Supporting our Customers

Helping more people to use bus and rail services, leading to fewer car journeys being made.

Passenger’s charter

In First Bus our commitments to passengers are outlined on the respective local business unit websites and cover a range of topics including service quality, delays, accessibility and more.

Our goals are to advocate for innovation and investment in sustainable mobility, and to make the case for sustainable transport infrastructure decisions that help reduce congestion, enhance customer experience and decrease journey times.

Our train operating companies publish Passenger’s charters that outline their promise to  customers. It’s their way of showing that they’re committed to giving them the highest quality rail service, including reliable trains that run on time, trains and stations that are clean and safe and quality customer service.

These charters and commitments can be viewed on the respective websites:

Avanti West Coast Passenger's Charter

First Bus Conditions of Travel

Great Western Railway Passenger's charter

Hull Trains Passengers' Charter

Lumo Customer Charter

South Western Railway Passenger's Charter

 

Information

We know how important it is to keep passengers informed at all stages of their journey. We aim to make information as transparent and accessible and provide it via:

·       Division websites and bespoke apps

·       Posters and information screens on vehicles, stations, depots and stops

·       Social media channels

·       Announcements on board our vehicles and at our stations

·       Through on board, station and frontline staff including customer ambassadors at key locations

·       Help points

·       Leaflets and timetables

Tickets

We want to make it as easy as we can to buy a ticket for travelling with us, so we offer several options to suit different circumstances and budgets. Tickets can be bought:

·       Online on divisional company websites, via apps or third party ticketing platforms

·       At ticket offices and ticket machines

·       On board our vehicles

·       Through specialist sales or passenger assist teams

 

Service quality

In First Bus services are monitored across a variety of performance metrics including safety, punctuality, weather events, passenger numbers, fuel efficiency and more. Performance metrics are published on an annual basis in the FirstGroup Annual Report.  

The Rail Passenger Rights and Obligations (PRO) Regulation is aimed at enhancing and strengthening the rights of rail passengers, particularly in the areas of information and ticketing provision, compensation and assistance, and provides rights for disabled persons and persons with reduced mobility. As part of the PRO Regulation, train operators are required to publish an Annual Service Quality Report. These reports outline the targets, improvements, actions and performance that companies are taking on an annual basis. These reports can be found at the following links:

Avanti West Coast Annual Service Quality Report

Great Western Railway Annual Service Quality Report

Lumo Performance Report

Hull Trains Performance Report

South Western Railway Rail Service Quality Report

Cleanliness

Our stations, vehicles and depots are cleaned throughout the day to keep the accommodation clean and today at all times and to BICs Standards (British Institute of Cleaning Science). Our aim is to improve station, depot and onboard environments by delivering a service that continually enhances customer satisfaction. We work with cleaning staff and providers to provide daily routine cleaning of all facilities, periodic deep cleans, biohazard cleaning, landscaping and vegetation, high level cleaning, window cleaning, abandoned bike management and blocked toilet first attendance. Full details can be found on our respective divisional websites:

Avanti West Coast Cleanliness

First Bus Conditions of Travel

Great Western Railway Cleanliness

Lumo Cleanliness

Hull Trains Cleanliness

South Western Railway Cleanliness

 

Service punctuality, delays and cancellations

We work hard to make sure journeys with us run smoothly but we know that sometimes things don’t go to plan. When this happens, we have plans in place to help passengers reach their destination as soon and as comfortably as possible.

In First Bus we provide live service updates on each local business unit website. These include delays, road closures and adverse weather impacts that may affect services. Updates are provided via the First Bus websites, First Bus app, onboard, at bus stops and stations, and other digital and social media channels. Teams are constantly monitoring different variables such as traffic and weather to ensure the smooth and consistent running of services.

In First Rail our train operating companies are active partners in the Rail Delivery Group’s Smarter Information Smarter Journeys programme which looks to improve the delivery of information to customers at an industry level. Their Customer Action Teams (CATs) have been trained to assist customers and colleagues and will be deployed to stations or trains during significant disruption. We also have an On-Call process, where managers are allocated to a geographical area of the business to provide a suitable response to any incident. These managers are trained to deal with any incident and to provide support to our customers and colleagues, whether that be through the delivery of alternative transport, information provision, or simply to provide a management presence.

Punctuality of services are published on division websites:

Avanti West Coast Punctuality

First Bus Service Updates

Great Western Railway Punctuality

Hull Trains Punctuality

Lumo Punctuality

South Western Railway Punctuality

Delay repay

Delay Repay is a national scheme that makes it easier to claim compensation when a rail journey is delayed. Rail passengers can claim Delay Repay if their journey has been delayed by 15 minutes or more. Depending on the length of delay, they may be entitled to compensation equivalent to all or part of their ticket cost. To make things easier for customers certain services offer automated delay repay.

Delays are calculated against the scheduled timetable on the day. The length of a delay is based on the time the train arrives at the scheduled destination compared to its scheduled arrival time, not the delay when it first set off.

All Delay Repay claims must be submitted within 28 days of the affected journey and can be submitted on the respective rail websites. Our divisions publish delay repay data on their respective websites.

Avanti West Coast Delay Repay

Great Western Railway Delay Repay

Hull Trains Delay Repay

Lumo Delay Repay

South Western Railway Delay Repay

Customer satisfaction

Our regular surveys cover a variety of measures including punctuality, quality, cleanliness, information provision, response times, accessibility, safety and security.

Customer satisfaction surveys are published on division websites:

Avanti West Coast Customer Satisfaction

First Bus Customer Satisfaction

Great Western Railway Customer Satisfaction

Hull Trains Customer Satisfaction

Lumo Customer Satisfaction

South Western Railway Customer Satisfaction

Complaints handling

We know that the needs of communities and our customers change, and we want to carry on living up to their expectations, and our own high standards. So, when they get in touch with us with a complaint or some feedback, we record all the details – good and bad. We share the comments with the relevant areas of the business in daily, weekly, and monthly reports. They go to the managers and senior managers responsible, as well as our directors.

The reports help us work out where we can improve, and what changes we need to make to give our customers a great service. Our businesses use the complaint data to identify the root causes of complaints; take action to reduce the chance of a similar issue happening again; and regularly review our performance when dealing with complaints to improve how we deal with them.

Avanti West Coast Complaints Handling Policy

First Bus Customer Complaints Charter

Great Western Railway Complaints Handling Policy

Hull Trains Complaints Handling Procedure

Lumo Complaints Handling Procedure

South Western Railway Complaints Handling Policy

Complaints data

We publish the number of complaints and the outcomes on our division websites. The complaints are categorised and key feedback and improvements are published annually. Complaints data and suggested actions can be found at the links below:

Avanti West Coast Complaints Data

First Bus Customer Complaints

Great Western Railway Complaints Data

Hull Trains Complaints Data

Lumo Complaints Data

South Western Railway Complaints Data

Customer information pledges

Along with other UK train operators, our First Rail train operating companies follow the Passenger Information During Disruption (PIDD) principles which is a national initiative used to ensure a consistent approach to providing information during service disruption. Visit their respective Customer Information Pledges webpages for more details on what to expect during disruption:

Avanti West Coast Customer Information Pledges

Hull Trains Customer Information Pledges

Lumo Customer Information Pledges

Great Western Railway Customer Information Pledges

South Western Railway Customer Information Pledges

Data privacy and security

Keeping your details secure is a priority. We will follow the procedures set out in our respective Privacy Policies to ensure that it is fully compliant with the Data Protection Act 2018 and any other relevant data protection laws. We ensure that our procedures and policies ensure that:

·       Any personal data we hold on our systems is protected

·       Data is held securely

·       Employees are trained in line with best practice and adhering to relevant data protection laws

·       Confidential information is safely stored and destroyed

·       Complaints procedures are transparent and respond to customer feedback

·       Help points

·       Leaflets and timetables

We have appointed data protection officers throughout the business and divisions who are responsible for our approach to data protection and protecting your privacy. These officers can be contacted from the respective websites.

Avanti West Coast Privacy Policy

First Bus Privacy Policy

Great Western Railway Privacy Policy

Hull Trains Privacy Policy

Lumo Privacy and Data Protection

South Western Railway Privacy Policy

 

Discover other ways we are supporting our customers

Avanti West Coast

First Bus

Great Western Railway

Hull Trains

Lumo

South Western Railway