ORR’s 2023 annual rail consumer report, published today, shows that where passengers receive assistance, there is high satisfaction with the process of booking and receiving assistance, however there were still too many accounts of passengers not receiving the help they had booked.
With a 74% increase this year in the number of bookings for passenger assistance and the number of Disabled Persons’ Railcards in circulation up 11% from last year, suggesting that more disabled people are returning to the railways, the rail regulator said it is imperative that the reliability and consistency of the service is improved.
ORR’s research indicates that there are signs of improvement, with overall passenger satisfaction with assistance increasing from 86% to 90%. The progress of train operators and Network Rail in delivering the disability awareness training required by ORR is likely to have contributed to this improved passenger experience. However, there are still too many instances where either some or none of the booked assistance was received.
Research from our survey of more than 8,100 passengers covering the period 2022-23 found:
- Satisfaction with the booking process was 94% - telephone is the most common method for booking assistance (65% of bookings) and those passengers showed the highest levels of satisfaction
- Satisfaction with the assistance received at the station rose to 95%
- The proportion of passengers reporting that they received all of the assistance they had booked rose from 76% last year to 81%. This figure varied depending on the needs of the passenger: 66% of those with a physical disability who booked assistance getting to the wheelchair area reported receiving all the assistance they had booked
- The proportion of passengers reporting that none of the assistance they had booked was received was 8%. This is an improvement from 11% reported last year
Stephanie Tobyn, director of strategy, policy and reform said:
Today’s consumer report also noted that the past year saw ORR introduce a new complaints Code of Practice (CoP) and confirmed its delivery on the Plan for Rail commitment to take on sponsorship of the Rail Ombudsman later in 2023.
ORR also welcomed the widespread adoption of a service from the Smarter Information Smarter Journeys programme, which enables retailers to notify passengers by email or text of any changes to booked trains made up to 48 hours before travel.
The system was implemented by most operators by the March 2023 deadline set by ORR except for Transport for Wales and C2C – the regulator said it continues to engage with both and Transport for Wales has provided assurances that it will implement through its retail app by September.
Notes to Editors
- Annual Consumer Report 2023.
- Since 2017 ORR has conducted annual research on booked passenger assistance, surveying passengers to measure satisfaction levels on an industry and operator level. The 2022-23 report is published today.
- Rail passenger assists and bookings: April 2022 to March 2023.
- ORR's consumer team will focus its work on key areas of concern in the coming year, including: reliability of assistance, compliance with the handover protocol to improve staff communication between stations; the reliability of station lifts and information provided to passengers on lift availability; disabled people’s experiences of operators’ complaints processes.