Passenger satisfaction with rail services has fallen to a 10-year low, according to the official transport watchdog.
According to Transport Focus’s latest National Rail Passenger Survey (NRPS), which captures the satisfaction - or otherwise - of more than 25,000 passengers with their latest journey, overall satisfaction with rail services was 79%.
This is the lowest level since 2008 and means that more than one in five passengers were not satisfied.
On top of this less than half (46%) of journeys were rated by passengers as satisfactory in terms of value for money nationally, unchanged compared to autumn 2008.
The watchdog pointed to worsening punctuality, last summer’s timetable chaos, and ‘lamentable’ strikes as leading to the high levels of dissatisfaction.
Nationally the percentage of journeys rated as satisfactory overall for punctuality/reliability was 71%, down on 74% in autumn 2017 and substantially lower than the 81% in autumn 2008.
Passenger satisfaction with how train operators dealt with delays scored 37% overall but ranged between 29% (Southern and Thameslink) and 77% (Grand Central).
Anthony Smith
Chief executive Anthony Smith said government and the rail industry must continue to focus on performance, while in the longer term the Government’s rail review ‘must bring about fundamental change’.
He said: ‘Passenger irritation at poor performance erodes their most basic trust in the industry. Passenger frustration at continual fare increases saps confidence in the system to reform itself. Passenger anger during the summer timetable crisis was palpable.
‘A better value for money and more reliable railway must arrive soon for passengers.’
Jacqueline Starr, managing director of customer experience at the Rail Delivery Group, representing the rail industry, said: ‘Punctuality is the bedrock of satisfaction for our customers and at the moment in too many places, we are not getting it right.
'Working together, we are investing billions of pounds in a long-term plan to rebuild key parts of the network to improve punctuality while putting thousands of new and refurbished carriages on track to make journeys more comfortable.'
Transport Focus pointed to large disparities between train operating companies (TOCs), with a gap of 27 percentage points in overall satisfaction between those with the highest and lowest satisfaction rating.
Comparing the percentage of journeys that passengers rated as satisfactory overall, with the same measure in Autumn 2017, seven TOCs (out of 25) have significantly declined - Great Northern, Northern, TransPennine Express, Greater Anglia, Thameslink, ScotRail and London North Eastern Railway.
Over the same period, two companies have significantly improved – Heathrow Express and Chiltern Railways.
The NRPS is an official statistic and is one of the largest published rail passenger satisfaction surveys in the world. Transport Focus surveyed more than 25,000 passengers, across all operators and at all times of the day/week between 1 September and 16 November 2018.
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