Ticket office closures

[Rillington]

I'm also surprised that there seems to be no discussion on this issue - the highly contensious plans to effectively make ticket offices part of history in England.

More than 600,000 people responded to the consultation to close ticket offices in almost every England railway station, including some major stations such as Manchester Piccadilly and at least one London station.

They claim that this is about saving money and that ticket office staff will be redeployed onto the concourse but, like with banking, it is part of an overall ploy to force people to self serve or go online and as with banking, some will be unable to do so, for many different reasons.

Plus the closure of ticket offices will mean that many disabled people will no longer be able to access the railways for many different reasons.

What do people think of the plan to close almost every ticket office in England? Will it happen as planned and if it goes ahead, will it result in fewer people using the railway?

[Pierre]

I think people use certain methods of travel that makes the most sense.

I only ever use the train to go to London.

On the odd occasion I have used a local train/ local stations, there haven’t been any ticket offices anyway, not for years and years. You either use a machine on the platform, or you pay the conductor on the train.

I don’t think closing ticket offices is a major issue, as long as there is staff on site to assist those require assistance.

[denphone]

Originally Posted by Pierre

I think people use certain methods of travel that makes the most sense.

I only ever use the train to go to London.

On the odd occasion I have used a local train/ local stations, there haven’t been any ticket offices anyway, not for years and years. You either use a machine on the platform, or you pay the conductor on the train.

I don’t think closing ticket offices is a major issue, as long as there is staff on site to assist those require assistance.

A big if given their penchant for cost cutting measures.

[nomadking]

Originally Posted by denphone

A big if given their penchant for cost cutting measures.

And in how many places are there going to be no staff outside of certain hours, and how many places have been like that for decades? Or are we expected to swallow the drivel from the unions AND the media.

[spiderplant]

It is a little bizarre. You don't go to a ticket office to buy a bus or plane ticket - why should you for a train?

Originally Posted by spiderplant

It is a little bizarre. You don't go to a ticket office to buy a bus or plane ticket - why should you for a train?

Unless you’re boarding a driverless bus, every vehicle has a staffed ticket office. I used that ticket office to get into town only yesterday, because the ticketing options offered by both companies serving the route are so opaque it’s just quicker to ask the driver, and there is no cost-effective ‘any operator’ ticket for a simple return journey.

It’s also pretty much impossible to remove humans from the process of checking in for a flight because checked baggage has to go somewhere, so there will always have to be someone staffing check-in and taking money, even if only excess baggage charges.

Which pretty well illustrates the point - the systems require humans to make them work safely and effectively, and always will, no matter how seamless online ticketing becomes (and it is far from seamless on the railways). Even on the Glasgow subway there are an insane number of ticket options for a service that just goes round and round in circles through a mere 15 stops. You really do have to sit down with your calendar and a calculator to work out which one is more cost effective.

I visited a staffed ticket office at one of those 15 stops yesterday and had a nice chat with the man there in order to work out what to buy for our new student. It turns out you can charge up a Young Scot ID card with subway credit to spend on a per-journey basis, but you can’t charge it up with a season ticket, for which you either purchase a plastic card from the ticket man, or else go online and set up an account and get a free one with your photo on it - which clearly costs them more, so they are obviously very keen to push people online. One you have your subway photocard you can buy a weekly, monthly, six monthly or annual travel pass at the ticket office by presenting the card to charge it up … but if you want a 10-week season ticket (most useful to students) then oh, no, he can’t sell you that one, that’s online only. The whole thing is nuts, and while the pricing and incentives are obviously designed to push you to transact online, they are so opaque that perversely they also increase the likelihood that you’re going to want to actually ask a human employee for advice at some point.

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by Rillington

I'm also surprised that there seems to be no discussion on this issue - the highly contensious plans to effectively make ticket offices part of history in England.

More than 600,000 people responded to the consultation to close ticket offices in almost every England railway station, including some major stations such as Manchester Piccadilly and at least one London station.

They claim that this is about saving money and that ticket office staff will be redeployed onto the concourse but, like with banking, it is part of an overall ploy to force people to self serve or go online and as with banking, some will be unable to do so, for many different reasons.

Plus the closure of ticket offices will mean that many disabled people will no longer be able to access the railways for many different reasons.

What do people think of the plan to close almost every ticket office in England? Will it happen as planned and if it goes ahead, will it result in fewer people using the railway?

It worked for London's Tube network as there is a relatively simple pricing structure. This is not the case for National Rail so it's not a practical proposal as things stand.

Simplify the pricing structure and have staff on hand to assist customers in person or on the smaller stations via something like Facetime via a kiosk and there are genuine savings to be made. But not without doing the groundwork first or the reduced sales and confusion will outweigh the reduced costs.

I havent bought a train ticket, or bus ticket, from a 'ticket office' for well over 20 years.

Not that use either very often, but when I do, I just book train tickets online.
Our Local buses (and Tram) all use contactless, tap on, tap off, for national buses, I also just book online.

[Rillington]

That's good, but online - and self service in general - doesn't work for everyone, and for a whole number of different reasons. Those who cannot self serve should not be left behind, as I fear will be the case should this happen.

[1andrew1]

I can't see this proposal being taken forwards in its entirety judging by the unhappy responses from Conservative MPs.

Ticketing needs to be simplified and support for unmanned stations needs to be implemented before going down this route on the scale announced.

[nomadking]

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

I can't see this proposal being taken forwards in its entirety judging by the unhappy responses from Conservative MPs.

Ticketing needs to be simplified and support for unmanned stations needs to be implemented before going down this route on the scale announced.

What scale? How many stations are going to be completely unmanned?

Originally Posted by nomadking

What scale? How many stations are going to be completely unmanned?

Unless Andrew works for the Rail Delivery Group, not sure why you are asking him?

[ianch99]

This is a good example of a mindset in this country where we, individually, decide we don't need or use something and so don't fight or complain when it goes. Good examples of this are corner shops, policemen on the beat, libraries, rural bus & train routes, playing fields, and so on.

However, they do have value and will be missed when they are gone. Older people who are not tech savvy, people who have sight issues and tourists that are unable to read English will all struggle to varying degrees. You then add the complex ticketing system we have to a machine that may not be user friendly, not to mention if they are broken, and it is clear you still need the human element.

This is all about the money, nothing else. Money that goes, ironically, in large part to a lot of nationalised EU rail companies

[Rillington]

Im not entirely sure this is the case here bearing in mind that more than 600,000 responded to the consultation.

[nomadking]

Originally Posted by Hugh

Unless Andrew works for the Rail Delivery Group, not sure why you are asking him?

Tedious that people are constantly giving the false impression that each and every rail station if going to be completely unmanned 24/7.
The Rail Delivery Group will be the ones that know the levels and times of demand for anything.