The Passengers’ Charter establishes two performance standards based on the following criteria:
- Punctuality – the percentage of peak hour trains arriving within 5 minutes of their advertised arrival time (‘Peak’ times are arrivals in London between 7.00 am and 9.59 am, and departures form London between 4.00 pm and 6.59 pm.)
- Reliability – the percentage of the advertised train service actually operated.
Separate targets and thresholds have been established for Mainline and Metro services. These are shown in the table below. Note that the Punctuality target and threshold levels for Kent Mainline services are significantly less demanding than those for Kent Metro services on grounds of the additional distance and time Mainline journeys involve.
| Target | Threshold | |
| Mainline | ||
| Punctuality | 85% | 82% |
| Reliability | 99% | 98% |
| Metro | ||
| Punctuality | 89.5% | 86.5% |
| Reliability | 99% | 98% |
While the train operator sets itself target levels of performance, discounts are payable only when performance falls below the lower thresholds. Should either threshold not be met, season ticket holders are entitled to discounts when they renew their ticket.
‘Void’ days
On some days disruption to services may be so extensive that the operator will provide a full refund to passengers with season tickets valid for one month or longer. Such days are excluded from the performance data.
Incidents deemed beyond the operator’s control
Also excluded from the performance data are disruptions arising from adverse weather, security alerts, vandalism and trespass (including animals on the line!).
To determine whether discounts are payable, a threshold is compared with the past 12 months’ average performance. Should this average be below one threshold, a 5% discount is payable. Should both thresholds be breached, the discount is increased to 10%.
Punctuality and reliability data are published each month.
Recent performance
The chart below shows the current position for Southeastern’s Mainline services (which applies to Sevenoaks area season ticket holders).
Source: Southeastern Trains. Latest data are to 23 June 2012.
The solid blue line (left hand scale) and solid pink line (right hand scale) show performance for Punctuality and Reliability respectively. They show 12-month trailing averages of monthly data to eliminate seasonal fluctuations.
The targets are shown as dotted lines and the thresholds as dashed lines. The gap between actual and threshold is shown by the arrows.
The Punctuality 12-month average for Kent franchise Mainline services had dipped sharply until the end of 2010 to fractionally above above the 82% threshold for refunds. Whether the indicator had actually transgressed the threshold for refunds was the subject of some controversy at the time. Punctuality has now recovered significantly. The trend Reliability indicator has also strengthened recently after also declining from late 2008.
The trend in the data for Kent Metro services has been rather different. Until mid-2007, the long-term average for Punctuality was below, or hovered just above, the level at which the 5% discounts become payable when tickets are renewed. The punctuality indicator has improved strongly in recent months while the Reliability indicator has marked time.
Source: Southeastern Trains. Latest data are to 23 June 2012