Traveline Cymru, the public transport information service, has helped to keep Wales moving during the recent travel disruption, receiving thousands of calls and online enquiries.

Following the severe Met Office weather warnings, worried travellers turned to Traveline Cymru for up to date information, with concerns of difficult travelling conditions.

Over the 5 days affected by the snow, Traveline Cymru reported that visits to the website almost doubled in comparison to its weekly visits in February with 36,000 hits.

During this period, Traveline Cymru’s dedicated contact centre in North Wales received over 9,000 calls from travellers seeking travel advice, an increase on its weekly average of 3,500 calls.

Social media also skyrocketed, showing 1,371 engagements and an overall increase of 2536%. TrawsCymru, whose calls and social media are handled by Traveline Cymru, also experienced a social media surge of 195% with 651 engagements.

With some of the Traveline Cymru team affected by the snow themselves, the company was able to answer 83% of all calls, despite high volumes of callers and understaffing.

Jo Foxall, Managing Director of Traveline Cymru, said:

“The heavy snow and frequent blizzard conditions caused disruption for many commuters and travellers, who came to us to find out the latest updates on delays and suspended services.

“Despite the various disruptions across rail and bus networks, which could have been chaotic for many, our team did an excellent job at keeping our customers up to date with travel information via our various bilingual platforms.

“We were relieved to be able to keep Wales moving during these hazardous conditions, helping to keep the public safe and informed at all times.

“We found the most effective channel for us over the last week has been Twitter, which allowed us to provide real time updates to a large audience. As always, we would advise following our Twitter account for the latest in local travel news across Wales.”

The recent figures follow impressive results for Traveline Cymru after it reported in 2017 that it delivered a staggering 5,656,810 pieces of information to the public.

As well as positive numbers in terms of information provided, Traveline Cymru also boasted a 99% customer satisfaction rate for its contact centre.

Traveline Cymru is a not-for-profit company based on a partnership between the Welsh Government, public transport operators in Wales and Welsh local authorities. It provides route and timetable information for all bus, coach and rail services in the country via a bilingual website, a Freephone number and a suite of services for mobile phone users.

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Media enquiries to Shelley Phillips at jamjar PR on 01446 771265 / shelley@jamjar-pr.co.uk