Indicators and Targets


nottingham city transport

How have the Indicators and Targets been decided?

Targets and performance indicators allow us to monitor our business to ensure that we are providing you, our passengers, with the service you expect.

There are currently 7 NCT performance indicators and this section explains to you why we have chosen these specific indicators, how the targets have been set and how we measure our performance.

There are already some national targets for bus operators, although there is no statutory requirement for us to report our performance on these to the public. NCT has decided however that it is important for you to see how well we are doing compared to these national targets, setting high standards in the industry.

We will be rolling out more indicators and targets to cover other areas of our business, and reviewing our existing targets on an annual basis.

Indicator	Why do we measure this?	How has the target been set?	How do we monitor performance?

1. Service Performance	This is a national target, outlined by central government in the 10 Year Transport Plan, that bus operators should operate at least 99.5% of their timetabled journeys.	In accordance with the requirement by government.	Every week, any journeys that do not operate (e.g. due to traffic, roadworks, vandalism etc.) are recorded electronically. The total number of journeys that do not operate are then subtracted from the total number of journeys we have registered to operate (currently around 36,000 per week), and then it is converted in to a percentage.
2. Service Reliability City Centre	This is a national target set by the Traffic Commissioner, who expects that at least 95% of all registered journeys will depart from their City Centre terminal point between “1 minute before and 5 minutes after” the registered time. For example, a bus registered to depart at 08.00 can do so between 07.59 and 08.05 and meet this requirement.	In accordance with the Traffic Commissioner's requirement.	NCT employ Inspectors and Customer Service Auditors who undertake over 1,000 reliability checks across the entire network every week. Each week, they check and compare the actual departure time of buses against the registered departure time. There results are then analysed to determine the number of observed buses that departed within the agreed time window. Finally, the number of complying journeys is then subtracted from the total number of observed journeys, and converted into a percentage.
3. Service Reliability Non City Centre	As well as monitoring reliability from the City Centre, we think it is important that we check the reliability of buses as they travel to and from the city.	In accordance with the Traffic Commissioner's requirement for the City Centre Observations, for consistency.	As above, but at stops outside the City Centre.
4. Call Centre	Our Call Centre is a very popular way of contacting NCT, with around 8,000 people every month calling 950 60 70. Whether it is for a route or service enquiry, journey planning advice or to pass on a comment or complaint, we recognise that it is important we answer your calls.	From guidance from other call centres, both in and outside the bus industry. Traveline (the national bus timetable enquiry line), who provide a dedicated timetable enquiry service, have a target that they will answer 85% of calls. NCT consider that as our Call Centre is mainly for quicker enquiries, such as routes and lost property, that a higher target of 95% is more suitable.	The total number of calls answered every month is subtracted from the total number of people who call our Travel Centre and then converted into a percentage.
5. Bus Fleet	National government has set a target that bus operators should have 50% of their operational fleet with low floor access by 2010. Access to buses is very important and we want to share with you how our investment in new buses (£25m over the past 5 years) is benefiting you.	Adoption of the national government target.	The number of low floor, easy access buses, is subtracted from the entire fleet total, and then converted into a percentage.
6. Bus Fleet Age	There is a national target that the average vehicle age of a bus operator's fleet should be 8 years by 2010.	Adoption of the national government target.	The age of every bus (in months and days) is added together, and then divided by the number of buses in the fleet.
7. Go2 Excess Wait Time	Reliability on our frequent Go2 services is just as important as less frequent services, to avoid buses bunching together. We advertise Go2 as "10 minutes or better", which means there will be at least 6 buses in every hour during the day.	Adoption of the national government target.	We use a model called EWT (Excess Wait Time) which calculates the difference between the scheduled level of service and the actual level of service. We measure the intervals of buses in minutes and compare what should be, if everything operated to exact times (e.g. 10, 10, 10) and what happened (e.g. 9, 11, 10). EWT is the actual length of time a passenger waits above what they would have done, if all the buses ran to exact times.