I attended this evening’s meeting arranged by the PAG. The aim was to initiate setting up a Manx Passengers’ Watchdog. Brendan O’Friel, outgoing Chairman of the North West Public Transport Users Forum addressed the meeting and answered questions. He is an ex- Prison Governor and thought his theme may be “from jail to rail!”

He posed the question why do we need a passenger watchdog?

His answer revolved around the various problems that passengers often experience - lack of appropriate information to passengers, no early buses to the airport or sea terminus, difficulty for Manx people in knowing the arrangements for onward travel say at Liverpool etc.

He advocated the formation of a Travel Watch Forum - the Manx Passenger Watchdog with presumably himself as the main driving force. He said:

1. This would have at least one public meeting per year.

2. The website of the PAG and this new body would be interlinked - perhaps part of the same.

3 .The Forum would concentrate on getting the best deal for passengers in terms of safety, reliability, affordability. The operators of bus, taxis, coach, air, sea, and train operators etc would be asked if they have done surveys to help passengers.

4. There would be regular meetings between this group and the operators particularly on vital services such as sea and air links which are not as good as they should be currently with airlines pulling out of routes, cancelling services etc.

5. There should be regular surveys on passenger complaints and how particular matters have been handled.

6. The Forum should build up links with other Travel Watchdogs in the U.K. The 80, 00 people on this island travel regularly and so we could exert a lot of influence on UK thinking.

7. Mr O’Friel thought much more information must be given to passengers when matters go wrong - e.g. why are passengers left stranded at airports with little chance of compensation when flights are cancelled?

Action:

Mr O’Friel asked for 5 - 10 people to be actively involved in the formation of TravelWatch I.O, .M. Information on this is available at www.postiveactiongroup.org

In addition, he wanted a wider support group to do surveys etc.

It was emphasised by Leonard Singer who was in the audience that the group should not be a group of whingers but people who are positive and are willingly to interact positively with government and the operators.

Resources for the Group.

These would come from the operators - providing facilities for meetings etc. supporters and possibly Government. A similar group has been set up in Jersey called the Jersey Air Passenger Association.

Questions from the floor.

These were wide ranging. The various points raised include:

The almost monopolistic control of taxi services was queried, as was the quality of people driving taxis, which could put passenger safety at risk according to the questioner. I am just reporting!

The scope of the group - initially it would concentrate on matters, which could be dealt with quickly such as information, but later on strategy planning issues could be tackled. There would be co-operation with other groups on the island and elsewhere .e.g. environmental, planning, hospital user groups

Taxi buses could be a more creative way for transport particularly in rural areas.

The question of regulations came up such as in the Steam Packet User Agreement.

The Manx Watchdog must be independent and not linked to government.

A sizeable part of the population has no car - so how do we deal with their quality of life?

Availability of special offers, discounts etc to Manx passengers travelling in the UK.

Route licensing as regards airlines.

Difficulty of getting information from the Tourism and Leisure Dept.of Government

School buses.

Why couldn’t the Sea Terminal be used for the buses?

Air Transport Users Council to resolve difficulties for passengers.

My impression was that this was a valuable and worthwhile initiative which if progressed could help passengers greatly. I would not criticise the voluntary service and the volunteers in doing this and I for one wish them well.