- Highest ever satisfaction result for First Hull Trains
- Great Western Railway satisfaction up 3%
- First TransPennine Express satisfaction up 1%
The latest results of the independent Transport Focus National Rail Passenger Survey of customer satisfaction show that all of FirstGroup’s three train operating companies, Great Western Railway, First TransPennine Express and First Hull Trains all scored the national average of 83 per cent or higher.
- First Hull Trains, FirstGroup’s open access operation providing direct trains to London for residents in Hull and East Riding, topped the table with their highest ever satisfaction score at 97 per cent, a full ten percent higher than the average of long-distance operators. The operator also scored an unprecedented 100 percent satisfaction on its weekend services and topped the satisfaction league for punctuality and reliability.
- Great Western Railway, which runs services from London to South Wales and the West Country, increased its year-on-year measure for overall satisfaction by 3 percent from 81 per cent to 84 per cent, its highest score since the National Rail Passenger Survey began in 1999. This year’s score beats its previous high of 83 per cent, achieved in 2011.
- First TransPennine Express, which runs intercity services between major cities in the north of England, scored 83 per cent, up from 82 per cent year-on-year.
By comparison, after First Hull Trains, the next highest overall satisfaction rates were on Heathrow Express at 95 per cent, and Merseyrail at 93 per cent, while the lowest was Govia Thameslink on 73 per cent.
Steve Montgomery, Managing Director, First Rail, said:
“We are committed to our customers, and this passenger feedback is an important guide to how well we help them enjoy good, reliable journeys. These latest figures show that we are providing services that people are generally satisfied with. However, we will continue to do more to meet our customers’ expectations. This means both running more trains on time and making sure we treat people well from the moment they want to find out about a service and buy a ticket to the time that they complete their journey.”
“These results also help to highlight the great examples of very good customer care across our rail businesses – from friendly helpful staff at better stations to giving customers clear information when things go wrong. We are striving to make this happen more often in more places, so that our customers feel that we care about every single journey they make on our trains.”
The nationwide results of the survey show that overall satisfaction among rail passengers has risen “significantly”. The survey found that 83 per cent of passengers surveyed in autumn 2015 were satisfied with their journey overall, two per cent higher than the same period in 2014 and three per cent more than in spring 2015.
Ten per cent of passengers were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, and seven per cent said they were dissatisfied (down from eight per cent in spring 2015).
ENDS
About the National Rail Passenger Survey, published by independent body Transport Focus:
The National Rail Passenger Survey (NPRS) provides a network-wide picture of customer satisfaction with rail travel. Passenger opinions of train services are collected twice a year from a representative sample of passenger journeys. Passengers’ overall satisfaction, overall satisfaction with stations and trains, and satisfaction with 33 specific aspects of service can therefore be compared over time.
The National Passenger Satisfaction Results are published here: http://www.transportfocus.org.uk/research/national-passenger-survey-introduction
About First Rail:
FirstGroup is one of the most experienced rail operators in the UK and the only one to run every sort of railway – long distance, regional, commuter and sleeper operations. We carried more than 280 million passengers in 2014/15. We operate two passenger franchises – Great Western Railway (GWR) and First TransPennine Express – and one open access operator, First Hull Trains. We operate the Tramlink network on behalf of Transport for London carrying more than 32 million passengers a year and the Heathrow Connect service in partnership with Heathrow Airport.
About FirstGroup plc:
FirstGroup plc is the leading transport operator in the UK and North America and our services help to create strong, vibrant and sustainable local economies. During the last year around 2.4 billion people relied on us to get to work, to education, to visit family and friends and much more and, each day, every one of our 110,000 employees works hard to deliver vitally important services for our passengers.
Our vision is to provide solutions for an increasingly congested world… keeping people moving and communities prospering.