As part of our "Official Supporter" package, a number of further promotional activities are planned throughout the year.

No advance warning will be given from 15 March 2008

Merseyrail has enforced the national railway byelaws since February 2007 to tackle anti-social behaviour such as putting feet on seats in response to passengers feed back on this issue.

From a peak of over 300 incidents per month in Spring 2007, the number of incidents where someone has been cautioned for a breach of the byelaws has fallen to around 30 per month now; a ten-fold reduction.

A highly visible presence together with posters and public announcements have created a high level of awareness amongst passengers that Merseyrail does not tolerate anti-social behaviour.

In order to target a small minority of passengers who have not changed their behaviour, Merseyrail has decided that from 15 March 2008, no advance warning will be given when byelaw enforcement officers board a train. From that date, anyone found to be in breach of the railway byelaws may be prosecuted without prior warning.

During the course of the recent “have your say” sessions at the end of October, we have received some 100 comment forms back. Where people have provided us with contact details, we have followed these comments up individually. It isn’t always possible to make immediate changes on the basis of these comments but they are all logged and are very useful as input for our day-to-day running of Merseyrail. Some suggestions are out of Merseyrail’s control but, wherever possible, we will take account of these comments to improve our service.

Below is an overview of the kind of issues raised:

Out of the 100 comment forms, 35 concerned Train Service Performance related issues, delays cancellations etc. 4 of these expressed general dissatisfaction with Merseyrail’s performance; 3 concerned problems with replacement buses — the extended journeys and lack of express services; 5 were requests for more trains, trains later at night or earlier in the morning, with one asking for an extension of Merseyrail from Bidston to give a direct line to Heswall. The remaining 23 all expressed concern at overcrowding and lack of six-car services.

Ms M commented: “Biggest gripe is not enough carriages for commuters getting to work and home. Fed up of having to stand on train and not getting any younger!”

28 of the comments were concerned with Information, with many of them connected to recent difficulties on the network. 12 were requests for more information during disruption. 2 mentioned that we should use our website more to provide information; 7 felt that we should make better use of local radio and TV to pass on information; 2 felt that the quality of tannoy announcements needed improving; 5 emphasised the role that staff have to play in advising customers about disruption and how we need to ensure that they are in a position to do so.

17 of the forms referred to Station Quality issues. 6 concerned queuing levels; 3 concerned car parking facilities; 5 commented on the poor standard of toilet facilities or lack of them; 2 complained about escalators not working and 1 about general station facilities.

Safetyissues accounted for 6 of the comment forms with 4 commenting about anti social behaviour, 1 complaining about the feet on seats byelaw enforcement and 1 saying that our management of crowds on stations was poor.

3of the comment forms were related to Staff issues —suggesting that the attitude of our security staff and police officers is unreasonable and results in them picking on innocent passengers.

4concerned Fares and Retail issues, 2 asking for better deals on railcards and season tickets; 1 asking for station staff to check tickets and 1 commenting upon the slowness of our ticket issuing system.

Mr S of Bury suggested “ A carnet of ten/twenty tickets would be very useful, rather than season tickets.”

1comment concerned Train Quality issues:

“In Asian countries you are given a plastic bag for your umbrella to keep the trains dry. This helps with risk management.” Ms G of Southport

2comments were enquiries about season ticket boundaries and carrying fold up bicycles on trains.

4comments were commendations:

“No need to apologise. You run a far better service than Transport for London.” Mr D

“I have been using Merseyrail for just a month since moving from London. So far I have been impressed by the punctuality and cleanliness of the trains and I have always had a seat for the entire journey. Much better than London Underground!” Ms W of Neston.

On 20^th July, Councillor Mark Dowd OBE, Chairman of Merseytravel and Patrick Verwer cut the ribbon at Hamilton Square and after taking guest (including many Merseyrail staff who have been involved in the project) on the train for the short hop to Moorfields, also at Old Hall Street to officially open our first two MtoGo shops. MtoGo is unique in the UK as an integrated ticket office and convenience shop. Unlike other shops at UK railways stations, MtoGo is not a franchise operation but an integral part of Merseyrail’s station organisation staffed with Merseyrail’s own staff. MtoGo combines the sale of the full range of Merseyrail and national rail tickets with the sale of foods and other items specifically aimed at busy commuters in a hurry.

Another MtoGo shop is now open at Southport. Depending on the experiences with the first three shops, it is planned that further MtoGo shops will be opened at Merseyrail’s stations in due course.

MtoGo is an important element in improving the general facilities at Merseyrail stations as we know that our customers expect more from their station environment than we currently offer. MtoGo will help to bring our stations up to the standards that passengers expect in other areas of their daily lives. After all, we want Merseyrail to be “more than just a journey”.

Patrick Verwer, Managing Director of Merseyrail said: "M to Go has improved Moorfields enormously and has brought it up to the standards that passengers expect in other areas of their daily lives. A lot of customers now pop into M to Go as part of their regular journey with Merseyrail. Stations are an important part of any rail journey and customers deserve station facilities that make travelling on Merseyrail more than just a journey”.