For Fastrack to play its expected role in getting people around Kent Thameside it has to become the travel mode of choice for local journeys by providing:
- A real alternative to the car for local journeys
- High quality modern and environmentally friendly vehicles
- A frequent ‘turn up and go’ service with journey time reliability ensured through vehicles running on segregated track wherever possible and with effective priority over other traffic elsewhere
- A customer-focussed system with clear branding, ‘real time’ information and close attention to personal safety
- Effective interchange with other transport modes, linking existing and new communities
Although a bus based BRT system Fastrack is aiming to provide a travel experience very different to conventional perceptions of a bus and instead become a transport mode of choice. To achieve this Fastrack has:
- A new fleet of modern, high-specification vehicles
- Dedicated busways to bypass congestion hotspots
- Bus lanes to avoid other traffic
- Priority at junctions for Fastrack vehicles over other traffic
- New halts with improved waiting facilities
- Services linking key destinations
- Services running at greater frequency than current buses and starting earlier in the day and finishing later
- Much improved journey times and reliability
And there is now clear evidence that Fastrack is well on the way to achieving these aims. Since the launch of Route B in March 2006 weekly passenger numbers have exceeded expectations with 1.75m passengers carried in the first year. Passenger surveys in October 2006 revealed high levels of customer satisfaction and also that some 19% of passengers would previously have used a car for the journey. (Results of the surveys are summarised in the report ‘Fastrack the first six months’).
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