The Government’s Office of Rail and Road’s (ORR) consumer report shows train and station operators have made improvements to their services for Disabled passengers, as set out in ORR’s Accessible Travel Policy guidance.
All train operators must now accept bookings for assisted travel at two hours’ notice, a requirement introduced by ORR to reduce the notice period from 24 hours down to two hours over the last two years.
Support for this, and other recommendations, including website accessibility found that more still needs to be done, particularly on the quality of station access information, particularly for customers that use screen-readers and other assistive technology.
DR UK Rail Policy Adviser Stephen Brookes said: “We welcome these improvements, but it is clear that more still needs to be done, particularly on the quality of station access information for customers that use screen-readers and other assistive technology.
“Overall satisfaction with the Passenger Assist service increased to 87% this year.
“However there are some major areas which still need improvement, particularly in reducing the number of passengers who did not receive all of the assistance that they booked, those not being met by staff at the station and the time it takes to book via telephone.
“DR UK will be pressing train and station operators on areas of concern to secure improvements and help improve confidence for passengers using the service.”
In the past year, all train operators have also agreed to new delay compensation standards, making the process for submitting a claim clearer and simpler by providing passengers with clear information both before and during their journey about their entitlements to compensation when there are delays, improve how they process claims for compensation for train delays, and publish data on how well they are meeting these obligations.
Stephen said: “The industry needs to work more closely by holding train and station operators to account including on the quality of their passenger information, the services they provide for Disabled passengers and how they manage delay compensation claims.”