| Performance Target | P01 | P02 | P03 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Punctuality (Time to 3) | 72.60% | 70.36% | 72.60% |
| Reliability (All Station Cancellations) | 2.50% | 3.80% | 2.80% |
| Overall Customer Satisfaction Target (MAA) | 87.00% | 87.00% | 87.00 |
| Overall Customer Satisfaction Actual (MAA) | 84.50% | 84.50% | 84.40% |
| Dealing with Delay Target (MAA) | 64.00% | 64.00% | 64.00 |
| Dealing with Delay Actual (MAA) | 63.90% | 64.80% | 63.80% |
| Ticketless Travel Target | 2.75% | 2.75% | 2.50% |
| Ticketless Travel Actual (Based on a survey undertaken four times a year) | N/A | 1.78% | N/A |
Unfortunately, in Period 03 we missed our Department for Transport Targets for: T-CS1 - Overall Customer Satisfaction, T-CS2 - Dealing with Delay and T-SQ - Service Quality.
Period 3 saw changes in the way we measure service quality, with a review of the standards to provide a more robust assessment of our train services and station environments. We have also welcomed Network Rail stations into the service quality regime through periodic assessment of three key locations on our network – Manchester Piccadilly, Liverpool Lime Street and Leeds. By working collaboratively with Network Rail, we’ll be supporting our customer journeys by ensuring standards are applied consistently across our network.
For our stations, we are still seeing issues with digital information screens at a number of stations, with many reaching end-of-life or developing intermittent faults. Signage and Information scoring at our stations has been largely driven by degraded Mind The Gap / Mind The Step platform markings which have become worn and faded across some key locations. Once again, help points scored poorly while the ongoing upgrade project nears completion. Car parking signage is also a concern as teams update all signage relating to parking and enforcement following changes earlier this year.
Staying with stations, we continue to see poor scores for cleanliness and seating, mainly as a result of bird roosting and bird fouling, which is pravelent during the early summer following hatching season. In better news, we recorded 100% for ticket office availability and ticket gate operability, with just two issues recorded relating to ticket vending machines.
Looking at trains, scoring was significantly impacted by the quality, cleanliness and condition of both carpet and seating upholstery across the three fleets. We also saw some challenges with information screens on our Class 185 units. Despite the warm weather, heating and ventilation scored above 90%, with performance generally positive for saloon temperatures to help ensure comfortable customer journeys.
Relining work to remedy faded platform markings and signage began in July and will address 14 of our most in-need stations during the next two months.
The help point renewal project is nearing completion, with just a handful of stations left to upgrade. Collaborative work to address installation configuration issues has seen an uplift in scoring across the past couple of weeks.
Our fleet teams continue to work closely with maintenance suppliers to resolve issues relating to trains. A full refresh of the Class 802 units, with new seat covers and a deep clean of the carpets is under way. The first refreshed unit is due into service in the next couple of weeks. For our Class 397s, which are showing signs of wear and tear to the seat covers, we have started a programme to remove and replace the most badly worn covers to ensure customers are travelling in comfort.
Whilst a reliable and punctual train service performance is the biggest driver of customer satisfaction, we also need to provide customers with an excellent and consistent customer service.
Using a variety of insights, including the recently launched Rail Customer Experience Survey (RCXS) and our Customer Panel, we are working to use customer insight to “home in” on the key issues which are affecting our satisfaction results. This of course requires us to work in lockstep with other industry partners across the North of England and Scotland, recognising that we are collectively delivering for customers across the entire railway together.
We have more work to do to mature some of our targeted plans to improve upon key areas, but we recognise that our immediate focus needs to be on:
We work extremely closely with industry partners including Network Rail (who are responsible for the railway’s infrastructure) as we recognise that performance must be better and more consistent. We are building a Joint Performance Plan with partners across the North and are working hard to deliver essential engineering upgrades, such as the Transpennine Route Upgrade and significant works across the West Coast Mainline.
Billions of pounds are being invested into the railway across the North and we recognise our vital role to support customers throughout these upgrade schemes and to do better on reliability and consistency in the meantime. You can read more about the investment in the North’s railways here.
Across stations, we are working with industry partners, including Network Rail and Northern Trains, to improve the customer experience across all stations, particularly the main gateways to the North like Liverpool Lime Street, Manchester Piccadilly, Leeds and Manchester Airport. We are in the process of embedding a 10% uplift in station colleagues across our managed stations and are introducing additional staff at other locations such as Glasgow Central.
For our on-board experience, we recognise cleanliness, toilet reliability, WiFi and our First Class experience are key areas of focus. We are working on refresh plans for our fleets, are bedding in and introducing additional toilet tanking equipment at Liverpool and Leeds, preparing to procure new WiFi services and are investing in the First Class experience including the recent introduction of our hot food, at-service TransPennine Kitchen proposition (you can read more about that here).
A key focus for this year is to invest in our safeguarding schemes, this includes the introduction of 8 dedicated TPE Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs), whom we are embedding into our network. We are recruiting PCSOs at several locations, with PCSOs already in place at a number of locations including Preston, Manchester and Hull. These officers are undertaking regular patrols both on-board TPE services and at TPE stations, in partnership with our existing security personnel and the wider BTP, to provide support and reassurance to colleagues and customers. This includes targeted support at anti-social behaviour hotspots.
Improving the inclusivity of our offerings, particularly Passenger Assist, is a critical focus and we are in the process of delivering our Passenger Assist improvement plan (including the additional staffing at our managed stations) and working with other parties to ensure a customer’s end-to-end journey is consistent and high quality, agnostic of who they are traveling with. We also continue to deliver industry training (and refresher training) to our teams in this vital area.
Reviewing our communication during delays is important to ensure they meet customer requirements. Further to insight from our Customer Panel, we are ensuring that our customer facing colleagues on-board and at stations are equipped, confident, and empowered to deliver consistently for customers each and every journey. This includes giving colleagues the right tools and support so they can provide accurate and timely information to customers, including during times of disruption, and support them with their roles. A range of tools are currently available, but we are providing additional support for colleagues by working to refresh them on key skills and information sources which will be beneficial to driving greater consistency of customer experience. We are working to deliver greater staff visibility at key locations during period of disruption (as mentioned above) and we are working to simplify Delay Repay, by working with the industry on the recently announced reforms.
We continuously review the insights from customer surveys and panels, including the Rail Customer Experience Survey, and use this information to inform the development of our plans going forward. If you wish to register your interest for our customer panel you can do so here.