Peter Knight and Simon Ford, the company’s head of commercial, faced 45 minutes of questions from members about the first eight weeks of the company’s operation in the island at the meeting.
The lack of working announcements on some buses was among the issues raised, but another was the lack of knowledge of some bus drivers about the island.
Two people spoke about how drivers either forgot to announce a stop after promising some passengers that they would, or did not know if their route went past a particular location.
It was suggested by one member of the audience that the Environment & Infrastructure Committee should bring back the ‘knowledge test’ for both bus and taxi drivers.
Mr Knight said the company would look at the possibility of providing training about tourist attractions on some of the routes and would seek to identify other ‘nice to have’ points for the training.
There was also criticism of the organisation of the bus terminus operation at the North Beach late in the afternoon on Liberation Day when there were big crowds and confusion over which buses were arriving.
One person said the situation became dangerous because of the surges of people heading to particular buses, but added that the organisational problems were not of the bus company’s making.
Mr Ford said that part of the problem was the arrival of a ferry, which held up buses leaving the pier and led to delays.
Mr Knight said that although the company had been operating in Guernsey for only eight weeks, it had already made structural changes by taking on four full-time engineers, whereas the previous operator had sub-contracted the work
The general mood of the meeting was that it was pleased with Stagecoach’s operation so far.
‘We’re in a new environment and recognise that we’re only eight weeks in, but the key performance indicator for us is that customers enjoy a reliable, safe and clean environment on a bus network that’s easy to use and simple to understand,’ said Mr Knight.
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