First Great Western’s National Passenger Survey scores have continued their year on year upward trend for the fifth year running.

Despite significant engineering work and major projects activity on our network, our overall satisfaction score has increased to 83 per cent.
None of our scores dropped significantly compared to the same period last year, and we have made real progress in seven out of the 32 areas measured, with ticket buying facilities, provision of information about train times, station and train cleanliness and upkeep and repair all seeing tangible improvements.
First Great Western are one of just seven train operators who have shown overall year on year improvements in this survey and an 11 percentage point improvement in satisfaction since Autumn 2007.

First Great Western Managing Director Mark Hopwood said: “Many of the improvements to the train scores can be linked to the multimillion pound refresh of our London and Thames Valley and West fleets, and
the efforts that are being deployed to maintain the standard of these vehicles.
“Our own independently conducted research is showing that the introduction of Welcome Hosts at key hub stations is having a positive effect on the customer experience serving to support score improvement.
“While our scores are in line with similar operators, there is real scope for us to continue our improving trend to really excel amongst our peers.
“We expect the effect of the 48 additional carriages announced before Christmas – and already appearing in service – to positively impact the next survey scores due out later this year.”