HC Deb 23 October 2002 vol 391 cc305-6W
Mr. Don Foster

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment has been conducted into the effectiveness of(a) the Traveline phone service and (b) the traveline.org.uk website; and if he will places copies of related correspondence in the Library. [76475]

Mr. Jamieson

The Department for Transport has funded on behalf of traveline three waves of Mystery Shopping. The report from the third wave of Mystery Shopping indicated that the traveline service has significantly improved in all regions since the first wave of mystery shopping was carried out 12 months ago. The time taken to answer calls and the customer service elements of the calls were generally satisfactory or good. Overall 95 per cent. (Wave 2 result 93 per cent., Wave 1 result 88 per cent.) of the answers given were completely accurate and reflects an improvement across the regions but particularly for some of the long distance call types. Twelve call centres in wave 3 scored 100 per cent. on accuracy (5 in wave 2).

There will be no current assessment on the effectiveness of the traveline website, as not all regions have been added. The traveline site at present is based around best principles as established through other transport planning web services.

Copies of the final reports from the three waves of Mystery Shopping will be placed in the Libraries of the House.