HSL area ranked among the top two in the international BEST survey

HSL area was ranked second in the 2015 international BEST public transport survey (Benchmarking in European Service of Public Transport). Geneva took the first place. Some 81 per cent of HSL area residents were satisfied with public transport. In total 1,900 respondents from all HSL’s member municipalities participated in the survey.

Satisfaction with disruption information, staff’s ability to provide information and cleanliness of vehicles has significantly improved over the past years. The increased satisfaction is in line with the measures taken. HSL has taken measures to better manage service disruptions, enhance staff customer service skills and improve quality control.

“The results shown that HSL has been monitoring the results of customer satisfaction surveys and taken measure to improve the satisfaction. Cooperation with operators and other stakeholders has delivered results,” says HSL’s Head of Operational Research Antti Vuorela.

The HSL area was below the average of the BEST cities in staff behavior (HSL 66%, BEST 70%) but the figure has been improving in the recent years.

In Geneva, satisfaction with public transport increased by a whopping 11 percentage points to 86 per cent. The increase was due to significant fare cuts. After Geneva and Helsinki, the next most successful cities were Oslo (72%) and Stockholm (71%). The poorest results were recorded in Copenhagen (59%) and Bergen (50%).

The HSL area ranked above average in many respects. HSL’s strengths were public transport loyalty (HSL 79%, BEST 65%), value for money (HSL 54%, BEST 40%) and overall satisfaction (HSL 81%, BEST 70%). In addition, public transport services outside the city center (HSL 66%, BEST 53%) and availability of seats (HSL 87%, BEST 68%) were rated high.

The BEST survey is a commensurate survey on the quality of public transport services in the participating cities. In 2015, the participants included the HSL area, Bergen, Geneva, Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm.