National Passenger Survey improvement for Southern

The autumn 2011 National Passenger Survey has just been released, with results showing that Southern has increased its overall passenger satisfaction score and achieved improved scores in many of the categories.

Of the 33 individual train and station categories, Southern achieved improved scores in 18, with four remaining the same as autumn 2010.

Published every six months by rail watchdog Passenger Focus, Southern’s overall satisfaction rating is 83% - better than last year’s score of 82% and equal to the London & South East regional average score.

Southern Managing Director, Chris Burchell said: “Where we’ve done well, the results show that the hard work undertaken by Southern over the past year, and the recent investment we have made across our business are really benefitting our passengers who have recognised that many things have improved in that time.”

Southern’s efforts to continue to improve facilities and services, levels of cleanliness and the overall upkeep of its stations were reflected by an overall station environment score which was 6% higher than last year, and In the ‘Your personal security whilst using (the station)’ category, Southern’s passengers said it was 5% better than last year, a testament to the work done by Southern in reducing crime on its network and more intelligent deployment of its Safer Travel Teams.

Also at stations, Southern achieved increased scores in the overall satisfaction, ticket buying facilities, upkeep, cleanliness, facilities and services, facilities for car parking and availability of staff categories.

On board, the frequency of trains, the length of journey, connections with other train services, overall cleanliness and personal security all received higher scores that last year. Southern’s work to improve toilet facilities in its trains has been recognised by passengers with a 3% increase in satisfaction.

Mr Burchell added: “Although these results are encouraging, we do recognise that there are some areas where we must improve further, and we will continue to do our utmost to tackle these issues. Our customers will expect us to have plans to improve in every area where we didn’t score as well as we would have liked, and this is exactly what we are doing.”