Presenting on-time performance information to rail passengers

30 May 2013

New research published today will help ensure that passengers get information on train punctuality as they want to see it.

Passenger Focus, the independent passenger watchdog, worked with the Office of Rail Regulation and National Rail Enquiries to ask passengers how they wanted to access ‘on-time’ information and how they could see it being used. We also spoke to independent smartphone app developers about how that could be achieved.

On-time, referred to by industry and in the report as ‘right-time,’ data tells us how many minutes a train is late by as opposed to the Public Performance Measure (PPM)*, the percentage of trains that have arrived within five or 10 minutes of schedule.

Anthony Smith, Passenger Focus chief executive, said: “Publishing ‘on time’ information was an important and welcome move by the rail industry. We now need to make sure that these findings are used to present it in the most useful way for passengers.”

Chris Scoggins, National Rail Enquiries chief executive said: “Compared to people driving or flying and rail users in many other countries, Britain’s train passengers already know far more about how the services they use are performing. We will continue to listen to passengers’ feedback to ensure the industry keeps providing them with useful, relevant information while improving services.”

Click here to download the report.

* PPM was introduced as the official statistic used by the Government and rail regulator in June 2000.