Transport User Voice – September 2022 – Strikes strike again

25 August 2022

Information and refunds are key

“I will not be able to make my journey and will now have to re arrange a long-awaited appointment.”

Passengers have faced a tumultuous summer as strikes continue on the railway. The high temperatures we’ve seen have also caused their fair share of disruption. While passengers may be feeling frustrated, we want to make sure operators, stations and Network Rail are doing everything they can to ease the pain. This means giving clear, up-to-date information on services, having staff on hand to help and providing refunds and compensation.

For the strikes in July and August we once again asked people about their plans for the strike days. Were they aware of the strike? Did they still plan to travel?

We found just over three in five who had planned to travel on Thursday and Saturday were aware of the strikes. Just over half of those who had planned to travel in the days in between the strikes were also aware of the strikes. Most of those who planned to travel on affected days are now not doing so. On Friday and Sunday (the days between the strikes) around a third still planned to travel.

Just over half rated the information on what trains will and will not run as good. However, just under half rated information on changing tickets and refunds as good.

Once again we see compensation and information on services to be areas for improvement. We will keep pressing the industry to do better.

On top of this research mystery shoppers have fed back their experiences, we surveyed members of our Transport User Panel, monitored social media and had staff out and about reporting on the situation at stations.

Take a look at our reports on the strike action here.

 

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