Greater Anglia has just improved its “less busy trains” tool on their website to make it easier for rail passengers to know which are the least busy trains to travel on. The tool offers more detailed information about how busy services will be during the route of selected rush-hour journeys, to and from London.
Once a journey, day and time have been chosen, passengers will see a colour-coded “journey heat map” which indicates at a glance if the selected train is quiet, moderate, busy or crowded. Clicking for more details will also allow commuters to see how busy or quiet the train is at every station along the route.
Additionally, the new tool offers data for other trains on the same route but at different times, so passengers can compare how busy they are and determine which service they feel most comfortable travelling on.
The tool also uses passenger monitoring data from the week before, gathered by staff at Greater Anglia station who count how many passengers are getting on at each station.
The data is uploaded once a week, and although the tool is not a live feed, it serves as a useful guide based on analysis of the previous week’s data.
Martin Moran, Greater Anglia commercial, customer service and train presentation director said: “We’re seeing increasing numbers of people travelling on our trains as Covid restrictions have been gradually lifted.”
“We wanted to make it as easy as possible for passenger to choose a less busy train if they do not feel comfortable catching a train with many other people, which is why we’ve made these improvements to our less bust train tool, following its launch last year.”
“If you’re at a station and you want to find out which is the least busy train, you can also ask a member of staff or press at the help button on a ticket machine to go through to an assistant at Norwich who will be able to help you."
“I would like to reassure people that you can travel with confidence on our trains – and many people are doing just that. Often, you’ll find fewer passengers if you move down the length of the train.”
“On the busiest trains – described as “crowded” on the less busy trains tool – it will not be possible to socially distance – but we still have many measures in place to keep passengers safe, including enhanced cleaning and sanitisation of trains, either air conditioning which replaces air inside the train every six to nine minutes or opening windows – as well as doors which open at stations. In addition, the vast majority of passengers are wearing face coverings for all of their journeys.”
Full details of what Greater Anglia is doing to keep passengers safe can be found on the company’s website.
RTM will be hosting a virtual event around improving passenger experience on August 18. Register to attend here
