Merseyrail takes top slot in National Rail Passenger Survey

Customers have once again given the thumbs up to Merseyrail, a Joint Venture between Serco and Abellio, as the Liverpool-based rail operator scooped the highest score, 95 per cent, among all franchised operators in the National Rail Passenger Survey (autumn 2016), published today.

This follows the publication of the Which? annual train survey last week, where Merseyrail also came top for overall satisfaction.

It is the second time that Merseyrail has been awarded the highest score in the NRPS poll, its best overall autumn satisfaction score and the second best ever for Merseyrail - just one percentage point less than 96 per cent secured in spring 2012. 

The bi-annual survey is conducted by independent consumer watchdog, Transport Focus, and is a respected industry barometer.

Merseyrail’s score is 13 percentage points above the regional average, two percentage points above the same period last year (autumn 2015) and five percentage points above the last survey (spring 2016).

Merseyrail outperformed all other regional operators in 33 of the 37 factors, and all station factors were better than the regional score.

Other highlights:

• Merseyrail passengers are the most content for value for money of the price of a ticket
• Merseyrail passengers are the happiest with regards to punctuality and reliability
• Merseyrail passengers are the most satisfied in the category, ‘sufficient room for all passengers to sit/stand’
• Merseyrail passengers are the most satisfied with the station

This is in comparison with all franchised operators.

Also:

• How requests to station staff are handled jumped from 91 per cent to 99 per cent
• The upkeep/repair of the station buildings/platforms went up from 82 per cent to 88 per cent

Jan Chaudhry-van der Velde, Merseyrail's managing director, commented: “This is a very encouraging score, and we're pleased to hear that once again, our customers are broadly happy with the service we provide. We know that punctuality, reliability and value for money are very important, so it's good news that we're doing well in these areas.

“We're aware though, that with significant engineering work on the Wirral line taking place for the first six months of the year, we've got to try even harder to ensure passengers can travel keep travelling with as little disruption as possible. We will continue to collaborate with partners, Merseytravel and Network Rail, to make this process as simple and hassle-free as it can be.”

Cllr Liam Robinson, chair of Merseytravel, said: “It's great to see that customer satisfaction levels for Merseyrail passengers are rated as the highest in the country. We strongly believe that a big factor in this is the local management of services through our partnership with Merseyrail and our ability to react quickly to meet the needs of our passengers, as has been shown during the Wirral line track renewal work.

“While we're really pleased by the results, we're not going to rest on our laurels. We'll continue to work together to provide high quality rail services that meet people’s needs which includes the £460 million investment project that will deliver a fleet of new, state of the art trains for our network.”

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