Challenge

The West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) brings together local councils across West Yorkshire to plan and deliver projects that benefit the region as a whole. Public transport improvements are a key focus of the Combined Authority’s work, and a new brand for West Yorkshire’s public transport, the Weaver Network, has recently been announced.

To underpin the rebranding and development of the public transport network, WYCA developed a series of eight strategic commitments outlining its priorities and ambitions for the Weaver Network. Enventure Research was commissioned to test the draft commitments with a representative cross-section of residents.

Approach

A series of three focus groups was delivered with a sample of participants representative of West Yorkshire in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, disability and the local authority area in which they lived. Participants were also recruited to include a mixture of those that used different forms of public transport and private vehicles.

Each focus group lasted for approximately one hour and was hosted online via Zoom, led by an experienced moderator from Enventure Research who followed a discussion guide designed to elicit useful insight on experiences of using public transport in West Yorkshire, awareness of the Combined Authority and Weaver brand, and feedback on the draft strategic commitments. Focus groups were recorded with participants’ consent for later analysis.