A new data-driven strategy to grow annual customer journeys has been revealed by Northern.
They have a new ’30 by 30′ plan to see 30 million journeys by the end of the decade.
They aim to achieve long-term growth by enhancing performance and simplifying travel, while maintaining sustainability.
They have built the plan around three pillars, including aiming to have 10 million additional journeys made through organic passenger growth, 10 million through performance improvements, and the last 10 million from a range of initiatives, such as Pay As You Go ticketing.
Northern has been tracking passenger numbers and performance, and the numbers have a strong momentum, having customer satisfaction above average and record post-COVID journey numbers.
The new plan aligns with broader industry goals and is actively shaping its own innovative path to achieve these objectives.
“Our vision for 30 by 30 is rooted in confidence and user research.
“Our data shows that the demand for rail travel is greater than ever, and with improved performance, better value and greater convenience, we can make rail the natural choice for even more people and how they travel across the North.
“This is a growth plan with purpose. It is customer-led, and we aim to deliver it alongside our stakeholder partners. It aligns closely with local ambitions, the region’s economic goals and national transport strategy.”
Alex Hornby, Commercial and Customer Director for Northern
Responses
Northern now owned by the government may not exist in it’s current format by 2030, GBR ‘should’ be running a more connected rail network with less trains competing against one another and trains running at better frequencies.
Northern had suffered from trying to run a railway system where they actually rely on staff’s goodwill, working overtime as a norm and when I few drivers can’t work overtime due to commitments outside of normal hours then problems start and trains get cancelled.
There is a limit to how many passengers can be carried on a train service and witnessed first hand how trains can be overcrowded (tin of sardines comes to mind), this is especially a major problem around bigger towns and cities and can be overcome by longer trains and higher frequency or trains, both of these are problematic as stations have been shorted and there is a finite number of trains that can run at a given time.
The demise of railways in the late 60’s and the use of personal transport has changed how we build places of work and homes, which have now mirgrated away from the old model of factories build next to railways and alongside terrace street to out of town industrial estates, along with out of town shopping and housing.
A case in point locally was a large multinational company moved to a new greenfield site, with the promise of a new station being built, along with the new large industrial estate being served by two well connected bus services, so to save paving all over the land earmarked for expansion a smaller carpark was made, the station got cancelled and the two bus services was reduced to one, that ran infrequently and now parking is a nightmare.
Maybe a modal shift to town planning and integrated local travel planning may help in the long term by 30 by 30 won’t happen, maybe 15 by 45.
perhaps if Northern did not cancel so many trains they might be able to do 30 by 30
I suppose they could cram more people into trains due to cancelled ones