Less than a third of rail season ticket holders and only one in 10 bus season ticket holders have so far made a refund claim following the national coronavirus lockdown, a major survey has found.
Passenger watchdog, Transport Focus, surveyed more than 5,000 people about their experiences claiming a refund on season tickets, including both those who still travel for work or to get access to food and other essential services, and those who no longer travel.
The survey suggests many operators could improve refund claim rates by providing better information, with around a quarter of respondents who had not yet made a claim saying they were either unsure if they could get a refund or were unsure how to claim.
The watchdog has summarised the latest details on which operators are offering what, and how easy we think they are making it.
Rail season ticket holders who had attempted to claim had mixed experiences, with around a third of rail season ticket holders saying the claims process wasn’t easy.
Many of those with better experiences had visited the station to claim a refund before the lockdown restrictions were implemented on the 23 March or had been able to claim a refund by logging into their smartcard account online.
Rail season ticket holders expressed frustration as they had:
- struggled to contact the train company
- had to pay an administration fee
- were disappointed with the refund amount
- suggested that the option to ‘pause’ their ticket until the restrictions ended would have been more helpful.
Transport Focus said it had pushed for more support and subsequently more operators had reassured them season ticket holders' claims would be backdated to when they stopped travelling.
Rail season ticket holders are advised to apply for a refund as soon as possible to ensure they get the full value of their refund.
Transport Focus is calling on passengers not to leave it too late and for them to claim what they are entitled to.
Almost half (46%) of respondents hadn’t made any journeys by public transport or by car in the last seven days. Of those who had made a journey, the majority were by car and mainly for essential shopping.
Almost nine in 10 of those who hadn’t made a journey in the last seven days said this was because they were following the Government advice not to travel.
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