What are the most important aspects for a good passenger experience?

[Jozhua]

What do you think are some of the most important aspects for a good, appealing passenger experience?

It's a very open ended question, I know, but I think it would be an interesting conversation to have.

If you've noticed anything that we do or don't do, vs other countries that is positive or negative for the UK passenger experience that would be interesting to hear too!

 

[Bletchleyite]

I judge most businesses on how well they handle things going badly wrong. The railway is really not very good at that at all, and with more TOC specific tickets and Advances has got worse, not better.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Getting a seat

 

[Philip Phlopp]

General movement in the broad direction of your desired destination.

 

[lxfe_mxtterz]

For me, the three main aspects which account for a good passenger experience are:

Affordable fares: I wouldn't be feeling particularly "good" if I had to pay £200 for a return to Glasgow, for example. Having snapped up quite a few of Chiltern Railways' ridiculously cheap advance fares, knowing that I haven't been robbed half the GDP of the United Kingdom for a two hour journey, I can say it certainly does improve the experience!

Of course, though, it's all down to value for money. I'm much more willing to pay a lot more for first class on Virgin Trains (or now Avanti West Coast), especially if a meal is included.

Reliability: If I book a service due into London at 13:00, I expect to get there at around about the same time. I understand and I appreciate that this isn't always the fault of the operator, but I've had some absolutely horrifying experiences missing last train connections because of delays.

I was once forced to catch a Virgin Trains service back from Wolverhampton on a ticket that wasn't valid because Transport for Wales decided to cancel the last train as soon as it pulled into the station...

Customer service: Personally, I think that the customer service you receive paints a strong image about a company. Virgin Trains have always had top-notch customer service in my experience, and being treated well, with respect and a smile, really does have a positive impact on your experience.

I recently messaged a bus company on Facebook to enquire about fares, and their response - after almost a week - was "Email us at (email)". Wasn't overly impressed, and it didn't give a fantastic image of the company. I do appreciate that they actually responded to me, though, 90% of the messages and emails I've sent to various transport companies haven't been responded to at all since the start of the pandemic. Slightly irritating!

 

[Metal_gee_man]

A large % of my feelings are surrounded by value for money, overcrowding (Pre-Covid) and ticket simplicity.
We have the dubious honour of the most expensive train journeys per mile in Europe, some of the most overcrowded peak services due to our large city centric rail networks and large business centres forcing people to those plus we have some of the most jaw dropping disparities in rail fares on similar length journeys, followed by the advance booking system upto 2hrs before travel offering silly prices vs walk up fares on some TOCs.

Ultimately I want a level playing field on fares, a properly funded network but subsidised so costs aren't astronomical and people make a modal change to public transport and enough support and investment of TOCs when overcrowding requires more services/carriages/rolling stock because some franchise agreements leave no wiggle room for a TOC to procure more trains leaving situations where crush loading happens daily at Clapham Junction or Lewisham!

 

[Karl]

Ticketing.

 

[Sean Davidson]

A decent train carriage that does not look like a hospital waiting room with hard seats, flexible ticketing, why should I risk a penalty fare because I fancy getting off the train halfway there to stretch my legs and have a cigarette before continuing to my final destination?
Appropriate rolling stock for the distance envisioned.

 

[birchesgreen]

The train turning up

 

[APT618S]

One thing which annoys me is trains being locked up until in some cases about 5 min before departure time.
So in winter you can be standing and shivering on a platform with a warm locked train standing in front of you.
Good passenger experience for me is to allow boarding as soon as the train is in the platform.
This was one of the benefits of slam door stock as trains were not locked up in those days.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I recently messaged a bus company on Facebook to enquire about fares, and their response - after almost a week - was "Email us at (email)". Wasn't overly impressed, and it didn't give a fantastic image of the company. I do appreciate that they actually responded to me, though, 90% of the messages and emails I've sent to various transport companies haven't been responded to at all since the start of the pandemic. Slightly irritating!

That sort of thing is common - or "please phone us on X".

If a company offers a communication channel it must answer queries via that channel and not try to redirect you to another one. If it doesn't wish to offer a given channel it should simply not offer it at all.

 

[xotGD]

Friendly and helpful staff.

Well mannered and considerate fellow passengers.

(And a big diesel on the front of the train with plenty of thrash!)

 

[lxfe_mxtterz]

If a company offers a communication channel it must answer queries via that channel and not try to redirect you to another one. If it doesn't wish to offer a given channel it should simply not offer it at all.

Exactly that. Aside from being redirected, I've also been left "on-read" by a number of companies, so I'm left to seek another method of communication.

The response (if I ever get one!) to my attempt number two, usually consists of "Sorry we didn't respond to your Facebook message."

And don't get me started on the time I had to send five consecutive emails to my local Stagecoach bus operator, week after week, with exactly the same question, because they would not respond to me - and they still haven't, months later.

 

[Jozhua]

One thing which annoys me is trains being locked up until in some cases about 5 min before departure time.
So in winter you can be standing and shivering on a platform with a warm locked train standing in front of you.
Good passenger experience for me is to allow boarding as soon as the train is in the platform.
This was one of the benefits of slam door stock as trains were not locked up in those days.

Oh yeah! I have lots of experience of this too and can confirm it is incredibly frustrating when it happens.

Its also nice to be able to grab a seat if you arrive a bit earlier for the train.

Otherwise, good waiting rooms that are maintained at a decent temperature are big necessities. Sheffield station is possibly the coldest place on planet earth come winter!

 

[86247]

For me its 3 things a train that turns up on time, that the train is clean and you can see out of the window and affordable fares as train fares are disgusting at times. And Newcastle in the winter is by far the coldest place on earth.

 

[Gathursty]

Punctuality
Reliability
Good communication / Customer Service