Southeastern unveils accessibility improvements to app and online journey planner

Southeastern has launched a series of upgrades to its app and online journey planner to make it easier for customers to plan accessible journeys.

As one of the country’s biggest and busiest rail operators, providing more than 1,700 services and up to half a million journeys every weekday, Southeastern is committed to making travelling by train easy for everyone.

This includes supporting customers who require additional support when travelling across the network.

The new features include a Passenger Assistance booking tool, which is integrated with the journey planner, and can be used to request help with getting on and off the train and navigating through stations. Bookings can be made on our app and online up to two hours before departure.

A new Step Free Journey Planner also allows customers to plan their journey by using only step-free stations and interchanges.

Tina Owusu, Southeastern’s Head of Inclusive Customer Experience, said: “We know travelling by train can be daunting to some customers, particularly if they have accessibility requirements. These improvements will make sure the railway is open and accessible to all and is part of our wider plans to build a better, more reliable and sustainable railway.

“We hope these upgrades will make it easier for customers across south-east London, Kent and East Sussex to travel with us and we look forward to welcoming more customers onboard in the future.”

A recent independent survey of customers across the country who had used Passenger Assistance found Southeastern was the best in the industry across several areas, including how well your needs were understood (82%), staff being knowledgeable (82%), receiving the expected assistance (87%) and overall satisfaction (98%).

Accessibility Consultant and Paralympian Andy Barrow added: “As an end-user as well as a consultant, I have always found the Southeastern app quick and easy to use when I choose to book assistance ahead of a journey.

“The recent addition of the Step Free Journey Planner means I have instant access to detailed station information within the app and peace of mind that I’ll be able to complete my journey, even if I’m unfamiliar with the station that I’m travelling to.

“Disabled people have busy lives, so having readily available information to enable them to quickly determine the level of assistance they require for any given journey is an important step.”

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