Member Article

Commuters believe Southeastern rail service is 'not good value for money'

Nearly half of commuters believe that Southeastern trains does not offer “good value for money”, according to a BBC survey.

The survey, carried out on behalf of the BBC by polling company Populus, marks the start of the first day of the company’s renewed four-year franchise.

The franchise, which is run by Govia, a partnership between Go Ahead and Keolis, covers Kent, and parts of Sussex and London.

The survey also found 70% of people were satisfied with the experience of using Southeastern rail services.

30% of people agreed that Southeastern offered “good value for money” with 47% disagreeing. 70% of commuters have stated that they were “satisfied” with the experience of using the franchise.

Tunbridge Wells MP Greg Clark said: “Across the whole region… people feel the biggest problem is the sheer value for money.

“If you’re paying £4,000 a year that is a huge sum of money and you quite rightly expect a good service for that.

“People are right to be critical when they’re paying a fortune and things go wrong.”

David Statham, managing director of Southeastern, said: “It’s important we address those things that have come up through your survey and the national passenger survey and we start to deliver on things that passengers think are really important - better information, better train services, better punctuality and an upgrade of our stations and our train fleet.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .