Which? - Passenger Dossiers

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Dated 30th April 2014 -

http://www.which.co.uk/campaigns/train-delays-compensation/track-our-progress/

We^re compiling dossiers of evidence on the UK^▸ (United Kingdom)^s train companies to take your concerns to the companies ^ and a number of MPs^▸ (Member of Parliament) are now on-board to help.

We have joined forces with MPs from across the UK to ask people to share their train tales. We want train companies to listen to their passengers and act on their complaints.

Richard Lloyd, Which? executive director said:

'Commuters have been let down time and again by poor train services, yet despite the spiralling cost of tickets many are putting up with it and not complaining. We want to hear from passengers travelling in and out of London, and will make it easy for people to go on the record with their views.'

http://www.which.co.uk/campaigns/train-delays-compensation/train-company-feedback-hand-in/

We've handed your feedback over to the train companies

Nearly 1,000 of your comments have been sorted and packed up into dossiers for each of the train companies.

Your comments not only highlight the things you think train companies are getting wrong, they also share the things you think they're getting right. Comments cover everything from punctuality to cleanliness, and they're now in the hands of the train operators.

For First Great Western:

http://www.staticwhich.co.uk/documents/pdf/first-great-western-376832.pdf

[Umberleigh]

Very interesting, thanks.

The 'loads of empty First Class seats' and wifi are of course in the process of being remedied.

Next year: where have all the First Class seats gone, and why does the wifi not work...

[grahame]

The 'loads of empty First Class seats' and wifi are of course in the process of being remedied.

Next year: where have all the First Class seats gone, and why does the wifi not work...

 

I found the report interesting to read, but the comments difficult to categorise, and no common conclusion to reach.I noted the advise from Which? to FGW^▸ (First Great Western) as to how to improve, but found that in many ways that advise is so blunt (i.e. not sharp) as to be hard to even understand how it could be implemented, and also their suggestions or change to not necessarily match the critical comments.   In other words, I found it interesting to read, but hard to comment.

* It's good to see a lot of positive feedback there - I have long since learned that people will easily write in a negative way, but it takes something spectacularly good to make them praise - so the praise is praise indeed.

* Some of the "they should xxx" criticisms are asking for wildly impractical "xxx"s and the net effect, baring being part of a huge change, would have negative side effects that could be even more criticised

* Some of the comments are so well answered here on this forum that I wish we could write to their authors and say "there's a reason for that, and it's explained at"

* And, alas, there are some criticisms which I would agree are pointing out things that are really wrong / frustrating, and about which something perhaps could be done.  I'm not going to be specific, as there are already threads somewhere here where they've been covered in the past.

[grahame]

Opinion piece this morning in the Western Daily News on this:

(Warminster - next trains)-OPINION-Survey-shows-rail-service-fit-21st/story-22759030-detail/story.html?" target="_blank">http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/WMN-OPINION-Survey-shows-rail-service-fit-21st/story-22759030-detail/story.html?

Which? ^ the consumer organisation ^ carried out the exhaustive survey and issued a dossier of findings and recommendations to the train companies. The list presented to First Great Western, languishing in the bottom five train companies for service standards, will have been longer than most. Many passengers who travel regularly with First ^ and indeed several other train operators ^ will have become so used to a second rate service they will have stopped complaining. Yet a survey like this brings home just how far short of what ought to be the norm our rail service has fallen.

If Which? had extended its questioning beyond the train journey, to the whole railway experience, it would almost certainly have heard even more complaints. With one or two honourable exceptions, stations are not pleasant places to spend any length of time. And regular delays to journeys mean passengers often do end up spending longer than they would wish, using drab, broken and dirty facilities ^ from station lavatories to sub-standard coffee shops and waiting rooms.

It all points to the crying need for a railway system, in the South West and elsewhere, that is fit for the 21st century. Travellers who go abroad and experience their railways invariably enjoy a better experience. It shows it can be done. Britain may have invented the railways and the Westcountry still boasts some of the most dramatic and spectacular lines that are, in themselves, things of beauty and should be a joy to travel upon. So often, however, thanks to shoddy service standards and outdated rolling stock, they are anything but.

It is fair to say that, in some instances, things have improved on the very worst of the bad old days when British Rail was in charge of a crumbling nationalised service. But we should not and will not be fobbed off with a second rate service, just because it has marginally improved on what we once endured. Our rail links are too important for that. They must be fit for purpose.

[TaplowGreen]

....was back home in Plymouth over the weekend, (90 minutes late on the way down due to suicide at Slough last Thursday but on time coming back yesterday so overall no complaints)  thought this might be interesting from the local Press;

http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/Great-Western-scores-just-45-cent-customer/story-22762338-detail/story.html#ixzz3AjhL4h3B

[lordgoata]

I had to laugh this morning - for the first time ever I was handed a questionnaire to complete. The lady asked me to leave it on the seat when I got off (as she did with all the other people). Clearly had no idea that the train is rammed when it leaves Maidenhead so the chance of her collecting the darn thing before it was disposed of by the people getting on did make me laugh. Thankfully she kept walking through the train and managed to collect most of them before we arrived.

Anyhoo, the questionnaire covered a number of topics - the train, station, food, staff etc etc. But every single question stated in block capitals "THIS TRAIN". Not once did it ask about general opinion of the services etc. How were the staff when you brought the ticket for THIS TRAIN. How are the staff on THIS TRAIN. Was THIS TRAIN on time.

Call me cynical, but this train, for once, was on time. So if you were being honest, you had to give 10/10 for punctuality of THIS TRAIN. Ask me about the services over the course of the year, and I would be closer to 4-5/10. Even then, I would comment that I appreciate not all delays are down to FGW^▸ (First Great Western), so when the question about recommending FGW to other people came up, I had to remain neutral. Not that there was anywhere to add general comments.

So was nice to have a chance to say something, but it was so skewed by the structuring of the questions, one had to wonder why I bothered completing all 9 of the pages....

[ChrisB]

That sounds like the twice-yearly Passenger Focus survey for national rail trends. They always ask only about the journey you are making when handed the questionnaire. Something to do with the way the stats are agreed