22 June 2010
Go-Ahead’s three train operating companies each achieved their best ever customer satisfaction scores in the Spring 2010 National Passenger Survey released today. The survey, conducted by the statutory public transport users watchdog Passenger Focus, shows that the majority of people using Southern, Southeastern and London Midland find the service they receive satisfactory or good. Passenger Focus found that satisfaction levels on all three operators had “significantly improved” on the Spring 2009 results.
Keith Ludeman, Group Chief Executive of Go-Ahead, which runs the three companies through its Govia joint venture with Keolis said: “This is an important achievement for our three businesses. Our philosophy at Go-Ahead is to put the passenger at the heart of our businesses and continually strive to improve the service we provide. It is extremely pleasing that the hard work and effort of our 10,500 rail staff is being recognised by our passengers who make some 360 million journeys with us every year.
“Winning the positive support of a vast majority of our passengers is very important to us. But of course, we are not complacent and our rail businesses will continue to focus very closely on how we can improve the service we offer even further.”
The Spring 2010 National Passenger Survey saw 86% of London Midland’s passengers saying they were satisfied with the service they receive, rising from 78% last Spring. Southern’s overall satisfaction score rose from 80% to 84% and Southeastern achieved a score of 81%, up from 76% last year. Southeastern’s high speed service, which was launched in full last December, achieved an impressive 95% overall satisfaction score.
The overall satisfaction score nationally is 83% and for London and the South East the score is 82%.
ENDS
For further information, please contact:
The Go-Ahead Group
Samantha Hodder, Group Communications Director
Catherine Garland, Group Communications & Investor Relations Manager
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020 7821 3928
020 7821 3929 |
Notes to editors
Go-Ahead
Go-Ahead is a leading UK public transport operator, providing high quality services in the bus and rail sectors. Employing around 25,000 people across the country, almost one billion passenger journeys are undertaken on our services each year. We are committed to operating our companies in a socially and environmentally responsible way and are proud to have been awarded the Carbon Trust Standard after taking action on climate change. In addition to the travelling public, our customers include the Department for Transport, Transport for London (TfL) and local authorities.
Bus
Go-Ahead is one of the UK's largest bus operators. With a fleet of over 3,500 buses, we carry, on average, around 1.6 million passengers every day. Our operations are focused on high density commuter markets. We have a strong presence in London, with around 21% market share, where we provide regulated services for TfL. We operate deregulated services in the North East, Oxford, the South East and Southern England. We recently expanded our bus operations with the acquisition of Plymouth CityBus in the UK, and have established a Yellow School Bus joint venture in North America.
Rail
The rail operation, Govia, is 65% owned by Go-Ahead and 35% by Keolis. It is the busiest rail operation in the UK, responsible for nearly 30% of all UK passenger rail journeys through its three rail franchises: Southern (which includes the Gatwick Express), Southeastern and London Midland. In December 2009, Southeastern began operating the UK's first high speed domestic rail service between Kent and London, significantly reducing journey times.
For further information about our rail franchises please visit our factsheets:
http://www.go-ahead.com/goahead/aboutus/our_markets/uk_rail_market/
Aviation Services
The Group also provides car parking services through Meteor, which includes the ‘Meet & Greet’ and ‘Pink Elephant’ brands and operates limited ground handling services at Terminal 1, Heathrow.
For further information visit www.go-ahead.com