A recent post on uk.railway offers the latest passenger satisfaction
survey, sampling 25,000 rail users.

http://www.passengerfocus.org.uk/new...e.asp?dsid=845

The overall picture is pretty upbeat - 81% of passengers nationally were
satisfied with the service, although this hides variations at the level
of TOC and of the aspect of service.

In London and the south east, the report shows a marked uplift over the
least four years in overall satisfaction for many of our operators -
most notably Southern, Southeastern, Silverlink and South West Trains,
and to a lesser extent c2c (where they started at a higher level
anyway). First Capital Connect (incl. predecessors, I believe)
satisfaction levels have risen but are now tailing off, and One, First
Great Western and Chiltern are all fluctuating around the same levels
(Chiltern's level being somewhat higher).

Opinions on punctuality and reliability have shot up since 2002 for
Southern, Southeastern, Silverlink, South West Trains, First Capital
Connect and c2c. However, customers have been and remain fairly poorly
satisfied by the TOC's methods of dealing with delays.

Satisfaction with information provision has risen slowly for most, but
with a clearer rise for SWT and a drop over the last couple of years for
Chiltern.

Satisfaction with connections to other public transport has increased
pretty well for all London TOCs - I find this interesting as I'm not
sure why - perhaps better buses in London, or better integration using
PlusBus outside.

Despite overall high satisfaction levels, London rail users are
unsurprisingly poorly satisfied by value for money (more so than
anywhere else). Chiltern appears to consistently stand ahead of the pack
on this at around 50% satisfied. The low is One with only about 30%
satisfied.

Opinion on crowding is (surprisingly to me) mixed, with the high being
Chiltern at around 70% satisfied, and the low being Southeastern at just
over 50% satisfied.

The stand out operator is Heathrow Express, with 96% of customers
satisfied (and 0% actually dissatisfied). Its weaknesses were pparently
car parking (although I'm not sure why anyone would expect to park and
ride on Heathrow Express) and value for money. Strengths were speed
(scheudled) and "the ease of being able to get on and off".

Chiltern is pretty high at 90% satisfied, weaknesses being availability
of staff and value for money, strengths being punctuality/reliability
and "the ease of being able to get on and off".

The low is One, with 10% dissatisfied (75% satisfied), top weaknesses
being availability of staff and toilet facilities. Strengths were
connections to other public transport and speed.

--
Dave Arquati
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London