British Toilet Association: Archived News from the British Toilet Association 

Better loos, more station waiting rooms needed

Rail passengers are satisfied about getting to a station but more needs to be done to keep them happy once they arrive, a survey shows.

It may be cold comfort that the trip to a station by foot and public transport is acceptable because stations themselves need to upgrade facilities such as toilets and waiting rooms.

The survey, based on responses of 2,214 passengers at 25 stations, found visual real-time information, good staff and toilets were the most important aspects of a well-run station.

But the facilities that need improving most at stations are, in order of importance, toilets – as noted by 37 per cent of respondents - waiting rooms (30 per cent) and information on train arrival times (25 per cent).

Bicycle and car-parking facilities scored lowest in terms of satisfaction compared to other facilities.

If a facility or service did not exist at the station they visited most, they were asked what facilities in order of importance would they like to have. Toilets were top of the list, according to 14 per cent of respondents. Next was a waiting room (12 per cent), staff (7 per cent), connecting buses (6 per cent) and cycle parking (2 per cent).

The survey was conducted by maintenance and design engineers Faber Maunsell on behalf of Network Rail and Passenger Focus, the independent passenger watchdog. The analysis is the “before” survey - the first of two surveys as part of a major five-year £150m National Station Improvement Plan announced in November to refurbish around 150 stations in England and Wales.

The survey covered 25 small to medium size stations that will be improved under the national plan.

Work at all the 150 stations will start early this year and after the improvements are done another survey will be conducted to see how well the work improved the passenger’s experience and trip.

The current “before” survey conducted last month revealed fairly average levels of satisfaction, with the stations scoring just over 5 out of 10 overall. “There is, therefore, much scope for the industry to improve the passenger experience at these stations and those like them,” the survey noted. “At 10 of the 25 stations, passengers gave overall satisfaction scores lower than the all-stations average.”

The self-completion questionnaire asked passengers to provide information and their views on a range of subject areas, including:
• Transport used to get to the station
• Ease of access to platforms
• Provisions of train times and platforms, customer
information screens, public announcements
• Personal security, including in car parks and
interchange with other modes of public transport
• Ticket-buying facilities
• Overall station environment
• Upkeep and repair of buildings and platforms
• General facilities such as toilets
• Car-parking facilities
• Overall opinion of the station.

FM World 8th January 2010