Credit: Management Today

Commissioner of Transport for London Sir Peter Hendy has hit out at Southeastern  in an interview in Management Today yesterday:

“On Southeastern (another suburban rail franchise whose customer rating is consistently among London’s worst) the trains are like the Wild West. They are s**t, awful. And then every now and then some people who look like the Gestapo get on and fine everyone they can. It doesn’t improve your day, does it?”

Other parts of the article show how TfL approach customer issues differently:

• Travellers realise, he says, that delays and problems are inevitable. What matters most is how you behave towards them. ‘We’re attempting to face our customers as a unified organisation that treats them as modern adults living in the world’s greatest city.’
• ‘If you make a mistake on your Oyster Card on the Tube, we’ll refund it. On South West Trains, they’ll fine you. That’s a big philosophical difference.’
• ‘Lots of people don’t travel with us because they want to but because they have to. You can either treat them as a revenue source, mercilessly exploit them, or try to make their lives easier.’
• ‘You get no time to discuss anything with customers if what you do every day is no good. My first priority is to make sure it all works, because otherwise they’d just think, you’re useless ‘.

From other press reports it seems that Southeastern gave a reaction, but there is no press statement or other communication to their customers on their website.

While the Sevenoaks Rail Travellers Association would not use some of Peter Hendy’s more fruity language, there is a lot in what he says:

• Southeastern compares badly against TfL on many measures. In the Which? survey published in February Southeastern were the second worst Train Operating Company at 44%, only just 1% above Thameslink. TfL do much better – Overground is third best London commuter service at 57%, with only Chiltern (58%) and C2C (62%) above it – despite having to contend with some of the problems of high demand in the London area and of Victorian infrastructure that Southeastern and others plead in their defence.
• The ticket inspectors can also certainly be over-zealous at times – we have had reports of customers being fined simply crossing the footbridge at Sevenoaks to get to the ticket office because of a long queue for the one TVM on the Kippington side – even though the customers involved had clearly been nowhere near the platforms or the trains. The same goes for some barrier staff at London stations (though not at Sevenoaks itself).
• TfL are way ahead with innovation, such as on fares and ticketing. For instance Southeastern show no enthusiasm to co-operate in the extension of Oyster to the Sevenoaks area and the Darenth Valley – to get Oyster to Dartford and Swanley DFT had to make it a condition of the franchise. Southeastern have not even deployed the “Key” smartcard technology developed by the Southern arm of the same parent company.
• TfL’s policy is that every London Overground station should be manned. Staffing at stations like Bat & Ball would mitigate some of the problems that local councillors have reported.

The Sevenoaks Rail Travellers Association have long been supporters of the London Mayor’s proposals to take over the Metro services to Sevenoaks. In addition to the higher standard of TfL for trains and stations, TfL operation of the metro services would have brought competition into Southeastern’s cosy monopoly. The proposal was blocked by Kent County Council, and they have never explained how their electors in the Sevenoaks area would get similar benefits under the current system.

Some people fret about a lack of “democratic accountability” if the London Mayor took responsibility for areas outside his democratic control and accountability. It’s hard to see how democratic accountability is better through the MP for Devizes – who has just declined to back the extension of Oyster to the Sevenoaks area.

Update (30 April): Peter Hendy has made an apology for some of his remarks.  The Guardian notes that it is still “the fact that Southeastern has consistently been ranked the worst operator on national passenger-satisfaction surveys”. Management Today has also reported this.

Update (7 May): The Editor of Management Today has an interesting view on all this.