South West Trains Launch Mobile Website to Improve Passenger Information

LONDON, December 5, 2011 -

• New mobile website now available, packed with useful information
• Journey check email alerts tailored to individual needs
• Part of overall package to improve passenger information

South West Trains has today, Monday 5^th December, launched a mobile browsing site to make it easier and quicker for passengers on the move to access the latest information. The scheme is part of a wider strategy to improve passenger communication, which has also recently included the launch of a dedicated Twitter @SW_Trains feed and Journey Check Alerts.

The new mobile site can be easily accessed on smartphones and gives passengers a quick and easy way to check train times (with Journey Planner and live train information), station information (including a map to show how to get there), travel news, information about how to get in touch and all the latest offers.

To complement the new mobile website, South West Trains has also introduced a personalised email alert to communicate any disruption directly and quickly to passengers. Journey Check Alerts is a facility which advises passengers on whether their regular train is likely to be disrupted. Commuters can register online and choose a combination of time and locations to receive personalised alerts and follow up.

Jake Kelly, Customer Service Director for South West Trains, said: “We know that more and more of our passengers are using their mobile phones to access real time information on our services, and also to use sites like Twitter to stay in touch with us. So we wanted to make it as straightforward for them as possible, and developed the mobile site designed for people on the move.”

South West Trains also announced earlier this autumn the deployment of BlackBerrys to 850 employees to ensure that its front line staff have access to accurate and up-to-date information.

Journey Check Alert: Register online

www.journeycheck.southwesttrains.co.uk

Mobile website features:

• Plan your journey with the journey planner
• Get live travel information such as disruptions, departure & arrival times and Tube info
• View timetables specifically designed to fit mobile phone screens
• View South West Trains current offers, promotions
• Get practical station information such as car parking, train ticket office opening times
• Get information about current and forthcoming engineering works

Notes to Editors

• South West Trains won the Operator of the Year 2011 Award at the National Rail Award.
• Stagecoach Group is a leading international public transport group, with extensive operations in the UK, United States and Canada. The company employs around 35,000 people, and operates bus, coach, rail, and tram services.
• Stagecoach is one of UK’s biggest bus and coach operators. Around 2.5 million passengers travel on Stagecoach’s 8,400 buses every day on a network stretching from south-west England to the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. The company’s business includes major city bus operations in London, Liverpool, Newcastle, Hull, Manchester, Oxford, Sheffield and Cambridge.
• Stagecoach is a major UK rail operator, running the South West Trains, Island Line and East Midlands Trains networks. It has a 49% shareholding in Virgin Rail Group, which operates the West Coast inter-city rail franchise.
• Stagecoach is also running Sheffield tram.

For media enquiries please contact: Stagecoach Group Communications on +44(0)17-38-442-111 or email: media@stagecoachgroup.com 

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