THE number of complaints received by Iarnród Éireann rose by over 6,000 in 2015, reaching over 14,000 comments throughout the 12-month period.
With Iarnród Éireann only receiving 8,252 and 8,431 complaints in the previous two years, the 72 per cent rise is believed to have been partly caused by the introduction of a new system of organising customer comments last year.
The system now includes comments related to refunds, lost properties and other queries not included in the previous year’s statistics, according to Iarnród Éireann’s Customer Relations Executive Paul Slowey.
The company released the information on April 15 after a request was made by this reporter under the Freedom of Information Act.
The news comes shortly after Iarnród Éireann welcomed additional fleet for DART services, increasing capacity by 15 per cent for peak travel times.
Independent TD for Dublin Bay North, Tommy Broughan, was among those to welcome this.
“I welcome the news of the increased fleet on DART services as it has been much needed for some time now,” he said. “It is essential that our public transport systems are sufficient to meet the demand of those who prefer to leave their cars at home.”
Despite this addition, and with 91.9 per cent of DART services arriving on time (no more than five minutes after their scheduled arrival), there are still concerns over the performance of Iarnród Éireann and the manner in which they record these statistics.
Mark Gleeson of Rail Users Ireland believes that these statistics might not be an accurate representation of the DART service performance.
“We believe the actual arrival times may be out by one minute,” Mr Gleeson said. “It doesn’t record the time the train stops and the doors open; it’s recorded from the time the train can be seen from the station.”
He added: “A figure of 91.9 per cent is not good enough. Realistically, that’s almost one in 10 trains late by more than five minutes. We should be looking at 95 per cent – I think that’s realistically possible.”
While Mr Gleeson also welcomed the additional DART fleet, he was critical of the way Iarnród Éireann’s performance targets are set and monitored.
“Virtually every single route, every single time, beats the target that was set,” he stated. “That tells you that the target isn’t difficult enough.
“There’s no scheme where they will get punished for missing their targets. They’ve never been financially penalised for failing to meet their targets, to our knowledge.”
Disruption to services was the most common complaint made to Iarnród Éireann in 2015, with 29 per cent of the 14,520 comments received falling under this category. The majority of these related to incidents on lines and train failure.
Onboard issues on trains and matters relating to fares and ticketing were also the subject of over 2,500 complaints, making up 23 per cent and 18 per cent of all comments respectively.
Iarnród Éireann spokesperson Barry Kenny pointed out that the company carries almost 40 million passengers annually.
“We strive to ensure we meet customer expectations for all of these,” Mr Kenny told Northside People. “By ensuring that we more accurately record customer feedback, we can identify and work on issues of concern for customers.
“We have achieved performance targets set by the National Transport Authority every year, and there is a penalty regime in place should we fail to achieve these. We are pleased with the feedback from increased capacity on the DART in recent weeks, and will continue to work to increase the frequency of our services as planned.”
Mixed views on DART service from morning commuters
Phil Jones, Fairview: “The service is reasonably reliable. There’s been a few troubles recently but it seems to be alright in the morning time.”
Megan Berkeley, Drumcondra: “If it’s raining it might be a bit slow, but only by about five minutes. They are a bit overcrowded sometimes, especially at rush hour.”
Bronwyn Berkeley, Drumcondra: “We’ve been using the DART to go to exams in the RDS. The service has been pretty good. They’ve been on time pretty much every time we’ve used them.”
Jack McKenna, Marino: “It’s reliable enough. They’re usually not too late. Sometimes in the morning or evenings they’d be overcrowded, but I actually quite like the DART.”
Suzanne Mulligan, Whitehall: “I only use it about once or twice a week to get into work. They’re usually about five minutes late, but I’m usually late to work anyway, so it works. I’d usually get a seat on the bus, but I wouldn’t get a seat on the DART. At the same time, I’m usually only travelling 10 or 15 minutes so it’s not really an issue for me.”
Rory Thornberg, Mayo (travelling from Raheny to Tara Street): “The service is alright. At the weekends they’re a little less frequent but generally it’s OK. It would be better if they were more frequent. It’s definitely overcrowded at this time and maybe at half five, six o clock, it’s usually packed to the gills. It doesn’t really bother me but I suppose it would be better if it were less crowded.”
Maria Callaghy, Russia: “It’s really good. I find it reliable. Now that I’m pregnant I find in the mornings that it gets really stuffy. Another thing that really annoys me is when people put their feet on the seat.”
Stephen Delaney, Killester: “Usually they’re pretty late, by around 10 minutes. I couldn’t rely on them for work.”
Martin Fagan, Killester: “They put on shorter trains to save money and they do that at the wrong time. You could come out here to get a train at six o’clock to get home and the train that gets here only has four carriages, so it’s overcrowded. I see longer trains going by during the day; they need to be putting these trains on at peak hours.”
Matthew Sherlock: Howth. “It’s grand; it’s not too bad. I trust it sometimes, but the odd time it does be delayed.”
REPORT: Daniel O’Connor
