R A I LT R AC K - The Railways Archive

consultation
There is widespread
demand for increased
investment in both
local and long-distance
rail services
24
Customer and public research
In addition to Government and transport industry
requirements of the rail network, we have also researched
passenger and society expectations.This research shows
strong support from both existing and potential rail
passengers for our approach to the significant network
development that we are planning to deliver.
Public attitudes towards investment
MORI undertook a research study for us in January 1999 to
investigate attitudes towards,and perceived requirements for,
investment in the railway network (see note below).The
most important areas that would encourage greater rail use
are a reduction in the cost of tickets (mentioned by 49%),
greater reliability (35%) and frequency of services (31%).
Access to stations,safety and comfort of stations and access
to information all featured as important secondary factors.
Investment priorities followed a similar pattern with
cost of tickets (57%) and reliability and frequency of services
(48% and 40%) again receiving the top number of mentions.
Investment in security at stations was again an important
secondary factor (19%).There is widespread demand (over
70% of respondents) for increased investment in both local
and long-distance rail services.
2.3
2.3 Stations – customer research
Our qualitative research examining the station experience
among passengers has shown travellers want to:
• be made to feel welcome and cared for
• be reassured about the status of their train services
• feel secure from any threat
• feel proud of their station
• feel help is available if needed (luggage , steep steps etc)
• be able to use their time at the station productively
(newspapers,cashpoints,cafés).
We commissioned MORI to car ry out research among user s
of railway stations to identify whether they are satisfied with
the standard of facilities,and whether they consider them to
be improving.Encouragingly, a majority of respondents were
satisfied and felt that standards are getting better, as
illustrated below.
Table B Satisfaction with station facilities
Source:all rail users in Britain (753).Fieldwork Sept & Dec 1998 MORI/Railtrack
Customers were asked how satisfied or dissatisfied they were with the
facilities provided at railway stations.
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
Very satisfied
Fairly satisfied
Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied
Fairly dissatisfied
Very dissatisfied
Don’t know
Note: The research was conducted using MORI’s General Public Omnibus,a national
survey of 1,996 adults representative of the population of Great Britain aged 15 and
over in terms of sex,age, social class, working status and geographic spread.Fieldwork
was carried out between 22–25 January 1999 across 163 enumeration districts.