The evidence market research provides is essential and that is why Nexus carries out a range of research activity to help inform decision-making. The principles of our research activity are outlined in our Research Strategy which can be found by clicking this link. This page provides further detail on the key elements of our research programme ranging from bespoke surveys to long term tracking studies. We have been shortlisted as finalists in the Market Research Society Awards 2023 – In House Team of the Year category in recognition of this varied activity.
Continuous Monitoring Surveys
A familiar sight for many public transport users, the Continuous Monitoring Surveys are delivered by our own team of researchers directly on board public transport services. These surveys provide us with estimates of public transport use across all four forms of public transport; buses, Metro, Shields Ferry and local rail services. We need to carry these out across the entire public transport network and at all times of the day in order to be representative so please bear with us if you’re asked questions on a busy service. The data we collect from these surveys is invaluable and directly informs funding bids and business cases as well as internal decisions made across Nexus.
We carry out approximately half a million interviews per year with passengers. The services that are chosen to be surveyed, especially on the bus network, mean more frequent services are more likely to be randomly selected for surveying so some passengers may see our researchers more often than others.
Customer Satisfaction Surveys
Again carried out by our own researchers, the bus and Metro satisfaction surveys take place at bus and Metro stations respectively. The Metro survey is carried out quarterly in May, August, November and February. Due to the volume of journeys made on bus and the need to cover a wide geographical area, we undertake the bus surveys out on a more continuous monitoring basis throughout the year. We publish the results of the Metro satisfaction surveys using station performance posters and online here. Annual headline results for both bus and Metro are also published at www.northeastdatahub.co.uk.
We carry out approximately 8,000 interviews with passengers across the two surveys each year.
Metro Marketing Survey
This tracking survey is carried out by an external research partner three times a year. As well as covering elements of customer satisfaction, it identifies awareness of Metro marketing so that we can understand how best to advertise and to determine what works and what doesn’t. While our own researchers carry out surveys with public transport users, this survey has a specific quota to reach those who don’t use public transport. This provides us with an understanding of the barriers to using Metro and what would make it more attractive to use.
This survey has an annual quota of 1,500 interviews.
Insight Panel
We launched our Insight Panel in 2018 to allow us to undertake a variety of surveys at a much greater frequency. Members of the panel receive a survey once a month and there is no commitment to complete a survey. We have covered a variety of topics including retail habits, attitudes towards emerging technology, preferences of payment methods as well as more traditional transport based surveys. The panel provides a wealth of information and allows us to go deeper into particular topics that we otherwise wouldn’t be able to do with our face-to-face surveys. More information on the Insight Panel, including how to join, is available here.
CoMET/Nova Annual Satisfaction Survey
CoMET and Nova together form the world’s metro benchmarking community comprising of 38 metro systems in 36 cities around the world (www.cometandnova.org). The Tyne and Wear Metro is a member of the Nova group. One of the many activities undertaken for these groups by Imperial College London is the online annual customer satisfaction survey. This allows for metros around the world to be benchmarked against each other across a range of indicators but also provides a trend of individual metro performance over time. Each year we actively promote the CoMET/Nova satisfaction survey online and through social media.
The North East Data Hub
This hub (www.northeastdatahub.co.uk) was developed by the North East Local Enterprise Partnership and the North East Combined Authority (prior to the creation of the North of Tyne Combined Authority) and is supported by TADU, UTMC and Nexus. The hub includes a range of economic and transport data and Nexus publishes a series of headline transport indicators to the hub which we hope to expand on in the future.
