bus services including more frequent buses

• better quality low floor easy access buses

• higher standard bus stops, shelters and customer information

Performance standards have been established covering the significant features of the partnership. Travel West Midlands and Centro-WMPTA will report regularly on whether these targets have been achieved. We will be evaluating the success of the partnership over the next few months and comments will be appreciated and considered as part of the review.

This Customer Charter sets out what you can expect from us.

Before your journey

Your journey experience starts before you board your bus. We want to make catching the bus as accessible and simple as possible. We know you need high quality bus stops and accurate information and as part of our commitment to you we will provide:

• high quality waiting facilities, cleaned and maintained to a high standard by a dedicated team

• up to date information to help you plan your journey, available by telephone, at Travel Information Centres and via the Internet

• printed timetables at every bus stop and bus shelter

• real time information for all stops available via text message service to your mobile phone

• at least 1 in 4 of your bus stops with real time electronic information displays

Your journey

We want you to enjoy your bus journey and feel safe and comfortable from the moment you board your service. We have invested in improved vehicles and understand the importance of providing a reliable service. We aim to ensure every customer has an enjoyable journey and as part of our commitment to you will provide:

• high quality buses that are cleaned and maintained to a high standard by a dedicated team

• accessible services with every bus having low floor access

• digital on-board CCTV for the added security of our drivers and customers

• helpful drivers - well trained and willing to help you

• punctual and reliable bus services, which we will monitor to ensure our performance targets are achieved

After your journey

We know that sometimes things do go wrong and that you may wish to speak to us after your journey. We have tried to make it easy for you to contact us and would like to hear from you if we are not fulfilling our commitments set out in this Charter. Our friendly Customer Relations team will:

•  be happy to receive your comments by telephone, in writing or by email

• respond to your enquiry within ten working days whenever possible and tell you if our response will take a little longer

• consider your application for a refund if we fail to provide the reliable and punctual service that you expect (please refer to full Terms and Conditions for details)

You can help us make your bus journey more enjoyable by:

• making sure your bus shelter is welcoming for other customers by not smoking or leaving litter

• considering your fellow customers – please don’t put your feet on seats, obstruct the gangway, or play your music too loudly

• paying the bus driver the correct fare and retaining your ticket for inspection, or showing your pass to the driver

• not eating, drinking or smoking on board and taking any litter with you

• reporting any act of vandalism on your bus, or any other problem by text to 07624 818332 with details including the time, date, bus number and location

Our Refund Pledge

If, because of events within Travel West Midlands’ control, your journey is delayed by more than 15 minutes, we will refund your fare with travel vouchers:

• if you paid a cash fare, we will refund travel vouchers to the value of your ticket.

• if you used a Daysaver ticket, we will refund travel vouchers to half of its value

• if you used a weekly Travelcard, we will refund an appropriate proportion of its cost – one tenth of a weekly, or one fortieth of a 4-weekly/monthly

We will refund the cost of a taxi by cheque when we receive a written claim and receipt:

• if, because of events within Travel West Midlands’ control, you are not provided with a bus within 60 minutes of the scheduled departure time

• if a wheelchair user is unable to travel because a non-accessible bus is used on one of these routes

The Partnership Refund Pledge Scheme is suject to Terms and Conditions and only applies after each partnership route has been upgraded.

If you believe you have a valid claim, please complete one of our special ‘refund pledge claim forms’ and send it to Partnership Refund Pledge, PO Box 3565, Birmingham B1 3JR or by email to refundpledge@travelwm.co.uk. 

Certain causes of delay are wholly outside of our control.  These include severe weather, vandalism and traffic accidents, and refunds will not be available when delays occur in such circumstances. 

Travel vouchers can be redeemed at any one of over 300 Travel Card agents against our range of day tickets and travel cards.

We will investigate your claim within 10 working days and respond to you.  Where your claim does not meet the above criteria for a refund, we shall explain why this is the case.

Full Terms and Conditions relating to our refund pledge are available on request.

The Partnership Refund Pledge Scheme is managed and administered by Travel West Midlands.

All information is correct as at October 2007 and may be subject to change without notice.

 

Customer Relations

If you have any comments about any aspect of our partnership routes we would like to hear from you:

 By email            partnershiproutes@travelwm.co.uk       

By post             Partnership Routes Travel Care, PO Box 3565, Birmingham B1 3JR

By Telephone    0121 254 7272  

 

Contacts

For further information about the partnership, please go to:

http://www.networkwestmidlands.com/partnership  and www.travelwm.co.uk/partnership/customercharter

For route and timetable information for bus, train and Midland Metro services in the West Midlands please call Traveline 0871 200 22 33

If you would like a copy of this document in a form more suited to your needs please call 0121 214 7214

If you would like a copy of this document in a PDF format click here.