Victor: It's official—you are more satisfied!
THE Canal & River Trust tells us about its 'headline results of its new Waterway Experience survey, which is distributed in fortnightly waves' (whatever that means) between April and September.
This it says (which further confuses) is designed to complement the annual Perception survey by getting boaters’ up-to-date feedback about the waterways they cruise.
And (of course) it is pleased to report that boaters’ experiences—as shown on the completed questionnaires—have generally improved over the summer months, adding that boaters who are out cruising appear to be more satisfied, more likely to recommend the Trust’s waterways, and have a more positive opinion of the overall upkeep of the waterways when their answers are compared to the annual Perception survey.
I will not bore you with its statistics, I think we all know their value by now, only that CaRT tells us that its monthly survey is sent to a sample of boaters sighted in each waterway region.
It was on Friday that we learnt of this survey and not having ourselves received such a questionnaire, though we regularly cruise, our esteemed editor promptly contacted a number of his many contributors, to learn if they had received the questionnaire and how they had responded.
Alas, up to press, no one has told that they had, mind you it was only a couple of days ago, and with Christmas imminent, I can accept that the emails may not have been received, so will let you know next week.
Not so many
Accepting that such a survey has been distributed, I bet that there were not so many given out to boaters on the Leeds & Liverpool with its ever failing swing bridges.
'Boaters who are out cruising appear to be more satisfied' CaRT tells us, but of course they are. For when you think about it, with the Leeds & Liverpool bringing to mind, that the three major waterways in the North were all closed for long periods last year owing to the shortage of water, so things are certain to the better with these self same waterways open this year (other than the expected stoppages) throughout the entire cruising season.
Needless to say there was no intimation from CaRT where the questionnaires were distributed.
Not so happy
One thing is for sure, the boaters on the Erewash would not have been too happy, as time and time again they were met with empty pounds, the latest this month between Long Eaton and Pastures locks.
We too have had the same problem, especially around both Long Eaton and Ilkeston, where vandal are still active at draining pounds.
The then British Waterway solved the problem by installing anti-vandal devices on the paddles of all the 15 locks, but of course these have not been maintained and most are now no longer working, allowing the vandals free rein to emptying pounds.
I wonder if any of the questionnaires were distributed to boaters on that canal?
Victor Swift