MANG6209

Report Writing Skills

SOUTH WEST TRAINS REPORT 2011

The report is submitted to the senior management of South West Trains company

Prepared by: Katarzyna Terlecka (kt4g11@soton.ac.uk)

October 2011

Table of Contents

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.......................................................................................................................3

2. INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................................4

3. FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS...................................................................................................................5

3.1 A detailed comparison of data: customers’ satisfaction at Peak and Off- peak time in 2011......5

3.2 Findings........................................................................................................................................6

3.3 Analysis........................................................................................................................................7

4. CONCLUSIONS...................................................................................................................................8

5. RECOMMENDATIONS........................................................................................................................8

REFERENCES........................................................................................................................................10

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1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The goal of this report is to define what improvements can be undertaken to increase the quality of facilities available at South West Trains company’s stations.

The findings based on the data provided from National Passenger Survey demonstrate big differences between Peak and Off- peak time customer satisfaction. Respectively, the analysis show that the overall Peak time travelling experience decreased.

The major conclusion states that an urgent course of action is necessary in order to raise the standard of facilities.

To solve the issue successfully, six main recommendations are identified to be put into effect.

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2. INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the South West Trains report- the review of the standard of facilities on the company’s stations.

The aim of this report is to provide the senior management at South West Trains company with the information about key improvement areas in reference to facilities at their stations. The main focus is placed on analysing data and deciding what kind of improvement, if any, is required to be applied in order to improve customer service.

This document relies on the results from the National Passenger Survey, delivering a network- wide picture of passengers’ satisfaction, conducted in spring 2011. The data is based on the fieldwork that occurred between 31st January 2011 and 15th April 2011 and contrasted with the previous year results. The figures include differences between peak and off- peak time and are rated as satisfied or good.

The report’s sample size is 2319 and the number of stations participating in the research is 100. All questionnaires had been checked for authenticity before the records were approved.

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3. FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS

Findings are based on the National Passengers Survey’s records (South West Trains, 2011) available in the form of an online report.

3.1 A detailed comparison of data: customers’ satisfaction at Peak and Off- peak time in 2011

The results are summarized in separate charts (Fig. 1 and 2) seen below. They are divided into two categories: Peak and Off- peak passengers’ satisfaction. Both graphs show how customers’ perception about the facilities’ quality has changed between 2010 and 2011. In order to present it in a possibly most legible manner, the differences in values (positive and negative) are indicated on the diagrams.

Requests handlingAvailability of staff

Personal securityOverall environmentCar parking facilities

Public transport accessibilityStaff attitude

Facilities and servicesCleanliness

Station worksProvision of information

Ticket buying facilities

-15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15

5-9

-5-1

1-11

-7-4

-2-2

-412

Spring 2011: Peak time- attributes rated as satisfactory or good

Percentage

Facilities

Fig. 1: How passengers’ satisfaction at Peak time has changed between 2010 and 2011.

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Requests handlingAvailability of staff

Personal securityOverall environmentCar parking facilities

Public transport availabilityStaff attitude

Facilities and servicesCleanliness

Station worksProvision of information

Ticket buying facilities

-6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 8

-52

45

01

27

34

62

Spring 2011: Off- peak time- attributes rated as satisfactory or good

Percentage

Facilities

Fig. 2: How passengers’ satisfaction at Off- peak time has changed between 2010 and 2011.

3.2 Findings

After the examination of above figures some evident findings emerge:

1. Attributes in both cases were rated as either satisfactory or good.2. In general, passengers’ satisfaction at Peak time decreased by 27% in 2011.3. In general, passengers’ satisfaction at Off- peak time increased by 31% in 2011.4. The number of services that stayed at the same level or worsened in 2011 at Peak

time is 9.5. The number of services that stayed at the same level or worsened in 2011 at Off-

peak time is 2.

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3.3 Analysis

According to findings, the overall quality of facilities provided by South West Trains rather enhanced than became worse. Passengers assessed the attributes as satisfactory or good. However, the level of satisfaction considerably decreased in relation to Peak time experience. Areas that require special attention are: staff attitude, public transport accessibility, personal security, availability of staff (during Peak time) and requests handling (during Off- peak time).

The advantage of this study is a large amount of surveyed people in a small space of time. Nevertheless, the data has been collected only over two year’s period what affects its credibility. Some further and regular investigation may lead towards more accurate conclusions.

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4. CONCLUSIONS

After discovering all major findings and producing relevant analysis, the primary conclusion indicates that some changes in the range of the company’s facilities management improvement are required.

In effect, more emphasis has to be placed on improving the experience of Peak time customers. The findings demonstrate that the customer satisfaction with travelling during that period of the day decreased by 27% in 2011 in comparison to the previous year’s data.

Therefore, it may be concluded that there is an urgent need for action. A set of recommendations is indispensable in order to provide initial guidelines for future activities.

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5. RECOMMENDATIONS

In order to improve the current situation, certain actions are necessary to be pursued:

1. It is suggested to modify railway timetables for the purpose of providing a better service. The goal is to reduce a waiting cost by approximately 40% (Vansteenwegen and Van Oudheusden, 2006).

2. The system for public transport times and departure points should be integrated at the station. This enhancement would provide the accurate and timely information for passengers.

3. More staff ought to be scheduled and available for passengers during Peak time. This can be justified as necessary to handle a large volume of customers efficiently.

4. Provision of additional, goal- based training in three months’ time is proposed to change the staff attitude towards customers’ enquiries (Wallace, 2006).

5. 10% pay raise for employees who are characterised by high level of commitment to be suggested in order to encourage the rest of the staff and to increase motivational factors.

6. More effective use of CCTV through an easier access to recorded material, better lighting at the stations, visible help points, more open platforms, clearer information and more reliable service need to be implemented possibly in six months’ time to enhance personal security (Cozens et al., 2003).

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Word count: 973

REFERENCES

1. Cozens, P. et al. (2003), ‘Investigating Personal Safety at Railway Stations Using “Virtual Reality” Technology’, Facilities, Vol. 21, No. 7/8, pp. 188-194.

2. South West Trains (2011), National Passenger Survey [Online]. Available: http://passengerfocus.org.uk/news-and-publications/document-search/default.asp?go=1&keywords=south+west+trains&x=0&y=0 [Accessed: 23rd October 2011].

3. Vansteenwegen, P. and Van Oudheusden, D. (2006), ‘Developing Railway Timetables Which Guarantee a Better Service’, European Journal of Operational Research, Vol. 173, pp. 337-350.

4. Wallace, R.E. (2006), ‘Developing Employees’ Attitudes Is a Must’, Birmingham Business Journal, [Online]. Available: http://www.bizjournals.com/birmingham/stories/2006/10/09/focus3.html [Accessed: 23rd October 2011].

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