Say No To First

Campaign of the Year

Robert Gordon University Union

“As all the city centre teaching buildings had been sold to develop a bigger campus at Garthdee on the outskirts of Aberdeen, it meant thousands of more students (who are also based in the city centre due to student accommodation) now had to travel to the campus. This was a massive problem in terms of public transport. There was not enough capacity to take all students, many buses would just drive right past the stops because they were overfilled. The customer service was abysmal and the monopoly of FIRSTBUS decided to increase their student Day ticket from £3.00 to £3.50 a day and there was no support from RGU! This sparked an outrage and students voiced they anger and distress even causing a twitter argument with the bus company itself. It was obvious this was our Priority campaign. We aimed to get better service, increase the number of buses and cheaper bus tickets!!

We tried to figure out what would give us the biggest impact and achieve the outcomes we wanted. We then sought support from our friends at Aberdeen University and Aberdeen College. We set up a working group and panned our course of action. It became favourable to launch a publicity attack of the company, damaging their reputation and taking protest action outside their HQ with the threat of boycotting the buses. This was slightly extreme, but it the situation was very tense and students were out for blood. RGU Presidents set up a social media page with some artwork from a RGU student. We then started to launch the campaign online for #SayNoToFirst. Within hours, thousands of students from all three institutions joined the campaign. We then started getting support from staff, public, and even MSPs! We received a letter from politicians who submitted a motion at the Scottish Parliament for us. He also contacted other bus companies such as Stagecoach to ask for their support. As it turns out bus companies don’t tread on each other.

It did not take long before the media were getting into contact and even sooner when we were summoned to FirstBus HQ to meet with the General Manager. It was the RGU Presidents, a rep from Aberdeen University and a member of RGU Staff. It started off as a tense discussion but got out of hand because of the AU member’s approach to negotiation. It ended with the strike action going ahead. We painted banners and all students from all institutions gathered outside the HQ office. Journalists turned up and STV News came with a camera crew capturing interviews.

Days later we were again invited to meet with the infuriated General Manager. This time only RGU Presidents attended. It was a more productive meeting and we explained student concerns that the Academic tickets are wasted as students are only in 2-3 days a week and some are on placement. We also explained is too expensive to pay in a lump sum and if the ticket is lost, you need to buy another one. We met again and the General Manager put an offer on the table.

The General Manager acknowledged the concerns an expressed the importance of maintaining a good relationship with RGU. We then promised that he is getting more buses on the campus route that would be cleaner, better guest service and would be getting newly installed wifi. He then mentioned a new X10 bus route which would also stop at campus and help students. For the ticket, he then said that the ticket can now be paid in instalments and if bought in the first two months of the Academic year would be reduced from £350 to £300 with free insurance with £20 if the ticket is ever lost. The biggest win for this campaign was the introduction of the new Carnie Ticket which would be sold from the Union shop on campus and would get the Student Association commission. The ticket is £15 for 10 trips which works out at £150 a single so £3.00 returns. The best part is that the ticket is only used when travelling so it will not be wasted. This was a great win as the prices have reverted to the original; we have better and increased services and a great Academic ticket offer. Even stranger is our new stronger partnership with FirstBus even inviting them to our Freshers Fayre and helping them with their Bus pull event where President (Education and Welfare) an some fresher’s team competed with bus drivers to race pull a bus. That got lots of publicity and was aimed at promoting the new Carnie Ticket and improved services for students.

We are not where we want to be with this campaign. Ideally we want £1.00 singles or even an RGU Shuttle service. However we have achieved wins and have opened a productive communication channel with the Bus Company and have assured them we will act in the interest if our students. If not we will assemble the troops of students and just get our pals at STV and Holyrood…”

Nominated by Steven Mills, Students’ Union Staff

What the judges said…

“Taking on a vested interest is never easy and First have a financial interest in a captive market (students) paying as much as possible for fares. To have managed to persuade them to cut prices with the “Carnie” ticket is an incredible achievement. Students at Robert Gordon University will clearly be in little doubt how valuable their student union is” Gus Baker, Intern Aware