Results for 2010

Southern excels in National Passenger Survey

The spring 2010 National Passenger Survey has just been released, with results showing that Southern has smashed its spring 2009 score for overall satisfaction with an all-time best score of 84% compared with 80% last year. It also achieved an improvement in scores in almost all of the 31 categories.

Published every six months by rail watchdog Passenger Focus, Southern’s overall satisfaction rating of 84% is a full 2% better than the London and South East regional average score.

Southern managing director, Chris Burchell said: “I am delighted with these results. Our record breaking overall satisfaction score shows that the hard work put in by every Southern member of staff over the past year has been appreciated by our passengers and the recent investment we have made across our business is making an impact.”

Southern’s range of outstanding discounts on online fares were also recognised with passengers scoring ‘Value for money for the price of your ticket’ a massive 10% higher than last year. In the ‘Connections with other train services’ category, Southern’s passengers also scored 10% higher than last year.

Other notable increases were: ‘Attitude and helpfulness of staff’; Availability of staff at the station’; ‘Frequency of trains’ and ‘Availability of staff at stations’ all scored 6% higher than last year.

Southern has also made significant progress with ‘Train punctuality’ and ‘Ticket buying facilities’, both with 5% increases. This follows Southern’s recent major focus on performance improvement and investment in new ticket vending machines and software.

Mr Burchell added: “Although the results are very pleasing indeed, we do recognise that there are some areas where there is still work to be done and we will continue to concentrate on these areas whilst maintaining the high standards we have set ourselves elsewhere."

Southern’s full results (%) for spring 2010 compared with spring 2009 are:

Category	Southern		London / Sth East
Category	2010	2009	2010
Overall satisfaction	84	80	82
On the station
Ticket buying facilities	72	67	70
Provision of information about train times / platforms	78	77	77
Upkeep / repair of the station buildings / platforms	60	59	61
Cleanliness	69	66	67
Facilities and services	50	48	49
Attitude and helpfulness of the staff	69	63	68
Connections with other forms of public transport	78	75	75
Facilities for car parking	43	40	46
Overall environment	62	60	62
Your personal security whilst using	63	59	63
Availability of staff at the station	61	55	56
How request to station staff was handled	81	77	82
On the train
Frequency of the trains on the route	74	68	75
Punctuality / reliability	79	73	80
Length of time the journey was scheduled to take	84	80	83
Connections with other train services	76	67	74
Value for money for the price of your ticket	45	35	43
Upkeep and repair of the train	72	73	71
Provision of information during the journey	75	73	66
Helpfulness and attitude of staff on train	57	54	56
Space for luggage	49	49	51
Toilet facilities	36	37	34
Sufficient room for all passengers to sit/stand	68	67	66
Comfort of the seating area	72	71	68
Ease of being able to get on and off	78	77	78
Your personal security whilst on board	72	69	72
Cleanliness of the inside	74	73	70
Cleanliness of the outside	73	72	67
Availability of staff	41	35	37
How well train company dealt with delays	29	32	32