The timetable for rail services on the busiest commuter lines is “a work of fiction”, leading to the lowest levels of passenger satisfaction for a decade.
The damning verdict came as new figures showed that passenger satisfaction with overall services nationally has fallen to 81 per cent from 83 per cent last year, the worst result since 2007 - when overall satisfaction was also at just 81 per cent.
Satisfaction with the punctuality and reliability of services is even lower, falling by five per cent since Autumn 2015 to 73 per cent, according to the independent passenger watchdog.
Passenger satisfaction is particularly low on the key commuter services in the southeast, where thousands of people depend on rail to get into London.
Anthony Smith, chief executive of Transport Focus, which carried out the survey of passenger satisfaction, said: “The results around the country are disappointing. Scottish passengers and those travelling in peak hours in London and the South East are bearing the brunt of poor performance.
“The timetable on parts of the London and South East’s railway can be a work of fiction which passengers cannot rely on.”
For London and the southeast only 80 per cent of passengers were very, or fairly satisfied overall - a fall of two per cent since Autumn 2015.
Only 77 per cent of passengers on Southeastern, which serves routes from Kent and Sussex into London, are satisfied with its services overall, and just 73 per cent are satisfied with services on Thameslink, which runs from Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire, sussex and Kent into the capital.
But the rail operator with the worst level of passenger satisfaction was Southern, with just 65 per cent.
This follows a series of crippling strikes on the network by guards and drivers protesting against the planned introduction of driver only operated trains.
The dispute has seen hundreds of trains cancelled and delayed in recent months, causing widespread inconvenience for passengers.
Mr Smith added: “As passenger numbers rise, parts of the rail network will remain brittle until welcome improvements are in place and working.
“Southern, Thameslink, Gatwick Express and Network Rail must continue to collaborate to produce a more robust timetable. Passengers need a better balance between peak and off-peak services, reliability and capacity.”
More than 29,000 passengers were polled for the Transport Focus Autumn 2016 report.
It showed the only area where levels of satisfaction among passengers had risen was with facilities and services at stations, such as cafes, the availability of shelter and seating, along with toilets on trains.
The rail operators admitted their services were not as good as they should be and sais new investment would deliver improvements for passengers.
Jacqueline Starr, managing director of customer experience at the Rail Delivery Group, representing train operators and Network Rail, said: "We know we must do better.
"We're sorry when customers don't get the service they expect, including those affected by strikes. Everyone in the railway is working hard to make train journeys better from start to finish.
"After decades of under-investment and with passenger numbers soaring to 4.5 million a day on thousands more trains, the railway is full in many places.
"Rail companies are working together to deliver more than £50 billion of improvements, including more than 5,500 new train carriages, to tackle congestion and make journeys faster, more comfortable and more reliable. While we build the bigger, better railway the country needs there will be some disruption."
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