On Train Mobile Connectivity Benefits

To undertake research and recommend to the Department for Transport valuations for internet access and voice reception on trains that:

Are derived from primary research that includes a survey. While we expect that the research is likely to be a form of stated preference survey exercise, we are willing to consider proposals based on other methods as long as they use some form of survey to answer our questions. The suppliers’ innovative ideas in terms of survey design, completion method(s)and survey questions are encouraged, though online access panels should be excluded as a recruitment method for the research.

Are disaggregated by the performance of the internet access and by the quality of voice reception. A definition of some standard of differentiated internet access performance and differentiated quality of voice services will need to be agreed. These variable qualities should be tested against each other so that we can use marginal valuations of the benefit of going from lower to higher standards; and

Are disaggregated by any key variables which are important to the valuations. We would expect the researcher to test different potential disaggregation factors such as journey purpose, geography, overcrowding, time of day, trip length, etc. and use this disaggregation to report recommended disaggregation’s, as substantiated by these tests.

Are cross-checked against revealed preference evidence of how much people are prepared to pay for Wi-Fi access.

Provide qualitative and quantitative answers to the research questions about passengers. See Annex 1 for a list of tentative topic areas that are to be developed and explored by the chosen supplier.