Transport User Voice – January 2017 – Chief executive’s editorial

21 December 2016

While the industrial action on Southern grinds on – 300,000 passengers affected – with no end in sight, in other parts of the transport world there is better news.

After years of research and lobbying progress at last on ticketing. Together with the Department for Transport, Which? and the Rail Delivery Group we have produced a new fares and ticketing Action Plan with lots of passenger benefits and a commitment to longer-term reform in it. This includes a second chance if you forget your Railcard. This causes real grief for passengers and rail staff. Plus new rules around penalty fares – this represents the culmination of four years’ work by Transport Focus.

A clear message from road users in our new work on route based improvements on the Strategic Road Network – congestion is already causing problems and is only going to get worse. While investment will alleviate this, there needs to be fresh thinking about what happens next.

On the buses the next wave of our Bus Passenger Survey is just finishing as is the Tram Passenger Survey. Improvements also coming to the National Rail Passenger Survey which continues to grow in usefulness. Also, good early results from our new online Transport User Panel – we’ve had really quick feedback and a very good response rate – part of our plan to further improve our satisfaction and insight work in the New Year.

I hope 2017 brings better news for all transport users.

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