21.01.14
Passenger satisfaction at 83% - NRPS
Overall passenger satisfaction has held steady at 83%, the latest figures from Passenger Focus show.
The National Rail Passenger Survey (NRPS) covers responses from autumn 2013, and compares to a headline satisfaction figure of 82% for spring 2013, 85% for autumn 2012, and 83% for spring 2012.
Satisfaction with punctuality dropped compared to the year before, from 83% to 79%, reflecting a drop in actual punctuality. How operators handle delays also fell from 44% to 40% and varied between 23% and 69% across the country.
Passengers reported that their satisfaction with the railway’s value for money was at 45%, down from 47% in the previous autumn.
David Sidebottom, acting chief executive of the independent watchdog Passenger Focus, said: “There are gaps of around 20% between the best and worst-performing services, and satisfaction with value for money varied from 28 to 82%.
“Although generally satisfaction has remained fairly high over the last five years, we want to see a more consistently high level of service for passengers, wherever they may be travelling to and from.”
Steve Montgomery, managing director of ScotRail, said: “Disruption affects how people feel about rail travel.While two in three delays were not of ScotRail’s making, customers rightly expect us to take the lead in delivering industry improvements.We will continue to help Network Rail reduce their track and signalling failures, as these have had the biggest impact on our services.
“For our part, we will continue to focus on improving the reliability of our trains, so that the vast majority of services are able to operate with the full complement of carriages.”
Tim Shoveller, managing director of the South West Trains-Network Rail Alliance, said: “Eight in 10 of our passengers remain satisfied with their train service, but we know everyone who plays a part in running the railways has work to do to ensure we better meet the expectations of our customers.
“There is no question that 2013 was a challenging year for passengers and train operators across the whole of the UK rail network, which at times was affected by severe weather and infrastructure issues. This was particularly true for networks such as ours with a high volume of commuters where train punctuality is a major driver of satisfaction.
“Passenger satisfaction with our services has remained at a stable level throughout 2013, but we want to improve the experience for our customers. We are investing millions of pounds in the year ahead to make a difference across every area that is a priority for our passengers.”
And c2c managing director Julian Drury said: “We're really proud that our passengers have named us London's best commuter operator, and it's the focus, dedication, and sheer hard work of our employees that helps makes this possible. We will aim to build on these results and improve where we can for as long as National Express continues to run the c2c franchise.”
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