Rail company admits “The punctuality of our trains is under par”.
According to figures from the Belgian rail company NMBS, satisfaction levels among rail passengers have reached an historic low. The figures appear in an article in Tuesday morning’s edition of the daily ‘De Tijd’. Just 61% of rail passengers are satisfied with the service they receive. This is down from 65% last year. Dissatisfaction mainly centres around punctuality and the cost of rail travel.
Satisfaction levels have fallen by 4% in the space of a year. The spokesman for the Belgian rail company NMBS Dimitri Temmerman told VRT News that “Of course were are not satisfied with this result. Punctuality is below par, that is true. This is the key to having more satisfied customers, and it is about all this that we intend to work at”.
"It needs to improve quickly as the passenger has a right to it” Punctuality is an absolute priority”.
The survey was carried out among 4,400 rail passengers. As well as punctuality the prices charged by NMBS to travel on its services are also a source of dissatisfaction.
Mr Temmermans says that NMBS intends to look into this.
Other issues that annoy rail passengers are the infrastructure (or lack of it) in stations, parking facilities, and the cleanliness of the trains.
However, the vast majority of passengers are highly satified with the service they receive from rail staff. Mr Temmermans says that this is something NMBS is very happy about as those that work for the rail company are the first point of contact between it and the public.
Satisfaction in figures
NMBS carries out a satisfaction survey each year. The results of this year’s survey are the worst ever. Just 42% of those questioned were happy with punctuality.
This is down by 18% on last year. Satisfaction about ticket pricing is down 15% to 44%. Other areas in which satisfaction has plummeted are cleanliness in the stations and car parks (down 14%) and information in the stations (down 10%).