CUSTOMER REPORT CARD IS OUT FOR CITYRAIL
NSW Minister for Transport David Campbell said today a new survey of rail customers has found many positive results but has also put the Government on notice to improve services.
Mr Campbell said the fifth annual survey from the Independent Transport Safety and Reliability Regulator reinforces what we already know are issues on our rail services and now we need to work hard to make changes.
"The survey tells us that the major issues for rail customers are crowding and frequency of services," Mr Campbell said.
"CityRail patronage is increasing every year and in 2007-08 there were 296 million passenger journeys, an increase of 5.2 per cent on 2006-07.
"We know that more people will continue to use our rail networks and we need to do more to increase capacity and frequency of our trains.
"CityRail has recently built up capacity on the Western Line to provide an additional 1500 seats in the evening peak.
"In the last 12 months we have also introduced four new suburban rail services and completed projects to improve capacity and reliability on the network."
Mr Campbell said the survey also shows that more people want clean, graffiti-free trains.
"The survey found that graffiti removal is meeting expectations, but this result is down on last year and that is not good enough," Mr Campbell said.
"Railcorp is already undertaking a range of improvement initiatives to prevent and remove graffiti including Transit Officers targeting graffiti hot spots and trialling new cleaning products to find more efficient and cost effective ways to combat graffiti vandalism.
"It's important to recognise that the survey highlights many areas where customers are satisfied with services on the network."
Areas where rail customers are satisfied with services include:
- 91 per cent of people were satisfied with the Cityrail website information service
- 86 per cent were satisfied with network signage
- 85 per cent were satisfied with the knowledge and helpfulness of staff
- 84 per cent were satisfied with the 131-500 transport information phone line
- And 73 per cent were satisfied with service punctuality.
Mr Campbell said the survey could not have been released at a more important time for the Government.
"Survey's like this give us the chance to hear about issues that matter to people and for us to do something about them," Mr Campbell said.
"The Premier and I are determined to achieve this improved level of service and I have made it clear to RailCorp Management that this is our priority."
To view the survey visit: www.transportregulator.nsw.gov.au
