Ben Wakerley is managing director of Warrington's Own Buses and talks west Warrington in his latest column

I HAVE been managing director at Warrington’s Own Buses for coming 18 months now.

As I reflect on the changes we have made to improve the company so far, I am pleased to see the great work my colleagues are doing to ensure our customers get the best possible service.

I have always wanted to talk to customers, seeking their views as we look to improve our network. It takes many factors to increase bus use in an area, in addition to what a bus company alone can do.

Incentives to encourage bus journeys instead of car journeys are vital in any town and such an approach needs widespread commitment to achieve the changes in behaviour that are needed to promote buses over cars. Ultimately, like any operator, we need to make decisions in the customers’ best interests in order to be successful.

Research shows that consumer power is more potent than ever due to digital technology, and we are trying our best to make it easier for our customers after recently introducing our latest Touch & Go app (search ‘Touch & Go Warrington’) and Contactless payment cards.

The Cheshire Cat is a good example – we listened to what residents wanted from a bus service and I’m pleased to report that the Cat continues to be popularly used. Because we took the time to find out how we could make things better for actual bus users, I am confident we’ve found a winning solution.

Earlier this month, senior managers from the company hosted a community roadshow event at Meeting Lane, Penketh, to discuss the current bus provision in the west of the town. This, again, was a great opportunity to seek feedback from regular bus users.

I have to say I was overwhelmed by the amount of residents that showed up to this event. Up to 100 people turned up to tell us what we should start doing, stop doing or keep doing – and the insight they provided is invaluable.

From their feedback we will be looking at how we can improve bus provision in west Warrington, but also review areas where there may be a need for buses in new and emerging areas of the town.

Our most recent roadshow event fills me with optimism and enthusiasm for the positive changes we can continue to make. The more people use our buses, the more areas of the borough we can cover and the more efficient we will be.

I have seen from the event in west Warrington that we have many communities that greatly value our bus service and from their feedback we can now look at new ways of encouraging other people to leave their cars in the garage more often.

And finally – I have a favour to ask. The ‘Cheshire Cat’ network brand was a natural fit with the areas we cover as part of the route. For the west of Warrington, we are looking at a potential new brand name.

If you live in the west of the borough, what do you see as synonymous with where you live? What are the icons you associate with? And what could a new west network be called? You can tweet your ideas @WarringtonBuses or get in touch by going online to warringtonsownbuses.co.uk.