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Pass focus give w/s amazing 98% satisfaction

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merlodlliw

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See the latest claim to fame;


Wrexham & Shropshire trains: highest passenger satisfaction in history


Passenger Focus, the independent rail watchdog, confirms today that Wrexham & Shropshire has secured the highest satisfaction rating ever recorded in the National Passenger Survey. Wrexham & Shropshire, which runs trains out of London Marylebone, scored 98% for overall customer satisfaction. The company also scored record breaking 98% ratings for both staff service and punctuality.

Since launching in spring 2008, Wrexham & Shropshire has championed low fares and introduced a series of innovations to help the company to break away from the industry norm. From tickets by text message to freshly cooked locally-sourced food on every single train, Wrexham & Shropshire has set a new standard for rail travel. Wrexham & Shropshire is also the only train company to have abolished unpopular peak fares. Passengers can buy their ticket on board at no extra cost and have the option of receiving tickets by text message if they book online.

Andy Hamilton, Managing Director said: “Although a fantastic score, we remain committed to further improving the service, with refurbished carriages currently being brought into service. We believe listening to our customers is the key to our success. Today’s results prove that passengers want value-for-money and great service, and that is what our superb staff work hard to provide. This is not a cue to sit back and relax - we want to build on the 98% and make it 99%!”

Wrexham & Shropshire runs services without any Government subsidy between Wrexham, Shrewsbury, Telford and London Marylebone. Services launched in April 2008 with investment backing from Europe’s largest train company, DB (German state railways). DB provided funding and owns the trains, though the business is run by a local management team based in Shrewsbury.


George Jones
Wrexham


http://www.passengerfocus.org.uk/news-and-publications/press-releases.asp
 
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jopsuk

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back in the Autumn, at least. The link goes to an unrelated press release
 
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jopsuk

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Whay have you posted this now though? it isn't a new development? You've not even linked to the right story. What's your point?
 
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jopsuk

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But they did at some point pre=announce that 98% figure. Anyway, the correct Press Release is this one. You linked to the wrong one.
 
Mojo

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I was going to say this is a bit odd, as I was invited to complete the NPS just last week, I can't imagine all surveys about WSMR have been completed & turned around already!
 
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Skip 10

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merlodlliw said:
I think you mean this one.
http://www.wrexhamandshropshire.co.uk/news-item.php?id=93

First I have heard of the 98% was today.
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Right guys and girls, The NPS is carried out on a regular basis, I think its every 6 months. Last time WSMR recived a 97% raiting, in the current one (figures released yesterday) WSMR had recived 98%. The papers are out for the next results now, Ive seen a few people out and about asking passengers to fill in the forms.

As has been stated ATW did get a lower score, thats not there for us to bash, thats there to show them they need to up their game. Virgin are on the ball and are catching up. The one thing it does prove is that the passenger experiance is improving for the customer with those companies that are making the effort.
 
tbtc

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There was a thread about this a few months ago (can there just be one big WMSR thread, like with Grand Central?) - I said at the time that it's easy to get satisfied customers when you are providing a brand new leisure service that people have make a deliberate choice to use...

...but a lot harder to keep satisfied customers when you are maintaining an existing service that people have little choice but to use.

To put it another way, a family taking a new train service for a day out in London are going to be predisposed to liking their service for the same reasons that a commuter who has to take the train (a service that has run for a long time with no alternative) isn't.

It's really not news - you might as well say that people prefer a Farm Shop to a longstanding supermarket.

Still, anything to plug WMSR yet again.... (they're getting desperate)
 
Greenback

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tbtc said:
There was a thread about this a few months ago (can there just be one big WMSR thread, like with Grand Central?) - I said at the time that it's easy to get satisfied customers when you are providing a brand new leisure service that people have make a deliberate choice to use...

...but a lot harder to keep satisfied customers when you are maintaining an existing service that people have little choice but to use.

To put it another way, a family taking a new train service for a day out in London are going to be predisposed to liking their service for the same reasons that a commuter who has to take the train (a service that has run for a long time with no alternative) isn't.

It's really not news - you might as well say that people prefer a Farm Shop to a longstanding supermarket.

Still, anything to plug WMSR yet again.... (they're getting desperate)
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I believe that it's also easier to achieve a higher passenger satisfaction rating with a small scale, largely self contained operation than a more complicated operation over a larger network. Barry Doe has pointed out in RAIL magazine that the figures for Island Line, a local, self contained service will inevitably be higher than SWT. He has questioned the validity of comparing diverse TOC's on this basis.

Nonetheless, it is a good benchmark for a company as one of the many means available to gauge passengers feelings about their performance. In anyone's book, 98% is a very good rating!
 
tbtc

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Greenback said:
I believe that it's also easier to achieve a higher passenger satisfaction rating with a small scale, largely self contained operation than a more complicated operation over a larger network. Barry Doe has pointed out in RAIL magazine that the figures for Island Line, a local, self contained service will inevitably be higher than SWT. He has questioned the validity of comparing diverse TOC's on this basis.

Nonetheless, it is a good benchmark for a company as one of the many means available to gauge passengers feelings about their performance. In anyone's book, 98% is a very good rating!
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Totally agree with you. The smaller self contained TOCs like C2C (LTS in my day), Chiltern and Island Line seem a lot easier to run and keep people happier on.

Depressingly the logic means that companies like Northern or Cross Country have a really hard task given all the conflicting movements they deal with.
 
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thefab444

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Or the reported rotten eggs in the staff. I've heard a couple of stories on here and elsewhere of unattentive staff, slack FC service etc. They can't be totally ficticious, although I'm sure Merlod will have us believe these stories were fabricated by the Virgin or Arriva press office!
 
RPM

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tbtc said:
Totally agree with you. The smaller self contained TOCs like C2C (LTS in my day), Chiltern and Island Line seem a lot easier to run and keep people happier on.

Depressingly the logic means that companies like Northern or Cross Country have a really hard task given all the conflicting movements they deal with.
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One thing that really annoys me is people saying that Chiltern only puts in good performance figures because it is "self contained".

Chiltern shares tracks with Cross Country north of Aynho Junction and London Midland north of Leamington. Day in, day out Chiltern services are regulated against in favour of Cross Country and delayed by late running LM stoppers in the West Midlands.

On top of this there are the freight services both on the Cherwell Valley route and the southern end of the Chiltern Line, the latter vying with Chiltern for paths across the single lines between Princes Risborough, Aylesbury and Aylesbury Vale Parkway.

Then to cap it all, Chiltern has to run its Amersham line services over miles of London Underground infrastructure, mingling with frequent, slow A60 stock trains and an operating culture where punctuality is not the priority it is on Network Rail lines.

Compared to Island Line, or even c2c, Chiltern is anything but self contained.
 
Daimler

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tbtc said:
Still, anything to plug WMSR yet again.... (they're getting desperate)
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I wouldn't be so sure. I've travelled twice in the last couple of weeks (mid-day trains) and they've been pretty well-filled, particularly the second occasion (today). Not a single table/two seater bay was unoccupied - not one. I'd estimate 75-85% loading. Pretty good going, considering it's one of their 'extended' sets!

Trains I've seen of late have looked pretty well-filled too.
 
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tbtc said:
There was a thread about this a few months ago (can there just be one big WMSR thread, like with Grand Central?) - I said at the time that it's easy to get satisfied customers when you are providing a brand new leisure service that people have make a deliberate choice to use...

...but a lot harder to keep satisfied customers when you are maintaining an existing service that people have little choice but to use.

To put it another way, a family taking a new train service for a day out in London are going to be predisposed to liking their service for the same reasons that a commuter who has to take the train (a service that has run for a long time with no alternative) isn't.

It's really not news - you might as well say that people prefer a Farm Shop to a longstanding supermarket.

Still, anything to plug WMSR yet again.... (they're getting desperate)
Click to expand...

Nice to hear the coments of a regular user that is in the perfect position to voice his opinion after meeting most of the customers and working with them on a regular basis.......
 
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daikilo

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The file does indeed show W&SR with 98% overall although only 2 individual questions actually achieved this level and none exceeded it. Many were well below which may give guidance as to key factors in the overall rating.

For what it is worth, ATW was at 86% overall and 88 and 75 for the 2 items above and exceeded the overall on 2 questions. However, with all due respect to W&SR, ATW has many more departures.

Whilst W&SR is clearly first, ATW is far from last. I'd be interested to see the ATW ratings if e.g. Valleys services, Central Wales or Swansea-Holyhead were converted to 2x67 + 4/6 type 3 coaches.
 
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MCR247

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RPM said:
One thing that really annoys me is people saying that Chiltern only puts in good performance figures because it is "self contained".

Chiltern shares tracks with Cross Country north of Aynho Junction and London Midland north of Leamington. Day in, day out Chiltern services are regulated against in favour of Cross Country and delayed by late running LM stoppers in the West Midlands.
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Personally, I don't think you even needed to mention LM, once you have mentioned sharing tracks with XC which I forgot about TBH, makes me think they're doing alot better than I though keeping so many services on time
 
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Theres 2 an hour in each direction between Leamington and Aynho, its not that intensive a service. South of Aynho they have to contend with around 3 bin liners a day. The only tricky bit is Tyseley to Snow Hill.
 
tbtc

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The Planner said:
Theres 2 an hour in each direction between Leamington and Aynho, its not that intensive a service. South of Aynho they have to contend with around 3 bin liners a day. The only tricky bit is Tyseley to Snow Hill.
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I still don't understand why the Snow Hill service from Central Trains weren't included in the Chiltern franchise when Central was split into London Midland etc - they have almost nothing to do with the rest of the old Central network (apart from Worcester), whereas there's stop to integrate them into Chiltern a little bit
 
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