Journey around the capital

x Sponsored content on Research Live and in Impact magazine is editorially independent.
Find out more about advertising and sponsorship.

During his commute on the Bakerloo Line from Queen’s Park to his office in Victoria Street, Transport for London’s (TfL) marketing director, Chris Macleod, experiences, first hand, being one of his 30m daily customers. That’s more than 1.3bn workers, residents and tourists every year using the road, rail and river network – a massive number for any organisation to manage efficiently. 

TfL’s strategy is to become more focused on the customer, with Macleod and the thousands of TfL staff embracing – through the effective use of market research, insight and data – the idea that ‘Every Journey Matters’.

Macleod accepts that TfL will never be an organisation people love; instead, he and the customer research and employee insight team, headed by Alison Henderson, want to ensure it is not just a brand that people moan about.

“We are not in the happiness business, we are in the reliability business,” says Macleod. “Transport is an essential purchase so we have to deliver day in and day out. Our job is to help people move around London, so research and insight allows us to understand where the pain points are on the system and where we are falling down on customer communication.” 

TfL was created in 2000, as part of the Greater London Authority, to implement – rather than shape – transport policy. It is also a taxi regulator and responsible for a 580km network of main roads, as well as all of London’s 6,000 traffic lights. 

In 2011, after the government’s 2010 spending review, TfL had to start an organisation-wide restructuring programme, called Project Horizon. It was faced with the challenge of ensuring its customer service wasn’t damaged, despite its government grant being slashed – this still represents 23% of its £11.5bn funding, while fares account for 40% of its income.

The strong relationships TfL has with research companies ORC International, Future Thinking, GfK, 2CV, TNS and, most recently, Chime Insight & Engagement Group is helping the transport company to get closer to consumers. 

Chime tracks how the organisation is perceived, using benchmarking to understand emotional engagement with the brand. 

This contract was previously held by TNS, which now carries out TfL’s customer satisfaction survey and marketing evaluation work. TNS’s group director Tom Costley says that TfL demands more insight and a better understanding of what research is actually saying. This includes demonstrating what is prompting higher or lower customer satisfaction levels. Its customer research takes place across all modes of transport and while people are completing their journey, to provide real-time insights.

“The introduction of new rolling stock on some underground lines, and the installation of air conditioning on tube trains, have enhanced satisfaction,” says Costley. “The more satisfied customers are, the more likely they are to use the services and recommend them to others, so there is a real financial link.” 

TfL has built a research model called Gain Points, to help it understand its customers’ gripes. This four-box map records everything people say about the service, how they act and what they complain about. It reveals the scale of various problems and the number of people affected, so issues can be prioritised. “This is not based on one single piece of research or data source,” says Macleod. “We look at customer satisfaction data and mystery shopping findings, for instance, and produce a map for every mode of transport.”

He says some findings might indicate that only a few people are affected by a problem; however, this could be an access issue at a station, something TfL takes extremely seriously. 

Where TfL has an advantage over many organisations is the willingness of its customers to share personal information if they feel it will improve their journey and help avoid delays. The data is anonymous, but TfL knows where people get on and off different types of transport, and even where people live and work, based on their travelling patterns.

For instance, if someone regularly catches the number 37 bus from Peckham bus station to Putney Heath, and it is being diverted, TfL can send that person immediate information. It also uses Oyster data for alerts if people have opted to register their card and to provide details such as their email address or phone number. 

In 2012, TfL started using social media for real-time updates, including for Oyster card customer service. By using ‘big data', TfL can also issue automatic refunds for delays. This more effective use of data to improve customer service has been central to TfL’s efforts to improve its reputation. 

Research agency 2CV has led the reputation modelling since 2005 and group research director Kat Jennings says the organisation has had to build trust among customers.

“When we started to look at advertising communication, we found people automatically had negative perceptions about anything they received from TfL. Things improved once research and insight from the different modes of transport were centralised,” she says.

Jennings adds that TfL was perceived as expensive and full of empty excuses when things went wrong, but now it is viewed as a brand that is continuously improving. “It is better at communicating and actually cares when things go wrong.”

2CV also undertakes behavioural science analysis to help TfL’s staff understand how people feel when travel problems occur. “People’s needs and emotions change when they endure travel difficulties,” says Jennings. “When our journey is going well, we are all relatively self-sufficient – but it is when there are complications that we do not feel so positive, and need support from TfL.”

Being aware of passengers’ emotions at different times of the day is crucial in the always-on, digital, 24-hour city environment TfL is adapting to. Indeed, the introduction of contactless payment in September 2014 was an extension of TfL’s always-on strategy because it allowed people to travel without cash or Oyster card credit.

Extensive research was carried out before the launch of contactless, which had to be a simple system, communicated effectively. It has proved popular, with more than 200m journeys in London paid for using contactless across London Underground, trams, the Docklands Light Railway (DLR), buses and National Rail services in its first year. 

TfL’s influence and impact can be felt in less obvious ways, however. As well as generating revenue from fares, it is also a massive media owner, providing advertisers with prime sites via the bus, tube and roadside advertising networks. It has even used commercial development opportunities to introduce ‘click and collect’ shopping at some stations.

It generated £169.5m from advertising revenue last year, and the huge amount of data it holds is incredibly valuable in helping brands improve their targeting. 

Macleod is currently reviewing TfL’s own advertising needs, with the creative and media accounts out to tender. He wants the agencies selected to be more innovative, and TfL’s customer and insight team to have a closer relationship with the media and creative agencies’ insight departments. He feels this will create a more agile approach to research and a more holistic view of customer trends.

Olympic legacy

The massive surge in traveller numbers during the 2012 London Olympics taught TfL a lot about how to communicate more effectively with locals and tourists. 

During the Games, more than 60m journeys were made on the Tube – up 30% on normal levels – the DLR had more than six million journeys (+100%), and London Overground nearly six million trips (+47%).

TfL focused on travel-demand management and informing people how they could travel differently, rather than trying to discourage them from travelling at all.

According to the report Olympic Legacy Monitoring: Personal Travel Behaviour During the Games, travel unrelated to the Games reduced by 5% on an average day during the Olympics and 3% during the Paralympics. 

Across the two weeks of the Olympics, more than three-quarters of the London travelling population changed their travel patterns, with just 23% travelling as normal: 

• 63% reduced their travel
• 28% changed the time of their journeys
• 21% changed route
• 19% changed mode.

People who altered the time of their commute to avoid the busiest periods were more likely to make their journey earlier rather than later. While the goal was to change travel habits for the duration of the Games, 15% of regular travellers who made alterations have continued with that adjustment.

“Behavioural change is not a single strategy and the data tells us a lot,” says Macleod. “People think of a rush ‘hour’ but, in fact, there are peaks and troughs on the buses and the tubes. There might only be a 15 minute period that people should consider avoiding.”

The Olympics also revealed how TfL needs to adapt to a growth in passenger numbers. A report by the Mayor’s office predicts that London’s population – currently more than 8.6m people – could reach 11m by 2050.

“All we can do is overlay population growth predictions with economic data, but it is hard to predict how fast numbers will grow,” says Macleod. “The challenge is to know where to invest and when. Will people be living and working differently in 2050?”

Of course, any organisation’s aim to become more focused on the customer will only succeed if its employees are engaged. TfL carries out an annual staff survey, called Viewpoint, and six-monthly studies on specific issues. Alison Henderson has worked within the London transport sector for 25 years. She believes that, at 15 years old, TfL has a clearer idea of what it wants to achieve in future, and research will continue to play a crucial role in its growth.

Henderson says the staff survey has been revamped to get the employees’ views on management, the brand and the changes taking place, as well as their individual role. “Local and organisational action planning comes out of the survey. People want to take part in it because they can see the value of it.

“People within this organisation see the value of research and we are at the centre of everything. Everyone within TfL is aligned to the customer-centric model and, working with the wider marketing department, my team is championing customers.”

Indeed, research is fundamental to ensuring TfL delivers on its customer-first strategy. A reliable and thriving London transport system boosts everyone’s quality of life, as well as the capital’s and the UK’s economy – something Macleod often contemplates during his daily commute on the busy Bakerloo Line.