Passenger Voice May 2015: Passengers continue to be satisfied with tram services
30 April 2015
Nine in ten tram passengers are satisfied with their journey, according to last month’s Tram Passenger Survey (TPS).
In the second TPS more than 4900 passengers in Blackpool, Greater Manchester, the West Midlands, Nottingham, Sheffield and Edinburgh were surveyed.
Overall satisfaction has remained at the high levels of 2013. It is positive to see that operators and transport authorities have used the results of the previous survey as a guide for future changes and made real improvements for passengers. For example, Manchester and the West Midlands introduced more trams to address the issues of capacity, giving passengers a better journey experience.
Despite planned engineering works having increased this year, almost eight in ten passengers were satisfied with the punctuality of their service. Passengers also continued to view trams as a cost-effective way of getting around, 61 per cent saying they were satisfied with the value for money of their journey.
Although the results are very encouraging, comparing favourably to overall satisfaction with the autumn 2014 National Rail Passenger Survey at 81 per cent satisfaction, there is still room for improvement. Satisfaction with the frequency of trams has increased since last year, although not significantly. Across networks passengers would like to see improvements made to the inside of the trams, particularly more seating, and for tickets to be cheaper.
Notably tram passengers in Edinburgh were surveyed for the first time this year and had among the highest levels of satisfaction, at 95 per cent.
We will continue to call on operators to learn from these and previous TPS results, particularly during times of expansion and rebuilding, in order to make services better for passengers.
Please click here to download the full TPS report.
