Comfort, competitive pricing and George Clooney: what passengers really want
What makes passengers decide to travel by rail? What do passengers want to see when booking, when at the station and when on board? And which celebrity would passengers most like to sit next to on a long distance journey?
It is all too easy for us in the rail industry to become introspective and forget those we seek to serve – the passengers. With this in mind, in July we commissioned an extensive survey of over 7,000 rail adults across six European countries in order to gain a better understanding of the services passengers currently expect, and would like available to them as long distance, international high-speed rail travel increases. The survey was carried out by YouGov and the results that have emerged have been interesting, informative and at times surprising.
We asked respondents what vital factors would make them switch to high speed rail instead of road and air transport. Unsurprisingly in these economically difficult times, “competitive price” emerged as the main factor. This was highest amongst those in Spain (81%) and lowest amongst those in Italy (72%).
Following on from last month’s blog on air-rail intermodality, reserving “connecting rail travel and other modes of transport” (i.e. one ticket for every transport mode taken on one journey) in advance is the service most adult respondents surveyed would like available when booking their long distance, international, high speed rail journey (57%).
Despite entertainment and luxury shops being options, it appears passengers still rate comfort as their highest priority. “Comfortable seating and relaxation areas” was the service respondents expected to find at an international railway station in three years’ time (72%).
Of course, as anyone who’s ever embarked upon a long distance journey will know, the experience can be made or broken depending on who you are sharing a carriage with. This may be why when UK adults were asked which celebrity they would most like to sit next to, Stephen Fry received three times as many mentions as David Beckham, who received the second highest number of mentions. George Clooney was a popular choice for French and Spanish respondents, with Spanish respondents twice as likely to choose him as any other celebrity. While Italian adults mentioned George as their second choice, the winner here was Raoul Bova. The Swedish and Germans prefer a more political companion mentioning Barack Obama (Sweden) and Angela Merkel (Germany) as their top celebrities of choice (figures are available on request).
And next month, we launch our Amadeus Rail High Speed Rail Station Project website where you will be able to see the full set of results as as participate in a further survey in which you can win an iPad2.
There has never been a more exciting time in Europe's high speed rail market and we believe that it's a very good moment to pause and find out what customers are really thinking.
Visit in November and become part of the conversation.
