Onboard teams at one of the country’s leading open access train operators have been highlighted as a key factor in helping most impress customers according to new research.
Hull Trains achieved a 96 per cent overall satisfaction rating according to the independent survey with the onboard teams securing some of the most impressive scores.
Almost 1,000 Hull Trains’ customers were surveyed during January 2024, with the ‘overall journey experience’ result achieving a score of 96%. Other results from the survey included consumer satisfaction for time keeping at 94% and journey time at 93%.
Hull Trains Managing Director Martijn Gilbert, said: “I am delighted to see the results of the independent customer survey demonstrating the difference our people make to Hull Trains. This reflects the commitment of our entire team in delivering the best possible experience for our customers when they travel with us. It’s great to see people value the comfort, speed and reliability of our offer as we continue to welcome more people to rail.
“Whilst we have commissioned this research as a Hull Trains specific survey, we’ve deliberately aligned to the question set used in wider rail industry services so that these impressive results can be benchmarked. This amplifies that this is an industry leading score showing our commitment to supporting customers and the communities we serve.”
To say celebrate the success of the customer survey results, Hull Trains is treating customers to special jam-filled cupcakes made in Hull at locations across the Hull Trains route.
The results from the survey commissioned by the open access operator, and led by The TAS Partnership transport consultancy working with market research specialists MRFGR, demonstrate the success of the Hull based operator which serves destinations including Selby and Doncaster.
The question set was aligned to those asked in wider National Rail Passenger Surveys to allow benchmarking across the sector, and are backed up by the results of previous industry wide surveying.
Hull Trains announced in January 2024 it would be responding to customer demand by running additional 10 carriage trains on a number of its services. This was the company’s biggest timetable transformation in 23 years. These latest survey results demonstrate it has already had an impact in terms of improving customer experience with the addition of more seats and more offers for customers.
The change, which was introduced as a direct result of record growth in customer journeys, delivers an extra 4,000 available seats per week for customers, compared with the previous five carriage trains.
The latest survey results also indicate that Hull Trains customers are embracing e-ticketing with 78% of respondents using mobile or E-Tickets, as opposed to printed tickets. Customer confidence with Hull Trains is strong with planning ahead for trips seen as vital with the majority (78%) of respondents having booked advanced tickets.
