Service Quality Excellence - ignoring the elephant?

[whole diary]

[grahame]

"Service Quality Excellence" - as told at the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) briefing

GWR will enter into a new Service Quality Regime from June 2022

External auditors will be engaged to audit stations and trains. Mystery Shoppers will audit customer service.  We will then be expected to rectify any failures against the standard within a prescribed time period.

We are told that audits will cover apps, carpets, catering, cleanliness, customer information, heating, lighting, litter, seating, social media, staff presence, stations, temperature, ticket gates, ticket offices, toilets, trains, waiting areas, website and wi-fi.

I asked about service quality of the connections between trains as it's very much an issue we have had and was told to "that's not in SQE - wait for the timetable section" and in that section I waited in vain for performance monitoring comments.  Towards the end of that section I raised the issue of just-missed connections off late running trains and got no more than woolly words - and good though SQE may (or may not) be, it would seem that train performance and connections are not part of the it.

The GWR speaker assumed we were talking about Newbury, with the Bedwyn shuttle. No - the poblem is endemic and (as far as I can see) unmonitored.  Personally I can report:
* Pulling in to Swindon late at platform 3, with the Westbury service in the bay. Slow door opening on my train, by which time doors were closed on the Westbury train
* Pulling in to Chippenham from Melksham, as doors closed on the Bristol train
* Pulling into Trowbridge late from Bristol and the last train of the day pulled out for Swindon
* Pulling in to Westbury on platform 3 as the Exeter train it was supposed to connect with pulled out of platform 2
* Running through the subway at Westbury having arrived on a late train from Melksham to see the Weymouth train pulling out
* Arriving in Westbury on a limping train from Southampton a few seconds after the connection to Swindon had pulled out
* And just a week or two back ... last train for Salisbury pulling out of Westbury on time, and "empty" - a few minutes before the new connecting train that GWR have run since December pulled in. A failure that would ever have happened when it was a through train!
* I could also report issues at Bath, at Bristol, at Reading, at Exeter St Davids ... and a much smaller bunch of "holds" that worked well - lots of passengers transferred for the cost of a minute or two.

Some of these may have been good calls - we can discuss - but in all honesty we don't know - there is no measure I know of that encompasses connections, even though a very high proportion of journeys involve changes from one train to another.  And it's not measured by SQE either - leaving out the difficult stuff?

[Timmer]

Leaving out the difficult things indeed.

Whilst all of the above have their place and it’s good that they are (finally    ) going to be monitored, if you missed your connection or your journey is cancelled owing to traincrew shortage; then for most customers they pale into insignificance.

[TaplowGreen]

Leaving out the difficult things indeed.

Whilst all of the above have their place and it’s good that they are (finally    ) going to be monitored, if you missed your connection or your journey is cancelled owing to traincrew shortage; then for most customers they pale into insignificance.

To be fair though, if you are stuck due to BBQ Sunday crew shortage when trying to return after a few days in the Westcountry, it may ensure that you have nicer carpets to walk on in the waiting room as you pace up and down contemplating mass cancellations and the prospect of 4 hours crammed in a luggage rack? (if you're lucky!)

Surely that will be of some comfort? 

[broadgage]

Things not to be included, train length. New trains are shorter, get used to it.
Reliability of connections, too complex.
Seating comfort, surveys show that it is fine really.
High and hugely complex fares.

Bit surprised that catering is included, but suspect that they do not mean actual provision of a trolley, but instead mean "were plenty of announcements made about the lack thereof" And was this information put on social media.

[grahame]

High and hugely complex fares.

Just spoke with a bloke on the train who went to his local station and asked for a return to London for the following day and was quoted around £150.00.  When he informed the booking clerk he would have to give the trip a miss, she suggested he gat two singles ... around £30.  (Using Advance Fares)

From a quality viewpoint, is this
* a huge failure because the guy was not able to easily know what to ask for
* almost a huge success because it almost brough the railway £120 MORE
* a success because the ticket clerk was able to help
* a disciplinary for the ticket clerk who offered a better but cheaper alternative to what (s)he was asked for

[TaplowGreen]

High and hugely complex fares.

Just spoke with a bloke on the train who went to his local station and asked for a return to London for the following day and was quoted around £150.00.  When he informed the booking clerk he would have to give the trip a miss, she suggested he gat two singles ... around £30.  (Using Advance Fares)

From a quality viewpoint, is this
* a huge failure because the guy was not able to easily know what to ask for
* almost a huge success because it almost brough the railway £120 MORE
* a success because the ticket clerk was able to help
* a disciplinary for the ticket clerk who offered a better but cheaper alternative to what (s)he was asked for

Surely the ticket clerk should offer the cheapest appropriate fare (or fares) for the journey being requested?

Why would a "disciplinary" even be considered?

Whatever is in the customer's best interest is the best quality of service.

[IndustryInsider]

They’re not supposed to offer or promote split ticket savings, but AFAIK^▸ (as far as I know) they can and should offer and promote advance fares.