Fewer than half of rail commuters in Great Britain believe their ticket is value for money, a national survey has revealed, as CrossCountry was named the worst-performing operator for passenger satisfaction.
In the three months to the end of March, only 72% of CrossCountry’s stops at stations arrived within three minutes of schedule, while 7% of its services were cancelled, according to Transport Focus. Just 46% of its passengers said they were satisfied with how the company dealt with delays. Overall, 79% of CrossCountry customers reported being satisfied with their journey – the lowest score among all operators.
“CrossCountry named worst rail operator in satisfaction survey; only 46% satisfied with delay handling.”
Hull Trains achieved the best overall satisfaction at 94%, followed by LNER with 93%. Across the network, 87% of more than 100,000 passengers questioned in the six months to the end of March said they were satisfied with their journey. However, disabled passengers reported lower satisfaction (85%) than non-disabled passengers.
The findings come as the rail regulator reported a record 1.83bn passenger journeys last year, surpassing pre-pandemic levels for the first time. Yet just 49% of commuters thought their fare was value for money, compared with 67% of leisure travellers.
Transport Focus has urged CrossCountry to improve the passenger experience, reduce delays, provide better information during disruption and tackle overcrowding on services. The Arriva Group-owned operator, which runs long-distance trains serving cities including Cambridge, Cardiff and Manchester, is expected to be brought into public ownership next year as part of the creation of Great British Railways.
Mark Anderson, CrossCountry’s customer and commercial director, acknowledged the results were “disappointing” and said: “We know we must do more to deliver the service our customers rightly deserve.” He added that refurbished trains were “transforming” journeys, a new timetable was “delivering better regional connectivity”, and the company was working to improve cleaning, catering, wi-fi and information during disruption. “In particular, we know that crowding is a challenge and we’re working with industry partners to explore all possible options to ease this,” he said.
Alex Robertson, chief executive of Transport Focus, said the survey showed a “striking gap” between the best and worst operators. “I’m optimistic the railway understands the importance of using it to create a more customer focused culture,” he said, but warned: “We’ll be holding them to account.” He highlighted how critical delay handling was to customer sentiment: “More than nine in 10 people will report a positive experience if a delay is handled well – a remarkably high figure given their train is late – but this falls to one in four when it isn’t. Fixing this is well within the railway’s control.”