By email
Shed 39,
2 Fryatt Quay
Pipit
ea, Wellington 6011
PO Box 1
1646
26 April 2020
Manners St
reet
Wellingt
on 6142
T 04 384 5708
File Ref: OIAP-7-15182
F 04 385 6960
www.gw.govt.nz
[FYI request #12714 email]
Dear Abbie
Request for information 2020-061
“I refer to your request for information which was received by Greater Wellington Regional Council
(GWRC) on 26 April 2020. You requested the following information:
“…I'm doing a design research project on buses and what design features on a typical bus service
may cause issues to people who are in any way impaired. I am requesting a record of complaints
regarding the Wellington Bus Service from the last year (2019/2020).
I am specifically interested in complaints from people who are in some way impaired, be that
physically, sensory, visually, mentally, linguistically. Even struggling as a consequence of age,
pregnancy or economic position.
An example of this may be something along the lines of: "As someone who is blind, I am not able to
see where we are and so cannot request to get off the bus at the correct time"
If specific complaints such as this are not easily accessible, I would appreciate a sample size of
general complaints regarding the bus service from the last year.
Any information you can give me is appreciated. Thank you for your time.”
GWRC’s response follows
GWRC’s Customer Relationship Management System
GWRC manages and records all customer feedback received by the Metlink contact centre using the
Metlink Resolve Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. Customer feedback is
categorised and logged in Resolve as either a compliment, complaint or enquiry and is further
classified by contact centre staff using a number of codes and sub-codes e.g. Passenger Information;
Operational Performance; Service Design; Vehicle and sub-code e.g. Accessibility, Passenger
Interaction, Driving. Please note that codes and sub codes are applied in relation to the customer’s
SG DECISION LETTER ABBIE
recollection of a situation; a customer may describe an event involving multiple factors which can
be interpreted and recorded by an operator in different ways and all feedback is entered as free text
into Resolve. It should be noted that as a CRM system records each customer contact as an
individual incident or report the same incident could be recorded as multiple incidents by many
customers.
Your request [information sought by you]
I note that you are interested to receive information relating to complaints from people who are in
some way impaired (as noted by you above) and relating to the design features on a typical bus
service.
We do not categorise customer feedback in the exact ways you have suggested, but we can provide
you with information resulting from the following key searches of our Resolve database. Note the
search results will not provide a complete picture of all possible relevant cases, as cases can be
coded it multiple ways (as noted above), but they do provide a good sample of the types of
complaints that have been received and that may relate to your area of interest.
Search 1 provides the results of a search of the Resolve system between 26 July 2019 (the date at
which we had introduced a tag for “vulnerable”) to 25 April 2020, for all cases using the tag
“vulnerable”. The purpose of this tag is to help identify passengers who may be particularly
vulnerable due to age, disability or have a level of mental or physical impairment which means they
experience difficulties using public transport. Thirty six cases were identified as being in scope of
your request.
Search 2 provides the results of search of the Resolve system between 26 April 2019 and 25 April
2020 using the Vehicle case code and a sub-code of “Accessibility”. Fourteen cases were identified
as being in scope of your request.
We have decided to release the results of the above searches to you. Please note this will be in the
form of an anonymised summary in order to protect the privacy of natural persons. Please contact
Sharon Scheffers directly so that we are able to discuss the particular information that you would
like to receive from our search results (for example, complaints from passengers with accessibility
issues may relate to the bus design and/or the driver behaviour). Once we have received
confirmation from you we will prepare the information for release (anonymised). Sharon can be
contacted on [email address].
Further information that you may find useful
You may also find it useful to look at the Bus Network Review report, which considered pubic
feedback about the design of the new bus network implemented in 2018. The report contains
specific details from focus groups held with people with disabilities. The report can be found on the
GWRC website at the following website address:
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https://www.metlink.org.nz/assets/Uploads/Research-First-BNR-Wgtn-City-Engagement-Detail-
Report.pdf
Current bus service design standards
Metlink has a commitment to making public transport accessible and convenient for all passengers
and most vehicles in accordance with the Requirements for Urban Buses (RUB) are accessible for
wheelchairs and mobility aids as long as they meet size and weight restrictions outlined on the
Metlink website. Newer buses in the fleet are also able to kneel to assist passengers with mobility
services to alight and disembark the bus.
Metlink is committed to working with our operators and customers to improve public transport
services for all users.
I hope you find the information outlined above useful. If you have any concerns with the decision(s)
referred to in this letter, you have the right to request an investigation and review by the
Ombudsman under section 27(3) of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act
1987.
Good luck with your assignment.
Yours sincerely
Scott Gallacher
General Manager, Metlink
SG DECISION LETTER ABBIE
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