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The role of information in the UK passenger rail industry

The role of information in the UK passenger rail industry
The role of information in the UK passenger rail industry
In 1993, the U.K. passenger rail industry was privatized with expectations of greater investment, increased efficiency, and improved network performance. To date, progress has been mixed and the industry has been subject to a critical national press and passenger complaints that have reached record levels. The industry is continuing to develop a service that can do justice to its privatization. Passenger information is an important aspect of these improvements and national rail journey planning services are now heavily used. However, relatively little consideration has been given to understanding the role that information might play in assisting passengers who have already planned their journey but who encounter problems when they travel by train. Failure to execute a journey as planned can be severely disruptive to rail passengers in terms of lost time, expense, anxiety, and frustration. This article charts the development of the privatized rail industry and defines a set of journey breakdown situations that can be encountered by passengers. Insights are gained from passenger complaint letters. Such letters typically provide detailed accounts of journey breakdowns, attempts to recover the situations, and the use made of available information. Inaccurate or misunderstood pre-trip information is found to be a factor in many journey breakdowns. Accessible, timely, and appropriate provision of en-route information can improve passengers' satisfaction by enabling completion of their immediate journey and might also be decisive in ensuring they have the confidence to use the rail network again in the future.

1077-291X
19-41
Lyons, Glenn
01852e60-162a-41d7-bbf2-81eeb8fee646
McLay, Graeme
4daaae21-7907-4c45-a8dd-edf7506c1ad0
Lyons, Glenn
01852e60-162a-41d7-bbf2-81eeb8fee646
McLay, Graeme
4daaae21-7907-4c45-a8dd-edf7506c1ad0

Lyons, Glenn and McLay, Graeme (2000) The role of information in the UK passenger rail industry. Journal of Public Transportation, Vol. 6, No. 3, Centre for Urban Transportation Research, US, 2003, pp1-14., 3 (3), 19-41.

Record type: Article

Abstract

In 1993, the U.K. passenger rail industry was privatized with expectations of greater investment, increased efficiency, and improved network performance. To date, progress has been mixed and the industry has been subject to a critical national press and passenger complaints that have reached record levels. The industry is continuing to develop a service that can do justice to its privatization. Passenger information is an important aspect of these improvements and national rail journey planning services are now heavily used. However, relatively little consideration has been given to understanding the role that information might play in assisting passengers who have already planned their journey but who encounter problems when they travel by train. Failure to execute a journey as planned can be severely disruptive to rail passengers in terms of lost time, expense, anxiety, and frustration. This article charts the development of the privatized rail industry and defines a set of journey breakdown situations that can be encountered by passengers. Insights are gained from passenger complaint letters. Such letters typically provide detailed accounts of journey breakdowns, attempts to recover the situations, and the use made of available information. Inaccurate or misunderstood pre-trip information is found to be a factor in many journey breakdowns. Accessible, timely, and appropriate provision of en-route information can improve passengers' satisfaction by enabling completion of their immediate journey and might also be decisive in ensuring they have the confidence to use the rail network again in the future.

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More information

Published date: 2000

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 74665
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/74665
ISSN: 1077-291X
PURE UUID: efc5c8a6-58f8-495a-a8b8-2a2c2fd1a387

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Date deposited: 11 Mar 2010
Last modified: 10 Dec 2021 16:54

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Contributors

Author: Glenn Lyons
Author: Graeme McLay

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