Integrated National Transport Strategy
–
Response from the RMT
About the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT)
RMT is Britain’s largest specialist transport union and has more than 80,000 members from almost every sector of the transport industry including in passenger rail services and infrastructure, rail freight, London transport and metro services, buses and ferries. RMT is by some distance the largest rail union and represents all grades of rail workers.
An Integrated National Transport Strategy – Listening to what transport workers say
It is abundantly clear that our public transport networks are highly fragmented, both within and between sectors and this fragmentation causes significant challenges for staff and passengers and does not provide value for money for taxpayers.
One of the Government’s key goals for the creation of Great British Railways (GBR) is to tackle the fragmentation that has arisen as a result of privatisation, and RMT fully supports the creation of a GBR as a unified, vertically integrated organisation in public ownership. The Government’s Bus Services (No2) Bill which is currently making its way through parliament seeks to give local authorities greater control over their local bus services, including through reversing the ban on publicly owned bus companies. It is vital that these reforms also lead to greater integration between different modes of public transport.
Listening to and understanding the views of the frontline workers who keep our public transport systems running on a daily basis and who have experienced the challenges of fragmentation first hand will be pivotal to the success of the Government’s Integrated National Transport Strategy.
We note that the call for evidence includes questions for frontline transport workers, however, it is of significant concern that trade unions, as the organisations that represent transport workers are completely missing from the call for ideas. Trade unions are not listed amongst the organisations in the call for evidence, nor was there any reference to consultation with trade unions in the Government’s recent announcement of its regional tour.1
RMT wants to work collaboratively with the Government to ensure that the views of
1 https://www.gov.uk/government/news/transport-minister-kicks-off-regional-tour-with-communities-to-shape-the-future-ofintegrated-transport#:~:text=The%20regional%20transport%20roadshows%20will,will%20be%20published%20this%20year
frontline transport workers are adequately reflected in the Strategy. We urge the Government to set out how it will consult trade unions as it continues this work.
RMT transport member survey
To inform our response to the call for evidence, we conducted an online survey of RMT members working across the transport sector in rail, bus, metro, maritime and taxis. The key themes arising from the survey are summarised below, followed by the full survey results.
The vast majority of members reported that they experience challenges that affect how they carry out their role. It is unsurprising that the most commonly cited challenge by transport workers was poor work-life balance, given that decades of privatisation have treated staff as a cost to be cut, rather than as an asset to be invested in. This approach to the workforce has led to widespread understaffing, excessive hours and shift patterns, outsourcing and agency working and the non-filling of vacancies. All of this puts pressure on remaining staff, makes their jobs far more challenging and affects the level of service customers receive. It is also unsafe. In a safety critical industry such as transport, staff should be fairly remunerated and have sufficient time away from the workplace to rest.
Widespread outsourcing and a reliance on agency workers in the rail sector has made the workforce significantly more fragmented, with incoherent lines of communication and responsibility. Not only has this created two-tier workforces with outsourced and agency workers employed on inferior terms and conditions and with less job security than inhouse workers, it has also contributed to a higher turnover of staff, with the loss of skills and knowledge, and means that for many workers in the rail sector there is no clear path for career progression. There was also a widely held view that privatisation has led to a lack of railway experience and expertise amongst much senior management and this hinders an integrated approach.
In other parts of the transport industry, for instance in the bus sector, decades of deregulation and privatisation have seen bus services run predominantly on a commercial basis for profit and has driven down pay and conditions, thus leading to a reliance on overtime to supplement low wages and excessive working hours as a result of this.
Our members also highlighted a lack of job flexibility which contributes to poor work-life balance and also is most likely deterring many people, for instance women and parents of young children who need to balance work and caring responsibilities, from entering the industry.
Staff training, in terms of poor provision, lack of access and a lack of retraining opportunities also featured as a challenge. Comprehensive, consistent and regular training is vital in a safety critical sector such as transport, and ensures that frontline transport workers feel adequately equipped to carry out their roles in ways which are safe for them and for passengers.
It was also clear that a lack of long-term planning, coupled with a lack of investment, is hindering the public transport sector, with privatisation leading to a myriad of misaligned incentives which often do not result in decisions being made to the benefits of passengers
and taxpayers. For instance, in the rail sector, relying on private operators to run rail service contracts, which were periodically put out to tender, and run for profit meant there was no incentive on these operators to invest in the railway to deliver long-term benefits. It is clear that the rail network suffers from a lack of coordination and communication between the various different operators and organisations involved in the running of the railway. This can be particularly to passengers’ detriment in times of disruption or service alteration when information is not adequately and efficiently disseminated to all relevant frontline workers. This also hinders the extent to which mitigations are implemented to reduce the impact of disruption passengers.
Public transport ticketing systems are also highly fragmented, and our members report these complexities have been exacerbated by the growth of third-party retailers, particularly Trainline, who are known to commonly mis-sell tickets, but have their own external systems, meaning rail workers cannot access bookings and rectify issues with tickets purchased via these profit-driven third parties. There is also a severe lack of integration in ticketing between different modes of public transport such as rail, bus and ferries.
Our members also have a range of suggestions about how public transport could be improved and more ‘joined up’. There was a clear view expressed by our members that public transport requires a significant increase in investment, alongside a much longer-term strategic approach. There needs to be a decisive shift away from running public transport as a commercial business to treating it as vital public service in need of sustained investment.
There was widespread support from members for the renationalisation of public transport networks, including the creation of Great British Railways (GBR). Our members felt that a properly integrated GBR must include bringing outsourced workers and functions in-house. This would provide for much clearer lines of communication, simplify decision making and support workforce retention.
Unsurprisingly, the solution to the range of problems caused by longstanding understaffing was to significantly increase staffing provision across our public transport networks. RMT is supportive of Labour’s position, in its Plan for Rail2, that sees the workforce ‘as an asset to be nurtured rather than a cost to be cut’. Our members also felt that the creation of GBR, as a single organisation with a unified workforce would also address the issues that have arisen due to privatisation with a multitude of operators with varying ethos’s, business models, pay and conditions frameworks and internal systems. An increased focus on retaining and promoting skills and experience throughout the railway, alongside clear career progression paths would support the development of an effective integrated transport network.
Our members also felt there needed to be much greater integration between different transport modes including the rollout of integrated ticketing. One of the Government’s goals for GBR is to be able to have control over timetabling, and we believe this should extend to coordinating rail services with other forms of public transport. This will significantly improve passenger experiences and support modal shift by streamlining public transport journeys.
2 https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GETTING-BRITAIN-MOVING-Labours-Plan-to-Fix-Britains-Railways.pdf
As well as multi-modal ticketing, our members felt that the rail fares system needs to be extensively simplified, with a nationally integrated rail fares structure under GBR that ensures that the full range of fares are available from ticket offices and that ticket office and other rail staff have the information and resources available to them to enable them to assist passengers with their bookings.
Members expressed support for expanding public transport in a number of ways including increasing rail services, reopening closed railway lines and reversing cuts to bus services that have been implemented in the past decade.
Members also felt that fragmentation has left much of the public transport inaccessible for many, with large parts of the rail network unstaffed at stations and on-trains, and a lack of a nationally integrated system for logging and monitoring both booked and un-booked passenger assistance.
In terms of ways in which technology and data could support the integration of transport, there were a number of suggestions from our members. Many focused on the need for improved and more efficient sharing of information and communication with frontline staff, and that this was particularly important in times of disruption and service alterations. Providing timely and accurate information to frontline staff assists them to adequately update passengers thus improving the passenger experience overall.
Members also felt that data and technology could improve the provision of assistance services to passengers. Currently, there is no universal system for logging and monitoring booked passenger assistance, and rolling this out across the railway would undoubtedly improve the experience of passengers. Furthermore, given that passengers also have a legal right to ‘turn up and go’ our members felt there should be a system that enables unbooked assistance to be logged, this should help streamline the process by providing all staff at both ends of a journey with the information they need to assist passengers and also identify where service improvements should be made, for instance, an increase in staff to ensure that passenger assistance can be delivered in a timely manner.
There was a strongly held view that data and technology should be used to assist, not replace, staff and that introducing new technologies is futile if the transport network is not properly staffed in the first place.
Overall, there was an overwhelming view shared by RMT members in that those responsible for designing and delivering public transport must listen to and act upon the views of the frontline public transport workers who know from first-hand experience where the failings in current systems and structures are and how these can be improved upon. We urge the Government to ensure that it does this.
Survey results
There were 3500 respondents to the survey. Of those, 79% were from the rail sector, 11% were from metro, 4% from bus, 3% from maritime, and the remaining were split between tram and light rail, road transport and logistics and taxi.
The majority (86%) of respondents work in England, 8% work in Scotland, 4% work in Wales and the remaining 2% work cross-border.
Two-thirds work in urban areas, 18% work in no fixed region, 7% in suburban areas and 9% in rural areas.
We conducted a thematic analysis of the responses to each question to provide a highlevel summary of the key themes identified, accompanied by a selection of comments exemplifying the range of views expressed by members.
Q - As a frontline worker, do you currently experience any challenges with the transport network that affect your ability to carry out your role?
In the survey 80% of respondents said they experience challenges with the transport sector which affect their ability to carry out their role.
Of those who responded ‘yes’ to the this question, the most commonly cited reasons were poor work-life balance (51%), followed by lack of investment (50%), poor and short-term work planning (48%) and fragmented operations (40%).
Comments included:
“Workingforoutsourcedcleaningcompany,withoutsomeofthebenefitsenjoyedbyrail companystaff”
“Lackofruralbusservices.Reductioninservices.Noongoingtrainingduetocost.No investmentinvehicles.20yearoldvehiclesonallservices.Neverenoughreplacements.”
“Privatecompanies(i.e.Trainline)sellingallmannerofticketslikeAdvance,Splitoff-peak forthewrongtrainssopassengershavetobuynewticketsonthetrain.”
“Investmentwouldaddressthemajorityoftheabovethoughaswouldhavebetter training,betterplanningwithmoreresources,bettertrainsetc”
“Principallyamassivelackofinvestment.Fromtheinfrastructurerightthroughtothe rollingstock,everyoneis‘fire-fighting’onadailybasistokeepthingsfunctioning”
“Alackofformalisedtrainingpreventscomprehensiveknowledgeoflocations,including inexperiencedstafftrainingnewstaff.Privatisationandoutsourcinggenerallyleadsto increasedcostsandlesserreliability.Apoorworklifebalance(7shiftsof8hr45mineach inarowfollowedbytworestdays,thenbacktowork)leadstoincreasedfatigueand excessivetiredness”
“Toomanynights,nochancetogetanyrealrest(annualleavefrequentlyrefused)”
“Iamanagencyworkerthatdoesnotgetthesametrainingandinclusionasapermanent staffmember.ImportantinformationthatshouldbegivendirectlytomycolleaguesandI cannotbegivendirectlyfromtheTOCwhichmeanssometimesouragencydoesn’tgetit tousontimeoratallsometimes!”
“Weareconstantlyunderstaffedwhichcausessicknessandstress.”
“Instancesofabusefrompassengers,ineffectivemanagement,moretimespenton trainingusinbrandawarenessthanimportantsafetyknowledgeandhowtoactuallydo
ourrole,outsourcing.”
“Lackofrefreshertraining,outsourcing,lackofinvestment,poorwork-lifebalance,and shorttermplanninginpeoplemanagementareallbigissues.”
“Nowork-lifebalance.Singleparentwithnoflexibleworkingorparttimeoptions.”
Q – What changes to the transport network, if any, would improve your ability to carry out your role?
The thematic analysis highlighted the following themes in response to this question: staffing and workforce, customer service, ticket pricing, transport infrastructure, safety and security, modernisation and maintenance, flexible working hours, integration of services, public ownership and service reliability.
Comments included:
“ImprovecommunicationbetweentheTOCsandNetworkRail.Attimesofdisruptionthe communicationanddecisionmakingisextremelypoorandwhatseemstheeasiestor obviousoptiontohelpthingsmovesmoothlyonthegroundarecompletelyignored.”
“Moreinvestmentininfrastructureandrollingstock.”
“Betterintegrationbetweenbusesandtrains.”
“Betterintegrationofmaintenanceoperationsandworksdelivery/assetmanagersto deliverbetterunderstandingofplansforfutureworks.”
“Theticketingsystemneedstobechangedasit’stooconfusingforpassengers,modern trainsandmorecommunicationbetweencontrolroomsandfrontlinestaff.”
“Tohaveeverythingunderoneumbrellasotheissuesdon’tgetpassedonfromevery company,andtoreinvestinourtrains.”
“Morestafftoworkwith,loneworkingisdangerous.”
“Wouldliketoseeallpublictransportrenationalised.Forthepeoplenotthegreedofthe privatesector.”
“Betterintegrationwithallmodesoftransport.”
“Lotsofinfrastructureequipmentisattheendofitsserviceablelifewithalackofspare partsonlycompoundingtheproblem.Renewalcan’tcomequicklyenough.”
“Morestaff.”
“Alongtermstrategyforthewholenetworkwithtargetedimprovementandsignificant investinacrumblinginfrastructure.”
“Morebusesinruralareasconnectingtownsandvillagestorailwaystationsinan
integratedmanner.”
“BringoutsourcedworkersintotheGBRfamily.”
“Morejoinedupthinking.Everythingisfartoofragmented.”
“Simplifiedaswellasintegratedticketingavailablefromnon-digitalfacilitiesi.e.booking offices”
Q – In your opinion, how could the transport network be better ‘joined up’?
The thematic analysis highlighted: passenger experience, ticketing simplification, railway nationalisation, transport network connectivity, infrastructure investment, regional transport development, public transport integration, transport management, public ownership and privatisation effects.
Comments included:
“Integratedtimetablingacrossrailandbusnetwork.”
“Systemsneedtobelinkedtogethersowecanhaveaccesstoknowledgeofwhat’sgoing on, onthenetworkinrealtime.Ifthisalreadyexists, thenweneedaccesstoitand trainingonhowtouseitproperly.”
“Integratedfares.Collaborationwithtimesofserviceandsimplerticketing.”
“Bringallmasspublictransportintothepublicsector.Andrunitasapublicservicefor passengersnotshareholders.”
“Schedulingshouldworktogethersothatinterchangesaremoreeffective.”
“Everyoneworkingtogether,providingupdateswhenthere’sbeenmajordisruption,sowe cangiveupdatestostaffandpassengers.”
“Bettercommunicationbetweendepartmentsfordelays,cancellationsand repair/maintenanceoftracks,stationsandrollingstock.”
“Asimplerlineofownershipandmoneysavingfrombringingeverythingback‘in-house’ ratherthanrelyingoncontractors.”
“EliminatingTOCspecificticketsandsimplifyingtherailcardandtimerequirements.”
“Allunderthesameumbrellawithjoinedupwaysofworking.Weshouldprovidea consistentlevelofserviceacrossanyrailsystemwiththesamelevelsoftraining,payand benefits.Weshouldallfeelinittogetherandcareabouteveryrailservice.”
“Thetransportnetworkcanalsobebetter‘joinedup’ifmanymorelinesthatwereclosed inthe60sand70sweretoreopen.Therearesomanylinesthatcouldbereinstated. Duringsowouldbothcreatemanymorejobs,andreconnectmanycommunities,someof
whichareverydeprived.Inareaswhereitisn’tpossibletohavearailline,bustimesneed toconnectmuchbetterwithrailservices.”
“Integratedticketingthatworksbetweendifferentmodesoftransport”
“Aonestopshopforinformation/integratedticketsetc.”
Q – How could data be used to improve the transport network?
The thematic analysis highlighted: passenger information systems, communication and transparency, digital and mobile applications, real-time travel updates, ticket pricing and options, transport network integration, transport capacity and congestion, public transport reliability, infrastructure and maintenance and passenger assistance services.
Comments included:
“Provideup-to-datereliableinformationwhenincidentshappen,keepfrontlinestaff informedsothattheycankeeppassengersinformed,providereliableup-to-date informationonwebsites,sopassengerscanmakealternativearrangementsifnecessary.”
“Morelivedata,betterinternetconnectivity.”
“Provideclearerinformationforpassengersaboutwhereatrainwillstoponaplatform andwhichcoacheswillhavethemostavailablespace.”
“Alternativeroutesavailabletopassengersduringdisruption.”
“Informationneedstobesharedwiththeguardswhentrainsaredelayedandthenstops arecancelled.Customersknowbeforestaff.Wealsoneedinformationtohandsowecan helpwithongoingjourneyquestions.Currentlyweusepublicappsandexternalwebsites.”
“Givebetterinformationwhenthereareclosuresorplannedengineeringworks.”
“Ifthedataisanalysed,itwillbefoundthattheissueswehaveinthenetworkwhich causesdelaysaremoreoftenhappeninginthesameareasoverandover.Andobviously, stickingaplasteronitisnotworking.Repairsandmaintenanceonthenetworkneedsto bedoneproperlyinsteadofthecheapestway.”
“Lotsofdatadoesn’tnecessarilymeanabetterunderstandingofcustomerorstaffneeds. Managersneedtoengagemorewiththosewhohave‘bootsontheground’andnotjust listenbutalsolearnfromtheirfrontlineexperience.”
“Accuratelyrecordingpassengernumbers.Completelyoverhaulingnationwideticket pricing.Completelyoverhaulingthemethods/agentssellingtickets.”
“Datacouldbeusedtoseewheretrainsaremorelikelytopickupdelaysandthecauses, aswellasraisingcustomersatisfactionbygivingmoredetailandinformationto customers.”
“Firstly,itneedstobetestedproperlyandmakesureitworksforwhatitismeanttodo. Allforgivingpeopleasmuchinformation,howeverithastoworkproperly.Aprime exampleofthisistrainapps.Thenumberoftimescustomershavemissedtrainsdueto theappsgivingthewronginformationlikeplatformnumbersisimmense.Therightarm doesn’tseemtoknowwhattheleftarmisdoing.”
Q – How could technology be used to improve the transport network?
The thematic analysis highlighted the following issues: railway infrastructure, technology integration in transport, customer service in transport, ticketing and fares, passenger information systems, transport network improvements, public transport safety, public transport accessibility, journey planning and apps and traffic and congestion management.
Comments included:
“Aimtoimprovetransportratherthanasameanstoreduceworkforcenumbers.Thecost oftechnologyalsoneedstobereduced.”
“Morebarriersatstationstoensurepeoplehavetickets.Softwaretopreventpeoplegoing throughbarrierswithincorrecttickets.”
“Havinganintegratedsystemforpassengerassistancebookingscouldbecomemore universalandbridgethegapbetweendifferentmodesoftransportwhichwouldincrease accessibility.Itwouldalsobegoodtoutilisetechnologywhichcanrecordactualseated passengernumbersineachservicetoallowformorespecificdatacollection.”
“Pointlesswithoutproperstaffinglevels.”
“Usedandimplementedtoassiststaff…notreplacethem.”
Q – How, if at all, would you improve the way that decisions are made about the transport network?
The thematic analysis highlighted: operational challenges in transport, infrastructure and maintenance, staff consultation and involvement, management and leadership issues, transport network efficiency, public transport improvements, Government and policy impact, customer satisfaction and feedback, union and worker relations and nationalisation of transport.
Comments included:
“Moreplanningforthelongterm.”
“Involvethestaff‘ontheground’moreindecisionmakingastheyaretheoneshatsee andcomeacrossmostofthedailydifficultiesandchallenges.”
“Makesureworkers,customersandpassengersareproperlyconsultedandlistenedto. Notbeingaskedquestionsorconsultedandthenbeingignored.”
“Enhancedcommunicationwithfrontlinestaffisnecessarytogainacomprehensive understandingoflocalchallenges.”
“Promoteandtrainpeoplefromthebottom.Understandtherailindustryfromastarting discipline.Train,learnandexperience.”
“I’dliketoseechangecomingfromworkerswithintheindustry,withtheunionsbeing consultedinsteadofmanagerswhohavecomeinfromentirelydifferentindustries.The unionshaveagoodideaofhowtheindustryworksandwhattheneedsoftheworkforce are,they’vealreadygatheredinformationandshouldbeutilisedbymanagersasauseful resourceinsteadofastoneintheshowtobedismissedandmocked.”
“Shouldhavemoreexperiencedindustryprofessionalsrunningprojectsandhavinginput intodiscussionsaswellasmanagementwithactualworkingknowledgeoftheindustry.”
“Thedecisionsaremadeasifthetransportnetworkisabusinessratherthanaservice. Underspendingatthefrontlineshouldnotberewardedbybonuses.”
Q – Any other comments?
The thematic analysis highlighted: staffing and workforce, transport infrastructure, service reliability, public ownership, ticketing and pricing, investment needs, safety and security, work-life balance, modernisation efforts, privatisation concerns.
Comments included:
“Thewaytherailwayisgoingtochangeundergovernmentownershipneedstochange andbemoretransparent.Communicationwillbeincrediblyimportant.Thechanges attemptedduringmodernisingmaintenancewereproblematicandverypoorly communicatedanddelivered.Weneedtohavelearnedourlessonsfromthis.”
“Reducefareevasionsothatrevenuegoesbackintothesystemthereforegreatly improvingourtransportsystem.”
“Publictransportwasneverasustainable‘business’itisapublicservice,thesystem shouldn’tgenerateprofitsitshouldimprovetheservicewherebytheserviceusersbenefit andthereforeincreaseoverallproductivity.”
“Itisunfortunatethatinthe21stcentury,westillhavesomuchofthenetworknot accessibletoeverybody.”
“Privatisationofourrailwayshasbeenanunmitigateddisaster.Lackofinvestmentinkey areashasbeendetrimentaltoourinfrastructure.I’veneverknownsomanyongoing faults.ThesituationwhereIworkischronic.”
“Bringrollingstockintopublicownership.”
“Ibelievebetterthroughticketingbetweenbusandrailisabsolutelyvital,withproper integratedtimetablestoallowforconvenientthroughtraffic.Wealsodesperatelyneed morerollingstocktoaccommodatepassengers,whofacefrequentovercrowding.”
“Oncetherailwaysarebackinpublicownership,wehaveabrilliantopportunityto reinstatethenetworkasBritain’sbackbone,tomaketravelmoreaffordableforall.”