UK: A plan for the improvement of passenger information is to be presented to the Office of Rail & Road by the Rail Delivery Group on April 20.
ORR said there had been improvements to passenger information systems in recent years. However, research commissioned from Winder Phillips Associates showed that providing information remains a challenge, particularly during disruption,. There was no clear industry strategy for delivering improvements, no agreed understanding of what good information looks like, and a lack of customisation to meet the needs of different customer groups.
RDG’s plan will include the development of a Customer Information Measure, a ‘one-station’ concept for major stations, personalised social media tools and the increased provision of open data.
‘Events such as the disruption caused by the hot weather last July and the electricity power outage in August demonstrated that weaknesses remain in how the industry communicates with passengers’, said Stephanie Tobyn, ORR’s Deputy Director for Consumers, on January 30.
‘Poor quality information, particularly during disruption, makes an already frustrating situation worse for passengers, and significantly more challenging for frontline staff. In this digital age, the benchmark being set by other industries is high and by coming together we believe that Network Rail and train operators can achieve the necessary improvements’, she added.
