c2c Passenger Panel

Notes of Meeting held on Wednesday 19thNovember2014

Present:

Martin Smith (Chairman) Barking

Ian WilsonGrays

Rich Whittaker Southend East

Alan NewingPitsea

Carol ChaplinThorpe Bay

Daniel PepperLaindon

Paul McKewBenfleet

Julian Drury (Managing Director) c2c

Kevin Frazer (Operations Director)c2c

Hugh Jennings (Head of Retail)c2c

Chris Johnson (Franchise Manager)c2c

Tunde Olatunji (Head of Customer Experience)c2c

Apologies:

Polly MansfieldBenfleet

Samuel WilliamsSE College/Basildon

Stephen Duffy Leigh & Chalkwell

Hayley DrewS E College

  1. Welcome, apologies and introductions.

Apologies – were noted from Polly Mansfield and Stephen Duffy.

Panel Membership

  • As Hayley Drew and Samuel Williams had not attended to represent Southend College, it was assumed that they were no longer able to continue as members. Action – TO to seek a replacement member to represent the College and young person’s travelling on c2c services.
  1. Minutes of the last meeting on 24 September

The minutes were approved.

  1. Actions and Matters Arising from Sept 2014

ACTION – KF agreed to provide an update to the Panel on progress with the various operational and infrastructure actions - / KF confirmed that c2c continued to work in partnership with Network Rail on the Over 60 point plan covering both operational and infrastructure items.
ACTION – TO to share a copy of the franchise and customer deliverables with the Panel. / TO provided copies of c2c’ Annual Report and Passenger Charter to Panel members. The items requested for the November meeting (Passenger Benefits; December 2015 timetable, Fleet and Smartcard) were all on the Agenda.
ACTION – c2c to review the fault with the dot matrix customer information screen once MS email with further detail is received. / This matter was included on today’s meeting Agenda.
ACTION – MS and TO agreed to get in contact to review the Panel membership in the new franchise. / This matter was included on today’s meeting Agenda.
  1. Rolling Incident review of train service performance 18th September – 19th November

KF gave a verbal report on the disruption incidents that occurred in the previous two months since the last Panel meeting. Although there had been no major incidents a significant number of complaints and customer disaffection continued as a result of the 3 days of major disruption between the 8th and 10th of September. This was inspite c2c’s cashback offer aimed at ensure season ticket holders could apply for compensation under this goodwill scheme as the existing Passenger Charter terms were very limiting.

KF informed the Panel of the organisational changes at the start of the new Essex Thameside Franchise. A new Delivery Directorate replaced the previous Operational Department. It merged the separate Operations and Retail functions. Also a new Commercial Directorate merged the Marketing and Customer functions. Fleet was now the Engineering Directorate. The changes were designed to provide even greater focus on the delivery of the new customer commitments.

  1. c2c Customer Experience update

December 2015 Timetable –

KF gave a presentation outlining the current position with regards consulting on the new timetable changes. Supporting material was produced to give a breakdown of the impact of the new timetable at each station. The ‘simplifier’ showed both the current and proposed future level of services so that customers could easily see for themselves how the changes might affect their own journey habits.

KF reiterated that the timetable change was essential in order to provide a much better service as at presently there was increased peak standing from stations such as Benfleet and even Leigh on Sea. The all London station stopping pattern was also the right solution to ensure that customers could use all of the interchange opportunities at Barking West Ham and Limehouse. The proposals for weekend Stratford services was to reflect the increase of customers wanting to go there in preference to Fenchurch station.

Other proposals would see faster average journey times.

IW asked what the impact on seating would be when the Metro stock was introduced. KF said that the purpose of a Metro style configuration was to improve capacity and would be particularly beneficial at interchange stations.

IW asked why there wasn’t more publicity at Laindon to explain c2c’s position in response to the Laindon Action Group’s leafleting campaign which had generated some negative press and customer reaction. c2c advised that it was mindful of the history of the Timetable change proposal in December 2006 and understood the current reaction. The new changes were designed with a clearer approach to making c2c services better across a range of essential improvements.

PM asked what the difference was of services into Fenchurch now compared to 2006. KF explained that in 2006 the turnaround times proved challenging because the sectional running times used were not accurate enough for the purposes of the new timetable. This time around, the 2015 timetable has lengthened the turnaround times from 6 to 8 minutes. DP who represents Laindon said he was not convinced. KF said that the current timetable was the 9th iteration and had been modeled with the help of consultant experts. It was now out for consultation with all customers including Laindon passengers.

DP noted that the number of carriages was not specified and that leisure customers would be less understanding of standing or overcrowding. KF confirmed that the proposal was for 4 off peak trains per hour (tph) via Laindon and a new regular 2 tph weekend service to Stratford/Liverpool.

Consultation Update – KF said that so far over a 1000 responses had been received. The re-distribution was the right thing to do in order to ensure that c2c services complied with the 20 minute PIXC rule which requires operators to minimise crowding on journeys with more than a 20 minute stopping pattern. In conclusion, KF said that based on the consultation feedback that the timetable was being re-modeled and an update would be available in about 4 weeks.

Smartcard update -

c2c gave an update on its launch of Smartcards to customers. Phase 1 cards were issued to customers travelling outside London Stations from West Horndon to Southend stations. Phase 2 cards were for the majority of customers who travelled into London and over 3000 cards had been issued and ready to go live.

DP asked if the Smartcard could be combined with PlusBus.

  • Action – c2c to confirm.

BPay update

c2c was introducing its own version of a contactless payment card method of travel and early adopters including Panel members were welcome to apply to trial the BPay wristbands. DP was concerned that the cards could not result in duplicate deductions.

Passenger Charter/Annual Customer Report

TO shared copies of c2c’s new Passenger Charter and Annual Customer Report to seek feedback from Panel members.

  • DP – said there is likely to be concerns from some customers where calls to customer relations are also being answered by NRE’s contact Centre in Mumbai. TO explained that they provided a back-up service to help with call volumes and deliver our target of answering calls within 45 seconds.
  • IW – said in his experience, call handlers in Mumbai were generally unwilling to say no to customer requests.
  • IW – noted that on our c2c Live app, which hosts an assisted travel booking service, a 24 hour notice period is given when c2c’s new commitment was to take bookings with 4 hours. TO explained that this would be reviewed once c2c Live became a more established part of our booking system. For the moment, it served as a new channel for customers to book assisted travel.
  1. Review of Panel emailsSeptember - November

Only a handful of emails were received. The main issues raised were as follows –

  • Dec 2015 Timetable matters which all formed part of the formal consultation process of which the Panels views were taken account of in the earlier timetable discussion at this meeting.
  • Smartcard teething problems – The Panel noted that a customer had encountered some problems when registering their smartcard. c2c confirmed that customers were encountering technical issues but these were being rectified.
  • TO confirmed that a training schedule for the new Customer Relations staff in Smartcards was scheduled.
  1. Panel members general feedback on journey experiences (general service observations)
  • PM asked what had happened to the departure board app. KF confirmed that this should still be available.
  • DP observed that the delay repay page felt cumbersome and not intuitive for customer use.
  • DP once again raised his concern at where the wheelchair notice is located at Laindon Station. HJ explained that the purpose was to inform wheelchair users to position their wheelchairs on the platform parallel to the track and with their brakes on. The notices were all lined up perfectly to where the train stopped allowing easy access to the disabled carriage doors.
  • PM confirmed that he had downloaded the c2c Live app.
  • IW said he did not feel that c2c Live was as intuitive as it could be for customers.
  • MS had previously raised issues regarding the faults in the dot matrix Customer Information Systems. Since the matter was first raised by MS, c2c has now checked 74 of their 74 units and resolved all issues found. A further re-checking process has started and is into its second week with 46 out of 74 units looked at. A defective unit was discovered with faulty sound and speakers. The 2nd phase of checks will continue and a new system which forewarns of any faults will be introduced. MS, was able to confirm that he had not noticed any fault for at least 10 days.
  • MS raised a general concern expressed over the impact the introduction of a lower cap for off-peak fares would have on the cost of Oyster PAYG in 2015. CJ advised that the plan by TfL was to merge the 2 daily caps for peak and off peak into one in order to provide a better discount for commuters working flexible hours.
  1. Membership
  • MS requested a schedule of issues and new franchise themes to be published in advance for discussion by the Panel in 2015.
  • ACTION – TO to provide a Passenger Panel Issues for discussion Schedule.
  • IW asked whether other Rail Groups should be merged with the Panel. KF advised that other groups were unlikely to give up their long standing autonomy.
  • TO and MS said they would aim to get in touch to discuss membership and Panel matters for the 2015 calendar year.
  1. Any Other Business
  1. Date and Venue of Next Meeting - 21 January 2015@ Cutlers Court.