To find out the real needs of passengers at our stations and other stakeholders, we have developed a structured listening tool to evaluate perceived quality and monitor the quality we offer.

Our listening and monitoring processes

To improve the services offered and guide business decisions, RFI constantly monitors the opinions, needs and desires of its current and potential direct and indirect customers and other stakeholders through structured listening and monitoring processes. Processes devoted to passenger affairs of particular relevance include:

1. round tables, in particular with associations representing consumers and people with disabilities. Developed in plenary and sector meetings also based on the initiatives promoted by the FS Italiane Holding Company, direct discussion of corporate activities with end customers is now consolidated by RFI as a fundamental instrument for understanding the needs of the public and for participating in defining actions to improve the services offered, including those to be carried out in cooperation with the Associations themselves;

2. analysis of claims and reports from the public on the services and activities falling within RFI's sphere of competence that are received both through the Railway Undertakings, to which passengers normally resort for all travel-related issues, and through the special RFI responds web service, online at www.rfi.it. Managed with the support of a dedicated computer system, claims and reports are a valuable source of information on the needs, discontent and preferences of the public which, supplemented by those from other sources, are used to define action plans for the resolution of critical issues and the continuous improvement of services;

3. customer satisfaction surveys to survey the quality of the station spaces and services conducted on a monthly basis through face-to-face interviews with departing passengers. The surveys, which are one of the most extensive customer surveys in Italy, have been carried out for more than 15 years by the RFI Market Observatory (OdM) through companies selected through a European tender, such as the RTI Scenari-Doxa, which is currently active.
The interviews are carried out using the C.A.P.I. (Computer Assisted Personal Interview) technique with questionnaires that include both pre-coded answers, allowing passengers to express their level of satisfaction/dissatisfaction with the various features of the station and the services offered with a “score” from 1 to 9, and “open” answers, to gather suggestions on areas for improvement from the interviewee. The questionnaire - periodically optimised so as to ensure greater “density” of information for RFI and increased user-friendliness for respondents, and in recent years supplemented with questions on the mobility trends of respondents - is structured to detect the trend of more than 60 indicators of perceived quality, the most representative of which are presented in the Service Charter together with the objectives set for the year in question and the results achieved in the previous year. The performance of all indicators - including those relating to assistance to persons with disabilities and reduced mobility detected through a dedicated survey - is made available to company management and all station operators both for immediate follow-up of any critical issues that emerge and as input for subsequent improvement actions, planning or sizing of specific project or management solutions, and strategic choices and settings. Also instrumental to strategically important choices are ad hoc surveys carried out by the OdM for specific fact-finding needs, preferences, opinions and expectations of stakeholders with respect to strategic, management and investment projects, and to support the sustainability analysis framework.

RFI customer satisfaction surveys scheduled for 2022
Target universe ►The more than 2,000 RFI stations with active passenger services (both managed directly and through GS Rail  
►Passengers boarded at network stations (~1.4 bn in 2019)*  
Total sample (**) ►The 760 busiest stations, those that alone collect almost 94% of the total passengers  
►~183,000 interviews/year with passengers over the age of 14, to survey perceived quality  
* 2019 data
** the analyses are structured in such a way as to offer a complete overview of the station sample on a quarterly basis
 

4. monitoring of corporate business processes and asset conditions conducted internally by appropriate company figures and/or externally by third parties such as public authorities and accredited bodies to verify compliance with the set standards and to define improvement plans and actions. Internal monitoring is carried out according to formalised procedures, included in RFI’s “Internal Control and Risk Management System”, consistent with company rules and regulations, which are also subject to verification by the company’s Internal Auditing function.

RFI’s specialised personnel from the territorial offices carry out on-site inspections of the cleanliness, decorum and maintenance in all of the more than 2,000 stations with active passenger services, either periodically, according to pre-established intervals, or on the basis of information provided by users or personnel. Supported by the computerised management system, the checks are part of a broader control and improvement process, on both company and provider services.