Memorandum submitted by Passenger Focus (CBPS 23)

1. Cross-Border Public Services For Wales - Passenger Focus' view

1.1 Passenger Focus is the official, independent consumer organisation representing the interests of rail users in Great Britain. We work to make a difference for rail passengers 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; and

· campaigning for change and acting on passenger complaints.

1.2 Cross-border journeys are a key part of rail travel for Welsh passengers accounting for more than one-third of their total journeys. An understanding of passenger satisfaction with these services provides an essential starting point for evaluating how well the existing provision meets current and future needs, and where further improvement is required. This report helps deliver such an understanding by presenting results from the latest release of our bi-annual National Passenger Survey (NPS) that compares cross-border rail journeys with rail travel within Wales and with long distance rail travel across Britain.

1.3 Using these satisfaction figures as a starting point, this report concludes with the discussion of a number of issues of importance to the development of cross-border rail services for Wales.

2. The Importance of Cross-Border Rail Travel to Wales

2.1 The latest figures from the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) highlight the importance of cross-border journeys to Welsh rail users with just over one-third (34.4%) of the 20 million annual journeys that start and/or finish in Wales crossing the Wales-England border. Travel to/from London represents 9.1% of total Welsh rail journeys, with journeys to/from South West England accounting for a further 9.0%, the North West of England 6.7% and the West Midlands 4.3%, respectively.

2.2 These figures highlight the fact that for Welsh rail passengers, important parts of the network are located outside of Wales. Key destination stations for Welsh passengers include London Paddington, London Euston, Chester, Birmingham New Street, Shrewsbury and Manchester Piccadilly. Travel to these destinations is often on services provided by English-based train operating companies (TOCs), particularly First Great Western, Virgin West Coast and Arriva CrossCountry that provide direct services between Wales and England.

2.3 Similarly, the interests of Welsh passengers can be impacted by the service patterns and aspirations of other TOCs that don't travel into Wales but use the same track as those that do. For example, the desire to increase services between Liverpool and Manchester recently saw proposals to re-route North Wales services into Manchester Victoria from their current path into Manchester Piccadilly - a change that would have been to the detriment of most Welsh passengers as it would have reduced their access to onward connections and to Manchester's universities.

2.4 In addition, a number of organisations that make decisions that directly affect the running of the railway in Wales are based outside its borders. These include Network Rail, the Department of Transport and the Office of Rail Regulation, whose responsibilities include many areas of direct relevance to passengers including track maintenance and renewal, fares and ticketing policy, and, the granting of licenses to new train companies.

3. Passenger Satisfaction with Cross-Border rail travel - the National Passenger Survey

3.1 The National Passenger Survey (NPS) is the largest piece of published rail passenger research in Britain - more than 50,000 passengers take part in it each year (2000 in Wales), giving Passenger Focus an invaluable bedrock of passenger opinion. The NPS gives a score for overall satisfaction, as well as scores for passenger satisfaction with 30 specific aspects of train travel.

3.2 Results from the NPS are usually reported in terms of the respective train companies, but by using the information gathered on departure and destination stations it is also possible to use the data to examine satisfaction with cross-border travel between Wales and England.

Table 1 provides a summary of the results from the latest NPS (Spring 2007) for journeys that were wholly within Wales and those that involved travel between Wales and England. As much of the cross-border travel is likely to have been long distance travel, such as journeys to London, the table also presents the results of the 'Long Distance' group of train companies - this comparison is important as long distance travel is likely to be on more comfortable trains and between larger, better resourced stations than is often the case on commuter and regional services within Wales.

3.3 In comparing cross-border journeys with services wholly within Wales, key points to note are:

· Overall journey satisfaction (84%) for cross-borders services between Wales and England is two percentage points below the score for rail travel wholly within Wales (86%);

· The proportion of passengers satisfied with punctuality/reliability for cross-border services was 80%. This is three percentage points below the score for services within Wales (83%);

· Satisfaction with on-train factors for cross-border rail journeys is broadly comparable to that within Wales (eight factors score higher, two the same and nine lower)

· Satisfaction with at-station factors for cross-border rail journeys is much better than that for rail travel within Wales (11 factors score higher, and one below).

3.4 Comparing cross-border services with long distance services across Britain, key points to note are:

· Overall journey satisfaction (84%) for cross-borders services is the same for the Long Distance peer group as a whole;

· The proportion of passengers satisfied with punctuality/reliability (80%) for is two percentage points below the Long Distance sector overall (82%);

· Satisfaction with on-train factors for cross-border rail journeys is generally lower that of the Long Distance sector (four factors score higher, three the same and 11 lower);

· Satisfaction with at-station factors for cross-border rail journeys is generally lower that of the Long Distance sector (four factors score higher, eight score lower).

3.5 Looking at the scores for the cross-border rail services in absolute terms, it is also worth noting that:

· The highest rated areas for cross-border services were personal security on the train (85% satisfied), how requests to station staff were handled (84% satisfied), frequency of services (82% satisfied) and the ease of being able to get on/off the train (82% satisfied).

· The lowest ratings for passenger satisfaction were for how well train companies dealt with delays (41% satisfied), train toilet facilities (48% satisfied), car parking facilities (53% satisfied), and value for money of ticket (58% satisfied).

3.6 The analysis of the NPS scores suggests that passenger satisfaction with cross-border rail journeys between Wales and England is broadly similar but currently trails slightly behind comparable services elsewhere.

3.7 Overall satisfaction with cross-border rail travel is a few percentage points behind that of both rail travel within Wales and for the Long Distance sector, as is passenger perception of punctuality.

3.8 Compared with the Long Distance sector, satisfaction with factors relating to both train and station facilities and services are generally lower for cross-border rail travel.

3.9 Compared with rail journeys within Wales, satisfaction for cross-border journeys is similar for train factors and higher for station factors (n.b. satisfaction with stations within Wales is among the lowest in Britain, and has been highlighted by Passenger Focus as a priority area for improvement).

3.10 The areas of lowest satisfaction with cross-border services - including train toilet facilities, car parking facilities and value for money - are generally similar to those identified by passengers elsewhere in Britain.

Table 1: Cross-Border Comparisons using National Passenger Survey Scores

4. Improving Cross-Border Services

As much of cross-border rail travel between Wales and England involves relatively long journeys, such as to London, many of the issues needed to improve the experience of Welsh passengers using these services are shared by users of Long Distance services more generally. From a Welsh perspective, the most important of these issues include:

4.1 Fares

4.1.1 Passenger Focus' research[1] shows that passengers rate value for money as their top priority for improvement on the railway, and our National Passenger Survey shows that only 58% of cross-border passengers are satisfied that they get value for their money.

The UK Government has made it clear that revenue from passengers is expected to increase significantly. Current passenger revenue is around £4.5-5 billion each year and this is expected to increase to £9 billion by 2013-2014. However, we are concerned that increases at this level suggest unregulated fares are bearing the brunt of new investment. For example, the price of a Standard Open Return ticket using a First Great Western service from Cardiff to London rose by nearly 10% in the latest fares round and is now £158 for a journey of just over two hours.

Passenger Focus wants to see greater consumer protection for passengers so that they don't see their fares increase by such large amounts.

4.1.2 Our research also shows that passengers find the current fare structure confusing. The complexity caused by the current range of fares available tends to obstruct rather than facilitate decision making for most passengers, many of whom are forced to make uninformed decisions that they fear may result in them selecting the wrong ticket or not obtaining the best price available.

4.2 Car parking

4.2.1 As Long Distance rail travel is from main-line stations and often involves an early departure and/or a late return, good car parking facilities are even more important than for local journeys.

Passenger Focus research[2] has found that passengers travelling to a railway station from rural, semi-rural and edge of town locations will generally drive and park at the station. If they struggle to find a car parking space at their station they may turn their backs on the railway and drive exclusively.

The NPS results show that satisfaction with car parking facilities for cross-border travel is only 53%, indicating that improvements are needed in this area.

4.3 Connections with other train services

4.3.1 The NPS results show that one important area where satisfaction with cross-border services is significantly below that of comparable services is connections with other train services. This factor scores only 65% for cross-border services, compared with 73% for journeys wholly within Wales and 76% for the Long Distance sector in general.

If good connections are not available, it is again likely that prospective rail passengers will choose to drive to their destination instead.

5. Administering Cross-Border Services

5.1 As indicated earlier, although the Welsh Assembly Government has taken over responsibility for the management of the Arriva Trains Wales franchise (with the exception of those services running wholly within England) there remains a number of organisations based outside Wales that play a significant role in the provision of rail services to Welsh passengers. These include train companies such as Virgin and First Great Western, Network Rail, the Office of Rail Regulation and the Department for Transport.

5.2 This split responsibility can add an extra layer of complexity and occasional confusion to managing policy and planning. For example, the DfT's initial announcement concerning the "Delivering a Sustainable Railway" White Paper in July 2007 identified Cardiff as being among the recipients of the additional 1300 carriages to be purchased, but it was later clarified that these carriages would be for England only.

5.3 It is essential, therefore, that Welsh interests are adequately represented in relevant industry discussions and that there are strong and effective links with organisations based outside Wales.

In terms of passenger representation, Passenger Focus has an important role to play in this regard. We have a strong network of industry links across Britain, as well as the staff to support them. This includes direct involvement with a number of industry-wide steering groups based in England, but of importance to Wales - for example Network Rail's Rail Industry Planning Group and National Station Improvement Programme and the Department for Transport's Access for All-Small Schemes and Intercity Express Programme Stakeholder Board. Passenger Focus' structure also ensures that we have an understanding of the aspirations of English users that might conflict with those of people in Wales.

5.4 The Welsh Assembly Government is currently in the process of creating a Passenger Transport Users' Committee (PTUC) and one option being considered would reduce Passenger Focus' responsibilities in Wales. If this option was selected, we believe it would be a retrograde step for rail passenger representation in Wales, particularly in relation to the provision of cross-border services.

17 March 2008

[1] Passenger Priorities for Improvement - June 2007 - Passenger Focus

[2] Getting to the Station - March 2007 - Passenger Focus