Abellio - end-to-end

Providing for the end-to-end journey

Focusing on passenger expectations

Abellio’s Best Practice programme plays a central
role in ensuring that our transport services improve
their competitive position as
the most sustainable and preferred mode of transport.

As customer expectations of service improvements in all areas of their lives increase,
so does our commitment to being ever more considerate and innovative in putting
them first in our planning.

Ultimately, this means catering for passengers’ requirements throughout their entire, end-
to-end journey and not just for the time spent aboard our services.

The principle of meeting the end-to-end journey requirements
of our passengers is the foundation of our business approach

We support our operating companies to deliver on this in a number
of ways including improved information provision to passengers
and enhancing the quality and accessibility of stations. We also contribute to industry consultations and support the work of organisation such as the Campaign for Better Transport who work tirelessly to promote the benefits of an integrated, end-to-end approach.

S p e c i f i c i n i t i a t i v e s i n c l u d e :

MtoGo
The MtoGo facilities currently opening across the Merseyrail network are another example of sharing best practice with our Dutch colleagues. The stores integrate ticket offices with convenience stores so that busy commuters can combine the purchase of tickets with other grocery or news-stand essentials.
The overriding aim has been to improve passengers’ experience of using the railway by offering more facilities at stations and with eight MtoGo’s and three more planned to open this year the concept has proved a success with staff and customers. The ease of interaction with the customer since staff are no longer behind glass screens and the convenience of picking up essential items when purchasing a train ticket for the passenger saves time and improves service quality.

CyclePoint
At Abellio, our aim has always been to provide transport services which improve the quality of life for passengers and across the communities we serve. The first CyclePoint, which opened in Leeds in September 2010, is a great example of this philosophy and is based on the facilities available to cyclists at Dutch railway stations.
We believe it is part of our responsibility to make our passengers’ door-to-door journeys as stress-free as possible. By providing secure storage in a purpose built building manned by dedicated staff, CyclePoint removes the anxiety we know passengers feel when leaving bicycles at stations, and its location right next to the entrance makes it much more convenient for cyclists to catch the train. For passengers travelling to Leeds, the CyclePoint rental service provides a new way of completing their journeys.

Passenger information via BlackBerries
Northern Rail was the first train operator in the UK to issue BlackBerries to all conductors. Nowadays their colleagues from Greater Anglia use them too. This investment enables them to provide customers with faster and more accurate information about services and onward connections.
Conductors at stations are now be able to provide passengers with precise real time arrival and departure information, details of onward connections from all stations and advance notice of when services will be affected by planned engineering works.