Transport User Voice – Around Great Britain

02 October 2023

An update on our work

West Midlands

Long-term plans to deliver significant improvements for the West Midlands have been published by the West Midlands Rail Executive. The revised Rail Investment Strategy includes the delivery of the Midlands Rail Hub and proposals for new railway stations. It includes a coordinated plan for improving existing services and feedback from a wide-ranging consultation including Transport Focus. Our contribution highlighted the need to place the passenger at the heart of the new plans and developments.

Part of the West Midlands Metro network jigsaw is finally in place with trains now directly connecting Wolverhampton station through to Edgbaston, and driver training underway on this important junction. This pulls together a long-term plan for public transport in Wolverhampton, which we have been part of since 2019.

The Grand Rail Collaboration Customer Information Group has now enabled the delivery of improved rail replacement bus services. Replacement bus services are sometimes challenging and unpopular with passengers. The investment in improved signage and wayfinding is a positive collaboration put into place for any future disruption

And finally, electric vehicle owners will also be pleased to see the launch of the UK’s largest charging hub at the NEC in Birmingham. The new Gigahub™ boasts a range of charge points enabling 180 vehicles to charge at the same time.

Wales

A new initiative to provide sanitary bins in men’s toilets at Transport for Wales (TfW) stations has been launched this month.

The ‘Boys Need Bins‘ scheme is being trialled at two main stations with plans to roll out the initiative to further hub stations. The launch of the scheme comes on the back of a request at our public Board meeting in November last year from Carolyn Morgan MS. She approached us on behalf of a passenger with a question about the lack of sanitary bins in men’s toilets at train stations for men suffering incontinence.

We could see this could be a huge barrier for passengers wanting to travel and learnt that this can affect men of all ages. Over the past few months, we have been working behind the scenes with Transport for Wales to see how this barrier could be addressed and encouraged TfW to engage the support of Prostate Cancer UK as we know incontinence can affect people following prostate cancer surgery.

Senedd Committee consults on priorities

The Senedd Climate Change, Environment and Infrastructure Committee has been examining Welsh Government policies on transport. It has been seeking views on whether its key priorities remain relevant. Transport Focus responded with evidence from our recent passenger research and highlighted the need to ensure sufficient focus is committed to transport in light of the significant upcoming developments in transport in Wales.

Scotland

Since September 2021, Transport Focus has been seeking the opinions of passengers on their overall journey, value for money, punctuality, cleanliness, and the frequency of services through our Rail User Survey.

The latest results published in September showed that ScotRail’s overall satisfaction score has increased from 86 per cent to 91 per cent in the latest survey (October 2021 – January 2022). In fact, passenger satisfaction levels with the train operator have risen across all categories, with one of the largest improvements being in the provision of information during delays.

The Scottish Government has confirmed that the ScotRail peak fares removal pilot will take place between 2 October 2023 and 29 March 2024. During the pilot, all off-peak fares and products that are set and controlled by ScotRail will be valid for travel all day. It’s hoped that the trial will see passengers saving money across the country. Our previous research into the factors influencing passengers’ satisfaction with value for money showed that it is inextricably linked to price. This pilot, which includes reducing the cost of travel at peak times, will offer better value for money and could encourage people back to rail.

 

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