Passengers will welcome good report card for Scottish
rail franchise
Date: November 27 2008 Release Embargoed until
00:01 on 28 November 2008
The national rail watchdog
has backed Audit Scotland's findings today that rail services are improving but
more attention still needs to be paid to passengers.
Passenger Focus said the Audit
Scotland report supports the National Passenger Survey (NPS) findings which
show 88% of passengers are satisfied with the First ScotRail
service.
Passenger Focus agreed that
Transport Scotland has effectively managed the franchise and that First ScotRail's
performance has been good and continues to improve.
However, the watchdog said
all are in agreement that more work needs to be done on improving facilities at
stations, the availability of staff as well as better communication with
passengers - especially during times of disruption.
Robert Samson, Passenger
Focus manager for Scotland welcomed the report: "Once we have reviewed these
findings we will work with First ScotRail and Transport Scotland to make
certain passenger needs are put at the heart of any decision made about the
railway.
"Passengers left standing
on the platform because of missed connections from buses or ferries will now
want to see the industry improve the way it works with other transport providers.
We also want passenger feedback to be key in judging how successful the train
company is and where improvements need to be made."
Passenger Focus will
continue to feedback the results of its NPS, which is conducted twice a year
and includes the views of more than 53,000 passengers, to make certain the
industry is aware of where passengers see improvements as being necessary.
1. Passenger Focus is the official, independent consumer
organisation representing the interests of rail users nationally. Created by
the Railways Act 2005, Passenger Focus is the operating name of the Rail
Passengers Council. It is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the
Department for Transport. We want to make a difference for rail passengers. We
do this by:
- providing
authoritative advice for the industry based on sound research
- securing improvements
to rail services - both big and small-scale improvements
- helping passengers
with advice and information
- campaigning for
change and acting on passenger complaints
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