Rail franchise performance meeting minutes - 11 October 2018

Attendees

• Allan Anderson (AA) Transport Scotland
• Donald Smith (DS) Transport Scotland
• Calum Campbell (CC) Transport Scotland
• Nicola Dawson (ND) ScotRail
• Apologies: Sarah Aitken (SA) Transport Scotland
• Sam Price (SP) ScotRail

1) Minutes of Previous Meeting

Both parties confirmed they were content with the previous minute.

2) Actions Arising from Previous Meeting

91/17/FM, Human Resources

SR clarified that many HR CO’s are awaiting the revised HR strategy being aligned with the business strategy. SP will speak to John Gillies about this issue. – Paula Somerville has responded to SR and comments now lie with SR for action – Action On-going.

95/17/FM

SP highlighted that SR need to report back to TS on KPI’s, such as Off-Peak Patronage, and suggested that these be monitored through the Franchise Performance report going forward. – No update – Action On-going.

05/18/FM

It was noted that ‘Unknown Cause’ is the second largest reason for Delay Repay claims. SR will clarify. – ND informed that a lag period in the system caused the production of this. Going forward, SR expect the “Unknown Cause” numbers to decrease – Action Closed.

09/18/FM, Commercial, CO 34.7, New Homes Marketing Initiative (£50k for free one month season ticket)

SP will ask JL to provide an update. – DS reported that Kathryn Mackay provided an update on this at the recent TIG meeting – Action Closed.

22/18/FM, Marketing & Sales

AA highlighted that the 9.6% Smart figure in the report is incorrect as at a previous meeting with Riz Wahid, TS were made aware that there was an issue with the Rambus calculations. SR will take this away to clarify and will provide TS with an explanation. – SR provided explanation through smart forums – Action Closed.

32/18/FM, Communications

AA asked if feedback had been received on the Glasgow/Edinburgh festivals radio campaign. SP commented that overall had gone very well. SP to investigate if feedback received. – Action On-going.

3) Franchise Variations and Changes

Both parties are comfortable that this is up-to-date.

4) Franchise Performance and Planning

Performance

• ScotRail PPM for Period 6 was 91.6%, which was 2.5% worse than last year.
• The PPM MAA dropped by 0.21% and now stands at 88.18% against a Franchise Agreement target of 92.18%.
• AA noted that both asset and fleet reliability (in terms of asset failures and MTINs) achieved target in the period and that the Glasgow Delivery Unit achieved its internal target for PPM failures due with the additional £5m being spent on “the Glasgow Plan” contributing to this
• AA highlighted that Nick Donovan delivered a report on the progress of the recommendations to the SR board and so it is evident this remains a focus.
• The period Cancellation figure came in at 0.70% which is the best result in the past year. TS noted this position.
• The percentage of seats not provided in Period 6 was 0.40%. The MAA is now 0.49% which is well below target of 1.0%. TS asked SR for assurance that the appropriate Donovan recommendations to tackle problem areas are being actioned as quickly as possible. SR will provide. AP – SR

Planning

• AA reported that he attended a RiR variation meeting with Scott Prentice. It was discussed that December ’18 will deliver a number of good service improvements such as:
  • Extended Edinburgh to Arbroath providing close to hourly local service for Broughty Ferry, Monifieth and Carnoustie.
  • Five additional Inverness to Elgin return services giving close to hourly all day service for Nairn, Forres and Elgin.
  • Class 385s on all E&G services (7 cars)
• It was noted that May ’19 will then deliver further service improvements such as:
  • Class 385s on all Edinburgh to Dunblane services (4 cars)
  • Class 385s on all Glasgow to Alloa and Dunblane services (6 cars)
  • Class 380 and 385 operation on Edinburgh to Glasgow via Shotts service (3 cars)
  • Most East Kilbride peak services increased from 4 to 6 car
  • Some Barrhead peak services increased from 2 to 4 car
• In full, RiR will deliver a substantial increase in services and seats.

5) Revenue Collection

• SR reported that the new Customer Operations organisation was launched, providing a more robust revenue protection and better customer service. DS noted that anything that improves customer service is to be welcomed.
• SR have been proactively promoting ‘Buy Before You Board’ in an effort to alleviate the pressure of increased footfall during peak times.
• TS noted and welcomed that SR are using revenue protection intelligence to inform recalibrated staff rosters, designed to free up excess staff to conduct spot barriers.
• SR informed that they continue to support Community Wardens, BTP and Local Authorities with on-going anti-social behaviour exercises. DS queried if there are currently any particular problem areas and requested further information within the reporting pack of ongoing initiatives. ND will check. AP – SR
• AA advised BTP secondee at TS is gathering intelligence on hotspots with the aim of setting up a working group.
• AA gave thanks to SR for continue to include percentages in the Schedule 13.2 – B report.

6) Rolling Stock

• It was discussed that the first HST service will take place on Monday 15th October. A comms plan has been agreed and a press event took place yesterday (10/10/18). Issues of the refurbished and classic units were noted.
• Regarding class 385s, SR reported that a resolution has been found which is currently being worked through and tested.
• Fleet MTIN Performance was 9% better than plan, while Fleet PPMf Failures were 5% better than plan. Overall, the SR fleet was better than plan for MTIN performance in Period 6 by 1,129 miles per technical incident, and better than PPMF target by 36PPMF. AA noted that these MTIN figures are encouraging.

7) Financial Obligations and Undertakings

• Discussing SR Complaints per 100k Journeys, TS noted that the last two consecutive periods reported this as 36.7. ND to confirm this figure and report back. AP – SR
• Regarding Uncovered Turns and Trains, 99.42% of passenger services in the timetable were covered for Period 6.

8) SQUIRE/Service Delivery Performance

• TS suggested they will invite Alan Wardlaw to the next meeting. AP – TS
• It was highlighted that station toilets is an area where Period 6 results show an improvement. This action plan has now successfully achieved above floor for two consecutive periods.
• AA noted that penalties are certainly down from Period 4 and, although slightly up from Period 5, the general trend appears to be going down, showing that SQUIRE is working.

9) Franchise Obligations Overview

It was noted that this is being handled out-with the forum.

10) Communications

• ND confirmed that there is a financial incentive involved in the planned door drop campaign to promote travel from Motherwell, Hamilton Central, Hamilton West to Glasgow and, Kirkcaldy and Dunfermline into Edinburgh.
• The Mobile App was downloaded 22,152 times during Period 6. AA noted that this was a remarkable figure.
• This Period saw 8.1% of all passenger journeys being made on ITSO Smartmedia, an aggregate of 7.4% of passenger journeys for the year to date.
• AA acknowledged and welcomed the amount of partnership and collaboration SR continue to partake in.
• Concerning the HR training days breakdown provided by SR, DS highlighted that the Year to Date figure had dropped suggesting a breakdown in the formula. ND will report and update. AP – SR

11) AOB

• AA raised that TS had six Force Majeure claims from SR. As requested, TS have received further information on three of these however are not minded to support the claims. TS asked for assurance that benchmarks have not been amended or adjusted accordingly as these have not been accepted. TS await further information on the remaining three claims before coming to a conclusion.
• AA noted that once the flowchart being created by TS is finalised, this will be shared with SR to make the process more clear for both parties going forward.