London’s busiest rail commuter companies are bottom of the league in terms of passengers getting value for money — but satisfaction has improved, the world’s largest rail survey reveals today.
More than 50,000 passengers were interviewed for the National Rail Passenger Survey published by independent watchdog Transport Focus.
It found just 34 per cent of passengers on South Western Railway believed they got value for money, followed by Southeastern on 39 per cent, Thameslink and Great Northern on 42 per cent and Greater Anglia on 43 per cent. Best rated was Grand Central on 75 per cent.
The survey did show 82 per cent of travellers were satisfied with their journeys in autumn 2019, up three percentage points on the year before.
However, it was carried out before the month-long December strike on South Western Railway and this month’s peak time fares increases of 2.8 per cent.
Poor punctuality, timetable chaos and industrial action saw the satisfaction score sink to 79 per cent in 2018, the lowest level since 2008. Transport Focus CEO Anthony Smith said: “Passengers tell us that their biggest priority is services they can rely on to actually get them somewhere on time.
“Until train companies can consistently deliver on their promises, satisfaction will continue to vary.”
Transport Focus will use the evidence from the survey as it continues to push for wide-scale reform of the industry and immediate improvement in reliability for the worst-affected areas.
Robert Nisbet, director of nations and regions at industry body the Rail Delivery Group, said: “While we are working hard to address challenges on some routes where train punctuality should be better, today’s improved satisfaction scores show that passengers are feeling the benefits of investment in thousands of new carriages and extra services.
“Punctuality is stabilising and passengers will continue to see their journeys improve as we replace half the train fleet old-for-new by 2025.
“We look forward to working to create a railway that is more responsive to what passengers want across the country.”
