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    1. Rail

    FirstGroup Train Companies Score Highly in Transport Focus Passenger Satisfaction Survey

    Jan. 27, 2016
    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, all scored the national average of 83 per cent or higher.
    Related To: First Transit

    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 percent, 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 percent to 84 percent, its highest score since the National Rail Passenger Survey began in 1999. This year’s score beats its previous high of 83 percent, achieved in 2011. 
    • First TransPennine Express, which runs intercity services between major cities in the north of England, scored 83 percent, up from 82 percent year-on-year. 

    By comparison, after First Hull Trains, the next highest overall satisfaction rates were on Heathrow Express at 95 percent, and Merseyrail at 93 percent, while the lowest was Govia Thameslink on 73 percent.

    Steve Montgomery, managing director of 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 percent 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 percent of passengers were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, and seven percent said they were dissatisfied (down from eight percent in spring 2015).