We are delighted to publish this report in partnership with Transport for London and University of Sussex. This report shares exciting findings from a recent trial that we conducted on London buses which sought to encourage more positive and more frequent interactions between passengers and drivers.
Our research found that currently just two in 10 (23%) people acknowledge their bus driver when boarding. And fewer than one in 10 (8%) do so when alighting the bus.
However, installing simple signs encouraging people on buses to greet their bus driver prompted a 7% increase in the behaviour. The signs, which were installed as a pilot project on the driver cab door and exit doors on over 150 buses across Hammersmith, in London, led to 30% of passengers greeting the driver when entering the bus, compared to 23% on buses without signs.
This 7% increase equates to 140 million more potential interactions across a year, based on 2019/20 bus data from the UK Government Department for Transport. We are hugely excited by the positive behavioural impact of these small, low-cost interventions and see immense potential in scaling them across bus networks to create more daily connection in local communities.
Read more in our report:
If you want to hear more about these insights, please do not hesitate to get in touch with Grainne (grainne@neighbourlylab.com)