Mr K and Paul are probably both right! Here's how the trade press reported it.
Two observations from reading the article:
- the proposals were mandated by government
- the requirements were to meet a "high threshold of serving passengers" although this criteria seems to be undefined
Quote:
The Government has dropped plans to close hundreds of ticket offices in England following a consultation process led by Transport Focus (TF) and London TravelWatch (LTW) which secured three quarters of a million responses.
Proposals by train operators – who were ‘mandated’ by the Government to development could have seen some operators close all ticket offices including at stations such as London Waterloo/Paddington/Euston, Manchester Piccadilly, and Bristol Temple Meads.
The passenger watchdogs objected to all of the proposals to close ticket offices: revisions made failed to meet all of its criteria, although TF says those of Great Western Railway and TransPennine Express met most of them. Concerns raised by TF and LTW included the ‘Welcome Points’ proposals, the lack of queuing time targets at ticket machines, and fears that if ticket offices are closed there will be no ongoing requirement to consult on future changes to staffing levels at stations.
Consultation with West Midlands Trains on its proposals are still ongoing as the operator notified TF of significant changes in mid-October: a response will be published on 28 November.
In a statement, Transport Secretary Mark Harper said: the Government had made it clear to the industry throughout the process that any resulting proposals must ‘meet a high threshold of serving passengers’ although it is unclear what those thresholds were.
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https://www.modernrailways.com/artic...-closure-plans
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