Eastbourne residents unhappy with Stagecoach service, according to new survey

Eastbourne ECO Action Network, an organisation aiming to turn Eastbourne carbon neutral by 2030, conducted the survey and asked 286 people a number of questions about Stagecoach and the general quality of the bus service in the town.

Asked whether they believe the service provided by Stagecoach offers value for money, 77 per cent said that it did not. A further 13 per cent said they were not sure, leaving just 10 per cent of residents claiming the service does provide value for money.

Other questions asked by the survey include asking residents whether they would be more likely to take the bus if the town offered a quality of service like London, 71 per cent of car users said they would switch to using the bus more often if the quality was improved.

A spokesman for Stagecoach said, “Like many businesses our operating costs have risen considerably in recent years.

“There are also the hidden costs associated with traffic congestion on our roads which mean that we have to use more buses and drivers to provide the same levels of service.

“It’s vital that our costs are recovered overall, but we place an emphasis on offering our regular customers really good value travel. If you use our buses frequently, we have great value tickets which offer savings over paying for individual journeys.

“Our ‘MegaRider’ tickets give unlimited travel on our buses in the local Eastbourne area for just £15.50 for 7 days or £58.50 for 28 days. We also offer great value ticket options for children and young people up to the age of 18 with our DayRider U19 - just £3.20 for one day’s unlimited travel in the local area, or £5.20 covering the wider region.

“The results of this survey differ from those of other independent surveys. We believe that our fares offer very good value and the cost of bus travel remains considerably cheaper than using a car.

“Surveys carried out by the consumer group Transport Focus have found that bus passengers rate Stagecoach as the best value major bus operator in the country.”

To find out more about the survey go to Eastbourne ECO Action Network’s website.