In recent weeks, Transport Focus has been invited to industry stakeholder events to discuss all things important to passengers. It is positive that industry partners remain focussed on wanting to improve issues such as punctuality, reliability and overcrowding, as it is clear from our latest Rail User Survey that there is still a lot to do to raise satisfaction in these areas.
We have seen overall journey satisfaction range from 94 per cent for c2c and Merseyrail, to 73 per cent for CrossCountry. However, a look at satisfaction over time – in particular the last 12 weeks – shows a fall in satisfaction. We should also note that this is the same time frame where we have seen some train operators introduce temporary/reduced timetables, which has had an impact on satisfaction.
For example, our results show a 15 per cent decrease in satisfaction with frequency of ScotRail services. However, satisfaction with punctuality/reliability at ScotRail is higher than for Northern where passengers have been impacted by short notice cancellations and ‘do not travel’ advice on some routes. A lot of nuances in the results. We understand the need for a reduced timetable to provide certainty and predictability to passengers, however it is not unexpected to see it affect passenger experience and satisfaction. We have also written to train operators for service delivery assurance as we enter autumn/winter.
We note welcome improvements in Transport for Wales (TfW) with overall satisfaction having continued to rise since last summer. It is positive to see passengers recognising better reliability from the work going into growing and managing the train fleet. We will continue to work with TfW as they build on this to deliver further improvements.
One of the best ways to help the railway drive consistent improvements to passenger journeys, is to use a customer experience measure – based on passengers’ direct feedback on their journeys. The railway has committed to a large-scale survey to provide more regular and granular feedback, and enable it to demonstrate to passengers that it is consistently improving its service across the whole network. In the meantime, we are developing a scorecard using our Rail User Survey results, Office of Rail and Road performance data and sentiment data to benchmark the passenger experience, to ensure the passengers’ voice remains the top priority in decision making.
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