Govia is leading the way as a transport company embracing social media.
Twitter and Facebook are widely used across our rail companies to keep passengers updated with service-running information and latest product and ticket offers. Social media platforms also enable our passengers to exchange information and views about our services.
London Midland (@LondonMidland) even won the prestigious Putting Passengers First National Rail Award for using Twitter to communicate with customers. To date, London Midland has sent over 208,000 tweets – more than any other train company in the world – and has over 51,000 followers. And London Midland also ranks top out of all UK train companies in the Twitter Engagement Index which looks at levels of customer service delivered through rail company Twitter accounts. Gatwick Express (@GatwickExpress) and Southern (@SouthernRailUK) are ranked fourth and fifth respectively. Southeastern also uses twitter to good effect and, as operator of the Javelin service for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, saw high-profile sports people tweeting praise for the Games’ transport service.
Govia’s businesses have also identified ways of using social media to interact with staff, many of whom use Twitter and Facebook in their daily lives. Southeastern for example, has a dedicated business and social network for its 3.800 employees: “Workmate”.
