One of the great arguments which was put forward for deregulation and privatisation in the bus industry was that the changes which would make operators more market-oriented. Indeed, some still make the claim: the “high priest” of deregulation, Professor John Hibbs wrote recently that "managers are market responsive now to an extent that shows up the complacency of much of the industry in the 70s and 80s."
Putting aside any debate about past complacency (which, I must say, I did not notice amongst my extremely hard-working colleagues in the industry at the time), I think he is wrong, at least to the extent that operators have become more inward-looking, and less able or willing to take advice about the extent to which the market can be influenced in their favour.
Three brief stories illustrate the point: during 1984, one NBC operator recognised that its public image was extremely poor largely as a result of earlier financial and reliability problems which had now been overcome. They recognised that the public's view of them was harming their commercial performance, and employed a firm of PR consultants to help correct the problem. By dint of a series of measures, better liaison with local press and radio, initiatives with local schools and other community organisations, the company's image underwent considerable improvement over the next two years - though everybody concerned felt that there was more work to do. On privatisation in 1987, the new owners' first act was to sack the PR agency.
Second story: another large NBC subsidiary had employed an advertising agency over a number of years, mounting extremely successful campaigns to improve ridership, particularly from optional traffic such as leisure and tourism. That subsidiary was broken up, and in the financial chaos which followed, the advertising budget was first slashed by 75 per cent, and later the agency was sacked by all the successor companies.
Finally, and perhaps the saddest story of them all, a survey amongst bus company managers last year revealed that less than ten per cent had any plans for major marketing initiatives over the next few months. Now when all the statistics show that ridership is still falling and in some places even more quickly than before, complacency is too kind a word.
It is at least partly a cultural problem: the industry tends to pride itself on the ability of its managers 'to turn their hand to anything'. There has always been a conviction that the bus industry is different, and that outsiders do not understand it. The ultimate insult to throw at a manager has always been 'he's not a busman, you know.'
That is all understandable: the industry is complex, and any cold analysis of the number of things which can (and do) go wrong tends to leave people wondering how a bus ever gets to a stop on time, much less completes the journey. 'Hands-on' management means getting involved at the grass roots, with drivers, fitters, engines and diesel: a certain down-to-earth common sense.
Small wonder, therefore, that there is a distinct culture-shock when such managers come into contact with the more rarified atmosphere of the marketing industry, where the nearest the practitioners get to dirty hands is when the tonic overflows from the gin glass.
But, when it comes down to it, a seat on a bus service is just like any other product: it has to be sold. And that is what advertising agencies, PR companies and other specialists exist to do: they constitute in themselves a multi-billion pound industry which, in terms of turnover and profitability, dwarfs bus operations. And what they do works: their clients, who include some of the best business brains in the world, are not tricked easily.
Anybody who doubts whether marketing really can work should think of Perrier and the other mineral water companies. Over the past ten to fifteen years, they have created a completely new market for a product that is significantly more expensive than its rival (tap water); which tests have shown to be no purer than tap water, and from which no significant benefit is derived - other than a certain statement which the purchaser makes about himself (something along the lines of 'I am prosperous, fashionable, health-conscious and environmentally aware'). By dint of clever advertising, good PR (and, it must be said, bad PR from its rivals during the water privatisation process), a multi-million pound business has been created from nothing.
The case demonstrates that so much of the strength (or lack of it) of any product in the market lies in the perception which the public has of it. The bus industry undoubtedly suffers from an extremely poor public perception and, more seriously, seems to be doing little or nothing about it. Yet the issue is absolutely crucial to its future and, incidentally, to the cause of the environmentalist lobby. For unless existing means of public transport are regarded as ‘acceptable' to consumers, no amount of market manipulation by a green tax will have anything other than a marginal effect on behaviour.
It is of course important that the quality of a product matches the claims being made for it and great strides have been made in improving quality over the last few years: but it is also a matter of self-confidence. After decades of decline, complaints and arguments with staff, it is conceivable that bus company managers do not actually believe in their own product any more. But even if the quality is right, and the self-confidence exists, public perceptions will not change unless encouraged to do so.
As the debate about greenhouse gases and global warming hots up, the bus industry has a unique opportunity to revive its fortunes. The bus is more flexible than light rail technology, initial investment costs are much lower, and service levels can respond much more quickly to growth or changes in demand - precisely the advantages that enabled the bus to conquer tramway systems in the thirties and forties. But these advantages could be frittered away unless the industry takes a decisive step to change attitudes towards it, and actually sets out to sell itself to the travelling public.
The future of the industry depends upon the market: but there is more to that statement than a simple equation of price and demand. Public policy, environmental considerations and perceptions of what is considered to be acceptable or fashionable behaviour will all have a decisive effect on the market. But operators themselves, through their own marketing campaigns, have an opportunity to influence all those factors in their favour. At present, bus operators are allowing their message to go by default, and so that other people mould the public's view of the industry.
That is a mistake, for which companies are paying in reduced loadings, lower takings and smaller profits. Marketing expenditure is not an extravagance: it is a necessity if the industry is to survive and prosper.
Towards a Promotional Campaign for Buses
From a marketing point of view, the bus product has several positive attributes, given good network design, well-maintained vehicles and properly trained drivers (things we ought surely to be able to take for granted).
The product is:
- Convenient - services take people where they want to go.
- Safe and comfortable (statistically much safer than car travel).
- Easy to access (most people live within easy walking distance of a stop).
- Good value for money (much cheaper per mile than car travel)
- Environmentally friendlier than car travel.
That is a very positive set of attributes: something that any advertising man worth his salt would love to get his teeth into. However, the current public perception of the product might be rather different and less positive and it would be one of the first things that an advertising professional would want to know about: market research, to find out what the public actually does think and what would motivate them to think or behave differently would be an essential prerequisite. It is no good embarking upon a campaign to change the public's view unless you know what that view is, and why it is held.
Let us assume for a moment that the research demonstrates that consumers think that buses are:
- Expensive (politicians keep telling them that the fares are too high, and should be subsidised)
- Unfriendly (feeling that bus drivers are rude and unco-operative (sadly, still true in too many cases)
- Unreliable ('never there when you want one')
- Dirty, uncomfortable and graffiti-covered.
In other words, a 'down market' product which is only to be used in the absence of an alternative.
It would certainly be possible to create a promotional campaign using posters, local newspapers and radio to do two things: firstly, counteract the negative points identified by the research, and secondly to put across the positive attributes identified. Such campaigns could, for example, highlight the real cost per mile of motoring, and the equivalent cost by bus; or the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by 64 cars in a row and the same 64 people on a bus; or informing people about the steps taken to ensure quality, cleanliness and reliability.
Further research would measure the effectiveness of the campaign, and allow the emphasis or the message to be adjusted accordingly: results would not be achieved overnight, and it would need to be an ongoing process, just as advertising for any other consumer product is ongoing. The overall objective would be to get the public to think of the bus product as something desirable convenient, comfortable, safe, environmentally friendly and good value for money.
A Positive Role for PR
Press and public relations are an important and ongoing part of the process. It is important that local people should feel that their local bus company is part of the community, and interested in its affairs. By and large, people still believe what they read in the newspapers, and if all the stories which appear in the local paper are critical of the bus company, then that will reinforce a negative image.
There is a danger that the local media are seen as people to be avoided as a threat, because all they ever publish are complaints and criticism. Such a view may seem legitimate in the light of previous experience, but two points arise: firstly, that good relations with local media people will help to get a right of reply when damaging stories are published; and secondly, the media will only publish what they are told about: they will frequently be happy to use positive items, particularly if they have a 'human interest' angle and are about local people.
Such stories can be used to emphasise certain points about the company, such as: letters of thanks to drivers for their helpfulness, which should be published, with a picture of the driver, to counteract the 'rudeness' image; a bus cleaner who has a birthday or anniversary or long service award, similarly publicised to reinforce the message that the vehicles are actually cleaned; pictures of new buses as they are introduced to the fleet, reinforcing the commitment to good services, emphasising the cost of the investment and reinforcing the message that services are good value for money.