ScotRail chief Joanne Maguire reveals cause of chaotic new app launch
Nearly 4,000 complaints after travellers unable to log on or access tickets
The faulty new ScotRail app caused passengers "significant frustration" due to the firm behind it making changes 24 hours before the launch, the train operator told MSPs on Wednesday.
Managing director Joanne Maguire admitted the introduction in July, which triggered early 4,000 complaints, had “not been good enough” and ScotRail had “let our passengers down”.
Ms Maguire told the Scottish Parliament’s transport committee she was “acutely aware” of the damage it had caused to ScotRail’s reputation, which has been acknowledged by First Minister John Swinney, as The Scotsman revealed on Saturday.
She said: “We know that we need to rebuild our passengers’ confidence. We are absolutely committed to putting things right.
“We are working each day to ensure that we reach a point of stability.”
Ms Maguire admitted problems with the app remained, such as passengers contacting ScotRail on Wednesday unable to access their Fleixpass tickets.
Committee convener Willie Rennie told her: “This has been utterly chaotic. It’s knocking confidence in the company significantly.
“I see people having problems almost every day when I travel.”
Hannah Ross, chief executive of Scottish Rail Holdings, which oversees nationalised ScotRail for the Scottish Government, told the committee: “It has been really disappointing to see the service’s reputation take a hit.”
Mr Swinney is understood to be “pretty frustrated” with the problems, which he regards as “really not acceptable”.
He said: “Updating an app should be a straightforward affair. No doubt, it has caused damage to ScotRail’s reputation. It needs to be resolved quickly.”
Ms Maguire said the new app, which has been downloaded 800,000 times, had initially caused users “significant challenges” attempting to log-on with further problems over six other days. Its launch coincided with ScotRail’s busiest period for four years.
She said the app provider SilverRail had only told ScotRail of changes it made a day before the launch on July 30.
She said: At very short notice, SilverRail made changes to the operating system. It was going well until 24 hours before [launch].
Ms Maguire said she had expressed her “concern and dissatisfaction” to the company’s chief commercial officer [Cameron Jones].
She said ScotRail was having multiple daily meetings from 7am with SilverRail staff, who were now based in ScotRail’s Glasgow offices at ScotRail’s request, in an attempt to resolve the remaining faults.
Ms Maguire was unable to tell MSPs how many complaints had been received, but said it had “not increased significantly” above 3,000.
ScotRail later admitted the total had increased to nearly 4,000.
She said: “We will forensically examine what happened and determine what could have been done differently.”
Ms Maguire said ScotRail had been unable to have a “soft launch” of the new app while keeping its previous app operating because of restrictions in the contract for the latter, which had been agreed by ScotRail’s former operator Abellio.
She also admitted that despite SilverRail being the only one of five bids to be compliant, ScotRail still signed an £83 million contract with the firm.
The operator decided against seeking to renew the previous app contract, with Trainline, because it was unable to provide extra services such as station and train retailing systems which ScotRail wanted.
ScotRail plans to add extra features to the new app, such as passengers being able to book assistance, and disruption notifications.
Ms Maguire said SilverRail had assured ScotRail it had learned from the problems with the apps it provided for train operators South Western Railway and Great Western Railway in England and made improvements.
A SilverRail spokesperson said: “Passengers rightly expect a smooth experience, and we regret that this launch fell short of that.
“We have teams working side by side with ScotRail every day to close out the remaining issues, and we’re committed to ensuring every customer's ticketing and journey needs are properly met.”
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