Satisfaction with rail still at an all-time low for South Western Railway passengers

28 January 2020

Delay and strike-blighted South Western Railway passengers continue to report the lowest satisfaction in a decade.  

The transport user watchdog today releases its latest National Rail Passenger Survey of almost 28,000 passengers. Almost 2000 of these travelled on South Western Railway – and they reported an overall satisfaction score (for their last journey) of 74 per cent.  

This was just one per cent more (not considered to be an increase in statistical terms) than last year when it was the lowest in a decade.  

Meanwhile commuters reported just 66 per cent satisfaction. Value for money was also low – just over three in 10 passengers (two in 10 commuters) were satisfied. 

 Chief executive Anthony Smith said:  

“Passengers tell us that their biggest priority is rail services they can rely on to actually get them to work on time, or home at a reasonable hour. When that doesn’t happen, it impacts the rest of their lives. Poor scores for how delays were handled show that passengers still aren’t getting the help they need when facing disruption. 

 “South Western Railway passengers have suffered for a long time now. Enough is enough. Extra compensation would be welcome, and we remind everyone to claim whenever they are delayed, but reliability must be restored to the railway in this area. 

 “We want to hear from the operator how it will get services back on track.” 

 Transport Focus will use the evidence from the survey as it continues to push for wide-scale reform of the industry, and immediate improvement in reliability for the worst-affected areas.  

 Key satisfaction scores (for more, please see the full report)  

 

Notes to editors 

• Media contact – Misha MccGwire misha.mccgwire@transportfocus.org.uk / 0300 123 0821.
  
•  Transport Focus is the independent transport watchdog representing the interests of: 
  • rail passengers in Great Britain 
  • bus, coach and tram passengers across England outside London 
  • all users of England’s motorways and major ‘A’ roads (the Strategic Road Network). 

We work to make a difference for all transport users. 

•  We spoke to nearly 28,000 passengers from 2 September to 10 November 2019, and asked them to rate the journey they had just made. Passengers are asked to take part online or on paper, at 700 stations and on board trains across Great Britain. We select enough passengers to be representative of the entire network. Questionnaires are distributed at different times of day and across all days of the week. 

• Nationally more passengers were satisfied overall – 82 per cent, up from autumn 2018 (79 per cent).