Customer Charter
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Introduction
Our Customer Charter is designed to advise you of the standard of service you should expect when using Oxford Tube service within the UK. It also sets out your rights when travelling with us and what you can do if things go wrong.
Our commitment
This Customer Charter sets out our commitment to provide a good service which meets customers’ needs. It also sets out the rights that customers have under EU and UK legislation.
Safety
The safety of our customers, and our staff, is our highest priority. Oxford Tube utilises an eco driving system called GreenRoad which is installed on all coaches. GreenRoad is a global telematics system designed for professional drivers and uses a dashboard traffic lights-style system to provide instant feedback to drivers to encourage smoother and safer driving.
CCTV
All of our vehicles are fitted with CCTV. The presence of CCTV equipment on a vehicle is confirmed by appropriate signage. When we record customers on our CCTV systems, we follow the CCTV Code of Practice published by the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Information
We seek to ensure that information for customers will be as accurate and relevant as possible.
Timetable information
We provide timetable information through the following channels:
- On our Website www.oxfordtube.com
Information will normally be available at least two weeks in advance of any revisions.
As we continue to develop our Website, we will seek to make it available in accessible formats. - Via the Oxford Tube app (App)
The journey planning feature on the Oxford Tube app enables you find departure times for specific stops that are not listed in the timetable as timing points. It also allows you to view expected arrival times at your chosen destination. - Through Traveline: telephone 0871 200 2233, text 82468 from coach stops showing a text code or online at www.traveline.info
Information will normally be available at least two weeks in advance of any revisions. - On main coach stops
In many areas this is the responsibility of the local transport authority, who we work with to ensure all information is accurately and promptly displayed. In Oxfordshire, we are responsible for the timely display of timetables at the roadside where as within London, Transport for London, are responsible for the timely display of timetables.
Fares
We provide details of daily, weekly and longer period fares on www.oxfordtube.com, and will work towards providing all fare information on our Website. All fare information is also available from the drivers on the coaches and on the App.
Information in accessible formats
We’re able to provide timetable and fare information in accessible formats on request. We can provide large print timetables, maps and departure lists for coach stops. To request this, contact customer services, who can help you with delivery times, whose details can be found on Contact Us section of the Website. For information regarding the accessibility of this Website, please see our Website Accessibility statement.
Information displays on our vehicles
All our vehicles display a destination, this will either say London if London bound, Oxford if Oxford bound. On board audio and visual announcements also clearly state the end destination of the service, identifying if it is an express route into or out of London, or a route that does not service Oxford city centre.
Reliable services
We’re committed to providing you with a reliable service. We will provide enough coaches, drivers and supervisors to run the service we advertise in normal circumstances. We train and manage our staff and operations to run a full service in line with our timetable.
When factors beyond our control make it impossible to run the full service, we will do our very best to minimise inconvenience and keep customers informed.
We provide X (formerly Twitter) feeds with significant service updates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Details on how to follow us are available on the home page of our Website.
We aim to ensure that at least 95% of our journeys will start no more than five minutes later than advertised.
Providing a clean travel environment
We clean our vehicles regularly and work with those responsible for the stops and terminals to ensure they are kept clean and tidy.
Comfort
We regularly check our vehicles to make sure that their heating, cooling and lighting systems are working as intended. We train our drivers to give customers a safe and comfortable journey.
Making you welcome; helping you travel with confidence
We provide a welcoming travel environment and treat our customers with respect. We’ll make reasonable adjustments to meet the individual needs of customers.
We look for customer service and disability awareness skills when selecting our staff. We will give all these members of staff initial and ongoing training in helping people with disabilities travel confidently and safely.
We provide dedicated helplines for people with disabilities. The contact numbers are in our Contact Us section.
We offer Journey Assistance Cards that can help people with disabilities make our staff aware of their needs.
We have a scheme that allows people who use certain “class 2” mobility scooters to travel on our coaches with the scooter following an assessment.
Details of approved mobility scooters are available from the Disability Helpline of your local Stagecoach operating company, which can also provide access to the formal approval process and issue of a permit for travel required before taking a mobility scooter on a bus.
You can see more about the carriage of wheelchairs, small prams and buggies in our Conditions of Carriage.
If you want to contact us
We encourage feedback on our performance – good or bad. Contact details are available in our Contact Us section.
If you want us to follow up a specific incident, please give us enough information to identify the service you used (for example the date, time, location, direction of travel, and any other information that you feel would assist us).
We will aim to resolve your query and respond to you within one week. If this is not possible, we will advise you of this, and give an indication as to when we will respond fully.
Independent appeals
If you disagree with our response to any complaint, you have the option of approaching Bus Users UK (www.bususers.org or 0300 111 0001) who will try to resolve the issue for you. They may refer your complaint to the Bus Appeals Body (www.busappealsbody.co.uk). We will act on the Bus Appeals Body’s recommendations.
Your rights*
You have a right to be provided with appropriate and comprehensible information about your rights when you use regular bus and coach services.
We will not charge you a different price based on your nationality.
You are entitled to adequate information throughout your journey. Where feasible, and where you have made a request, we will provide the information in accessible formats.
We will not refuse to let you travel because of a disability that you have, unless it is physically impossible to carry you safely. If we lose or damage your mobility equipment, we will compensate you fully for its replacement or repair.
We have procedures for giving disability-related training to our staff.
In addition to our commitments above, you have a right for your complaint to be dealt with if it concerns any of the matters covered by this section of the Charter (headed “Your rights”), provided you submit it within three months of the breach event.
We will provide a response as quickly as possible and always within one week of receipt, even if this is initially to explain what investigation needs to take place and how long this will take. When comments or complaints are about matters outside our control, we will forward them to the relevant organisation and explain that we have done this.
You have the right to appeal these complaints to Bus Users UK if you disagree with our response. Bus Users UK is subject to a three-month time limit for dealing with appeals and must refer unresolved complaints to a Traffic Commissioner. If they fail to refer your complaint promptly, when the time limit expires, you have the right to refer it to the relevant Traffic Commissioner. A list of Traffic Commissioners’ offices can be found at www.gov.uk.
* Includes text that is copyright of Confederation of Passenger Transport (UK) and used with their permission.
Contact details for Bus Users UK:
Bus Users UK
22 Greencoat Place
London
SW1P 1PR
Email: [email protected]