30,000 rail passengers have their say
10 December 2012
Passengers from across Great Britain have given their views as part of the world’s biggest rail passenger satisfaction survey.
Passenger Focus, which carries out the twice-yearly National Passenger Survey (NPS), has received over 30,000 completed questionnaires from rail passengers who were making journeys from around 700 stations across the country.
The completed surveys will now be analysed carefully by Passenger Focus who will be publishing the results on 29 January 2013.
Anthony Smith, Passenger Focus chief executive, said: “The best way for us to promote passenger interests is to actually go out and speak to the people using the rail network. This gives us the evidence we need to encourage the industry and government to address the issues that matter most. We know it can be done and passengers will give them credit when investment and proactive management coincides to deliver improvements in services.”
This autumn wave of NPS also involved additional surveys on behalf of Network Rail, First Great Western, Transport for Greater Manchester and Merseytravel.
The previous NPS, published in June 2012, found that overall satisfaction had remained steady at 84 per cent, matching the previous year’s high score. However, drops in scores for performance and value for money for some train companies had sparked concern.
The overall scores for train companies, when broken down by individual routes, showed wide variations. There was a 23 per cent difference between the top and bottom performers, with value for money scores showing an even wider variation from 30 per cent to 83 per cent. Satisfaction with punctuality and reliability ranged from 73 per cent to 97 per cent. Satisfaction with getting a seat varied from 52 per cent to 91 per cent.
Previously published NPS reports can be downloaded from the Passenger Focus website:
https://www.transportfocus.org.uk/research/national-passenger-survey-introduction
Ends
Notes to editors
- Passenger Focus is the official, independent consumer organisation representing the interests of rail users nationally and bus, coach and tram users across England outside London. We want to make a difference for rail, bus, coach and tram passengers.
We’ll do this by:
– providing authoritative advice for industry based on sound research
– securing improvements to services – both big and small-scale improvements
– helping passengers with advice and information
– campaigning for change
– acting on rail passenger complaints - For further information please contact:
Dervish Mertcan
Communications Officer
Tel: 0300 123 0847 / 07918 626 045
or e-mail: dervish.mertcan@transportfocus.org.uk
