Good customer service will help to eliminate barriers for passengers with reduced mobility.
Traditionally, passengers with reduced mobility have not been frequent users of maritime passenger transport because of accessibility barriers. Some passengers with reduced mobility have experienced some poor or failed journeys in the past. Operators that can provide a high quality of service to passengers with reduced mobility will encourage those passengers to make more frequent use of maritime transport in future.
The number of staff involved and the nature of services provided will influence the scope of activities to be taken to improve customer relations. Operators should consider providing basic customer services training (including information on dealing with passengers with reduced mobility) to all staff. It could fall to any staff member to deal with a problem that a passenger might have, so it is important that all staff are trained to deal with all passengers appropriately.
The quality of service provided to passengers with reduced mobility should be an integral part of an operator's service standards. Operators in developing such standards should consult with passengers with reduced mobility or their representative organisations. Operators should also conduct market research that cover issues such as the accessibility of vessels accessibility of harbours, ports and piers and the accessibility of information provision. Standards that are developed must be clear, relevant and consistently communicated to all staff, and they should be available to passengers on request, including those with reduced mobility.
Operators should employ people with disabilities, where possible and practicable. Doing so will help to deliver good customer services to passengers with reduced mobility, and will help the operator to gain a better understanding of the preferences and requirements of passengers with reduced mobility. Public sector employers have a statutory target that at least 3 per cent of employees should be people with disabilities.
Maritime passenger transport operators need to ensure that passengers with reduced mobility are informed as to how they can make best use of the maritime transport system, and what to do when the system fails. When developing advertising and customer communication campaigns, there is a need to reflect a diverse customer base that includes passengers with reduced mobility. For video advertising, operators should consider making subtitles and audio description available. For printed leaflets or timetables, they should ensure that the choice of font size and colours will produce easily readable materials.
Customer feedback mechanisms, such as complaints procedures or customer comments, should be accessible to passengers with reduced mobility and take into account their additional needs. Some passengers with vision impairments will not be able to use a customer comment card, and may need to give their feedback in person or by phone or email.
A wide range of formats should be used in communications with customers - see Chapter 4 - Information Provision. Customers should also be made aware of the accessible services provided and kept informed of new developments.
Contact with passengers with reduced mobility can be formal or informal. Maritime passenger transport operators need to make sure that, where contact is informal, there is a way of capturing feedback on the service from passengers with reduced mobility. Informal contact is generally made by staff who work with customers on a daily basis and who come across passengers with reduced mobility more regularly. Where staff have regular contact with passengers with reduced mobility, their suggestions can be used to improve services.
Operators should establish an effective feedback mechanism so that staff can let managers know where changing the service delivery system could improve levels of service to passengers with reduced mobility. Staff should be encouraged to provide feedback, possibly with a rewards system. It is important that feedback provided is followed up, and those who provided feedback get honest responses about how their suggestions will be addressed.
Maritime passenger transport operators may want to consult passengers with reduced mobility about specific issues. This can be achieved by meeting people in groups, or by issuing a consultation document, or by a combination of the two. Operators should remember to give plenty of advance notice and try to schedule meetings at times that are convenient for these passengers. See the NDA's (2002) Ask Me: Guidelines for Effective Consultation with People with Disabilities for advice in this area.
It is essential to be clear about why consultation is being carried out, and how appropriate actions will be taken based on the feedback received from passengers with reduced mobility.
The views of people with disabilities are frequently sought by private and public sector bodies, and this can lead to 'consultation fatigue'. Operators may want to avoid this by using the Department of Transport's Maritime Passenger Transport Forum as the customer panel for the maritime industry. See Appendix 1: List of Useful Contacts for more information.
Operators should also be aware that the views of a person with a particular disability are not necessarily shared by other people with the same disability. Everybody is different, and everybody has their own unique needs and requirements. See Appendix 1: List of Useful Contacts for more information on the different umbrella and representative groups.
Operators should take specific steps to raise awareness of disability and equality issues among all employees. Training should communicate service standards and equip employees to achieve them. Staff will also need training in communication with passengers with reduced mobility - see Chapter 8, Training.
It is important to monitor the delivery of the service to passengers with reduced mobility to ensure that the established standards are being met consistently. Information obtained from monitoring the service to passengers with reduced mobility should be part of the routine performance review of the business, and should be reported at an appropriately high level.
Operators should avoid intrusive demands for information. For example, instead of asking all customers 'Do you have a disability?' when booking, operators could express this as 'Do you need any special assistance?'
Meeting the needs of passengers with reduced mobility should become part of everyone's job. This can be detailed in job descriptions and operating procedures, and should become part of any performance management or personnel evaluation system.
In the case of a justified complaint, this should be followed by an improvement action plan, with specified goals, a clear timeframe and agreed responsibilities. Where staff are providing effective customer service they should receive credit for it.
It is important to ensure that those who do use maritime passenger transport services are satisfied with the level of service they receive. Operators should ensure that passengers with reduced mobility are adequately covered by customer service surveys and other customer service monitoring programmes. Specific surveys for passengers with reduced mobility can be initiated, but it is also necessary to ensure that demographic information collected for mainstream surveys can be analysed along disability lines.
In order to ensure that current customer service reflects good practice, it will help to review: