Passengers remain dissatisfied with services on Oxfordshire trains, a new survey has revealed.
The latest National Passenger Survey, produced by Passenger Focus, shows that passenger satisfaction varies greatly with different aspects of their journey. Chiltern Railways had an overall satisfaction rating of 88 per cent, two per cent lower than last year, but the value for money for the price of a ticket was only 51 per cent.
Malcolm Holmes, general manager mainline at Chiltern Railways, said: “Just prior to the fieldwork for this survey, we made the biggest change in our history following the completion of our Evergreen 3 project to reduce journey time at our stations in Oxfordshire to London Marylebone.
“New infrastructure needs time to bed in and this had an impact on our performance. Since this time we have been working with Network Rail to improve reliability and are now back to over 92 per cent for punctuality placing sixth out of the nineteen train operators in the most recent performance figures.”
CrossCountry, which services Oxfordshire, scored 82 per cent for overall satisfaction, also two per cent down on last year's figures. When customers were asked how well the train company dealt with delays, only 46 per cent were satisfied and 52 per cent were happy with the amount of space for luggage.
Hugh Jaeger, from Railfuture Thames Valley Branch, said: “Chiltern’s overall rating of 88 per cent is creditable and we welcome the improvement in First Great Western’s overall passenger satisfaction.
“We remain concerned that CrossCountry’s overall passenger satisfaction continues to decline. Arriva has held the CrossCountry franchise since 2007. It has had long enough to make significant improvements to passenger satisfaction, and it is about time it did so.”
First Great Western, which scored 83 per cent overall - a two per cent improvement on their last survey results - saw only 32 per cent of customers satisfied with the helpfulness and attitude of staff on the trains. In addition, passengers only gave the toilet facilities 44 per cent.
First Great Western managing director, Mark Hopwood, said: “While our scores are in line with similar operators, there is real scope for us to continue our improving trend to really excel amongst our peers. We expect the effect of the 48 additional carriages announced before Christmas – and already appearing in service – to positively impact the next survey scores due out later this year.”
The survey was produced by Passenger Focus, an independent consumer watchdog for Britain’s rail passengers. Anthony Smith, Passenger Focus chief executive, said: “The experience of passengers’ ranges from mediocre to good. Satisfaction with value for money has gone down, illustrating the impact that tough economic times, coupled with fare rises, are having.
“These results will enable the industry and government to focus resources and effort where passenger satisfaction remains in the doldrums.”
