West Yorkshire has the second most highly-rated bus services in the country, a survey has found.

The poll of 1,846 customers in the region by watchdog Passenger Focus revealed 91 per cent were satisfied overall with their bus journeys.

Satisfaction levels were highest in Brighton, with 92 per cent of passengers happy with services.

But the research also showed more than a third of fare-paying passengers (38 per cent) in West Yorkshire were dissatisfied with the value for money of services. Fare-paying passengers were also less satisfied overall with journeys than free bus pass holders.

Satisfaction levels were highest in the region for ease of getting on and off buses, information provided outside buses, electronic information showing the time of the next bus and availability of seats. Satisfaction was lowest for information provided inside buses, frequency of services and value for money.

First, which operates in Bradford, scored highly in the survey with 89 per cent of its customers in West Yorkshire saying they were satisfied with their most recent bus journey.

Dave Alexander, the company’s regional manager for West Yorkshire, said: “These are excellent results and show that a vast majority of First bus customers are satisfied with the service we are providing on a daily basis.

“We have invested heavily in terms of the quality of our buses in West Yorkshire over the last few years and our customers are seeing the benefits of modern low-floor buses with extra features such as CCTV cameras and comfortable seats with plenty of legroom.”

Nigel Featham, managing director of Arriva Yorkshire, which also operates services in Bradford, said: “We’re pleased to see the high levels of satisfaction reflected in the excellent feedback and improving results Arriva’s own surveys have revealed.

“Our investment in new buses is improving accessibility for less mobile customers, our focus on value for money fares especially of weekly and monthly tickets, and continuing driver training all add up to a better experience for people who use the bus.”

Nigel Eggleton, marketing director of Transdev, which operates Keighley and District, said: “It shows the bus industry is getting a lot of things right with quite high levels of overall customer satisfaction. We believe our fares do offer good value for money and many of our frequent-use deals offer extremely good value for money.

“Over 90 per cent of our journeys are operated without public funding, but perhaps we have some work to do explaining our costs and the real price of alternative forms of transport to our passengers.”

Chris Greaves, chairman of West Yorkshire Integrated Transport Authority Metro, said while he welcomed the high level of customer satisfaction in services, the survey should have also focused upon the need for integrated services in the region.

He said: “What the public weren’t asked was could they move easily from provider to provider. They weren’t asked if they wanted an integrated transport system. The biggest issue facing transport in West Yorkshire is the introduction of quality contracts which would allow passengers to move between different operators.”