Future of Ticket Office Consultations launched

[ainsworth74]

The future of ticket offices, including details of which are proposed to be closed, consultations have been launched. Details appear to be on seperate TOC websites (I will add links as they appear, feel free to post others below and I'll edit them into this post) but there is the following from the RDG to get us started:

Press Release

Proposals to update the railway for how passengers use it today

Train companies launch passenger consultation on plans to modernise customer service across the rail network Staff would move out of ticket offices and on station platforms, concourses and ticket halls, adopting new ‘customer help’ roles already in place in many parts of the railway Proposals...

media.raildeliverygroup.com

Proposals to update the railway for how passengers use it today​

• Train companies launch passenger consultation on plans to modernise customer service across the rail network
• Staff would move out of ticket offices and on station platforms, concourses and ticket halls, adopting new ‘customer help’ roles already in place in many parts of the railway
• Proposals mean more face-to-face support available across the network to choose the cheapest tickets and advise on journey planning, as well as support those with accessibility needs
• Rail industry says bringing customer service roles up to date is long overdue, following a collapse in numbers of people using ticket offices

Train companies across the country are launching passenger consultations to move staff from ticket offices and into stations, offering more face-to-face support for customers across the network as a whole. Where adopted, the proposals will see ticket office staff transitioning to multi-skilled ‘customer help’ roles - already in place in many parts of the network - where they would be better able to give advice about the best and cheapest fares, advise on journey planning and support customers with accessibility needs. The changes would mean a more visible and accessible staff presence across the network as a whole at stations during staffed hours, on ticket concourses and on platforms. The proposals would help bring station retailing up to date from the mid 90’s, when the rules on how to sell tickets were set and before the invention of the smartphone. Back then, 82% of all tickets were sold at ticket offices, compared to just 12% on average today, a downward trend which accelerated during the pandemic. Bringing staff out from offices would allow the railway to respond to that generational shift in customer behavior, in common with many other industries and organisations that have long since done so such as Transport for London, most airlines and many banks and supermarkets. The public consultation, which will last 21 days for passengers, could see the closure of a number of ticket offices across the network as staff move out from behind the glass. It is being launched against the backdrop of long-running industrial action by rail unions RMT and ASLEF over changes necessary to bring the railway up to date and make it sustainable in the long term, with revenue continuing to languish at 30% below pre-pandemic levels. As RMT talks stalled due to their refusal to put a pay and jobs guarantee offer to its membership, train companies must now move ahead with essential reforms to bring the industry in line with the modern retailing, while maintaining valuable staff contact for customers. Companies are committed to smoothing the transition of moving staff closer to customers, and the proposed changes would be phased in gradually. An estimated 99% of all transactions made at ticket offices last year can be made at Ticket Vending Machines (TVMs) or online and where needed, TVMs across the network will be improved and upgraded. Ticket office facilities will remain open at the busiest stations and interchanges, selling the full range of tickets while the transition takes place. Following these changes, if a customer is unable to buy a specific ticket before boarding the train because it was unavailable at the station, they would be able to buy one during their journey, at a ticket office en-route, or at their destination. Alongside the public consultation on ticket offices, a range of options will be created for staff affected, including moving to a new skilled role and comprehensive re-training and re-skilling. Train companies will continue to engage constructively with unions at a local level to manage the transition in a way that works best for staff. Following extensive and on-going engagement with accessibility, safety and passenger groups, rail companies are also unveiling a series of pledges for rail passengers about the proposals. They are: *Across the network as a whole, there will be more staff available to give face to face help to customers out in stations than there are today * Customers will never have to travel out of their way to buy tickets *Those with accessibility needs will always be supported *All rail staff will be treated fairly and their new roles will be more engaging Stations without ticket offices already make up 43% of those operating across the UK, with a further 40% being staffed part-time. In some cases, such as Bicester Village , those ticket offices are purpose built and supported by a passenger reception desk. In other cases ticket office facilities have been converted into community hubs, coffee shops and cafes while staff support customers closer to gate lines. The reforms will not affect train companies’ ability to provide assistance to those needing wheelchair and mobility support from staff, either on demand at the station or by booking in advance. New mobile assistance teams will be created to offer extra help where needed, including for stations which are currently unstaffed. Independent passenger watchdogs Transport Focus and London TravelWatch will facilitate the consultation, and are encouraging passengers who wish to participate to go their local train company websites or visit www.transportfocus.org.uk or Londontravelwatch.org.uk. Jacqueline Starr, Rail Delivery Group chief executive, said: “The ways our customers buy tickets has changed and it’s time for the railway to change with them. With just 12% of tickets being sold from ticket offices last year, and 99% of those transactions being available on TVMs or online, our proposals would mean more staff on hand on to give face to face help with a much wider range of support, from journey planning, to finding the right ticket and helping those with accessibility needs. “Our commitment is that we will always treat our staff, who are hugely valued and integral to the experience our customers have on the railway, fairly, with support and extra training to move into new more engaging roles. We also understand that our customers have differing needs, which is why the industry widely sought the views of accessibility and passenger groups when creating these proposals, and will continue to through the consultation. We encourage those who wish to take part to go to their local train company website or visit Transport Focus or London Travelwatch.” The proposals build on a number of changes already taking place on the railway to improve the fares and ticketing experience, including the announcement yesterday that an additional 53 stations are set to benefit from the extension of pay as you go across the South East of England by December 2023.

RDG Consultation Page

Customer Focused Stations

The Rail Delivery Group was set up in 2011 to provide leadership to Britain's rail industry, bringing together the owners of Britain's passenger train operators

www.raildeliverygroup.com

Customer Focused Stations​

What is being proposed?​

Train operators have launched public and employee consultations, facilitated by Transport Focus and London TravelWatch, on proposed changes to bring station staff closer to customers.
Public consultation for passengers will last for 21 days.
These proposals are designed to move staff out of ticket offices and onto station platforms and concourses to support better, face-to-face interactions, with the potential to close ticket offices in a number of locations.
New, multi-skilled ‘customer help’ roles – which are already in place at many stations – will mean staff are able to help more customers across a whole range of needs, from buying tickets, to offering travel advice and helping those with accessibility needs.
If accepted, the proposed changes would be phased in gradually. Ticket office facilities will remain open at the busiest stations and interchanges, selling the full range of tickets.

TOC by TOC Consultation Pages

Avanti: https://www.avantiwestcoast.co.uk/consultation
c2c: https://www.c2c-online.co.uk/consultation/
Chiltern: https://www.chilternrailways.co.uk/ticketofficeproposals
EMR: https://www.eastmidlandsrailway.co.uk/modernisation-consultation
Greater Anglia: https://www.greateranglia.co.uk/consult
GTR (Southern/Thameslink/Great Northern): https://www.southernrailway.com/about-us/our-commitments/public-consultation
GWR: https://www.gwr.com/haveyoursay
LNER: https://www.lner.co.uk/station-changes
Northern: https://www.northernrailway.co.uk/consultation-2023
Southeastern: https://www.southeasternrailway.co.uk/ticketofficeconsultation
SWR: https://www.southwesternrailway.com/station-change-proposal
TPE: https://www.tpexpress.co.uk/ticket-offices-update
WMT (LNR): https://www.londonnorthwesternrailw...t-the-station/proposed-changes-ticket-offices
WMT (WMR): https://www.westmidlandsrailway.co....t-the-station/proposed-changes-ticket-offices

 

[ainsworth74]

Continued from above, this post contains files for LNER, Northern, Southeastern, SWR, TPE and WMT (LNR & WMR).

 

[ainsworth74]

This post and the following contains copies of the consultation documents or snapshots of the various TOC websites that contained the information in relation to the consultation. It is not intended to contain every single document or piece of information that was provided but to have enough information that in future years it will be possible to gain a sense of what was proposed on a particular TOC at the time. Where possible Equality Impact Assessments have been included.

Some TOCs only have one document because it was possible, within the attachment limits of the Forum, to include all the relevant documents within on file. Others have multiple because the file size was too large to upload in one file to the Forum.

This post contains files for Avanti, c2c, Chiltern, EMR, Greater Anglia, GTR (Southern, Thameslink & Great Northern) & GWR.

 

[pitdiver]

I already have to go out of my way to purchase a ticket as i have a PTAC issued by TfL. My nearest station that has a staffed ticket office is either Mansfield or Worksop. TfL haven't yet joined the RDG staff travel online ticket purchasing scheme so it seems.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I wonder will Merseytravel step in to subsidise the Liverpool City Region ones remaining open? After all, they pay a fortune to Merseyrail to keep theirs open rather than to adopt more modern ticketing technologies for their primarily local demand.

I know Northern doesn't operate them, but their site looks much more pessimistic than it otherwise would given that it doesn't include in the list other TOCs' ticket offices that won't close, e.g. Ormskirk (Merseyrail is not a DfT TOC so is not affected). Northern serve a lot of stations that aren't theirs.

The idea of standardising all their booking office times to be the same for remaining offices seems good - that way you know when you can speak to someone. Less so the very messy "Journey Maker" hours!

Must admit there are quite a few on there I didn't know still existed - amazed Parbold still has one for instance, I thought they all closed between Southport and Wigan in the 1990s, I remember Burscough Bridge's closing as a kid (it was only a smelly, dank corner of the eastbound platform building with a tiny window with a bloke with a PORTIS before that).

Out of Northern's, though, I'd be tempted to suggest keeping Grange-over-Sands, Whitehaven and St Anne's on the Sea, simply because of the relatively large number of elderly people who use those three stations in particular, certainly Grange and St Anne's. Plus for Ulverston in my view a footbridge with lifts or ramps is needed before destaffing as otherwise there's no access to the eastbound platform for wheelchair users - that or rebuild it to side platforms with access from the road via a ramp, but I suspect it's listed so they can't.

 

[Snow1964]

Just been looking through my local one, GWR and surprisingly some stations are still over 30% cash rather than card sales. Particularly in holiday areas.

Also appears there are stations like Evesham with over 20% using cash rather than card, but with card only TVMs, presumably that means the 20%+ won't be able to buy tickets before boarding

Also get Stations eg Dawlish, where only 40% of journeys booked online, and other 60% are walk up, bought at station, but just a single TVM

Some eg Bristol Temple Meads are showing the ticket office as reduced windows, but then show complete closure late 2024 further down the page

Document is long, and gives breakdowns for one station per page

https://www.gwr.com/-/media/gwr-sc-website/files/Changes-to-Ticket-Retailing-at-GWR-Stations.pdf

 

[MikeWM]

The Northern one shows how much of a lie it is that the people in the ticket office are going to be replaced by staff giving 'face to face' help.

Take Huyton, for example. A fairly busy station with a wide variety of customers with various travel needs. Current ticket office hours 0540 to 2359 Monday to Saturday, 0810 to 2335 on Sunday.

Proposed hours for 'journey makers' (ugh!) : 0700 to 1030 Monday to Friday, 0900 to 1230 Saturday, nothing on Sunday. That's a cut of over 80% as to the hours staff will be available.

 

[dk1]

Looks like only Liverpool Street, Stansted Airport, Cambridge, Chelmsford, Colchester, Ipswich & Norwich are safe in some form at Greater Anglia.

 

[LowLevel]

The Northern one shows how much of a lie it is that the people in the ticket office are going to be replaced by staff giving 'face to face' help.

Take Huyton, for example. A fairly busy station with a wide variety of customers with various travel needs. Current ticket office hours 0540 to 2359 Monday to Saturday, 0810 to 2335 on Sunday.

Proposed hours for 'journey makers' (ugh!) : 0700 to 1030 Monday to Friday, 0900 to 1230 Saturday, nothing on Sunday. That's a cut of over 80% as to the hours staff will be available.

You can tell it is a box ticking exercise because there will be a shiny new Journey Maker kicking their heels at Glazebook in the middle of a field for 2 hours in the middle of the morning. I bet they don't last long.

 

[MikeWM]

Looks like only Liverpool Street, Stansted Airport, Cambridge, Chelmsford, Colchester, Ipswich & Norwich are safe in some form at Greater Anglia.

Just seen that. Absolutely ludicrous to close Ely given how well it is still used (and given they spent lots of money only last year to put in a new ticket office). The railway is trying to kill itself, it seems.

 

[DanNCL]

LNER's document states that Edinburgh, Newcastle, York, Doncaster, Peterborough and Kings Cross would retain ticket offices, with those at Berwick, Durham, Darlington, Wakefield Westgate, Retford, Newark Northgate and Grantham closing.

Proposed Ticket Office closures and changes to retailing at our stations

Over the next three years we are committed to investing in our stations – modernising them and making sure they meet the needs of our customers.

www.lner.co.uk

From a glance it seems it's Category A and B stations retaining ticket offices, and everything else to lose them. Pleasantly surprised actually... as I had expected it only to be Category A to keep them!

 

[Bletchleyite]

You can tell it is a box ticking exercise because there will be a shiny new Journey Maker kicking their heels at Glazebook in the middle of a field for 2 hours in the middle of the morning. I bet they don't last long.

I'm astonished Glazebrook had a booking office. It barely needs a station, let alone a booking office. Some of Northern's are genuinely not necessary, even though the cuts probably go a little further than I would.

What happens with "Journey Makers" long term will be interesting to see (e.g. if they freeze recruitment and just let them all disappear naturally as they leave or retire) - we all thought OBSs would be slowly abolished when they replaced guards on Southern services, but this has not happened.

 

[LowLevel]

LNER's document states that Edinburgh, Newcastle, York, Doncaster, Peterborough and Kings Cross would retain ticket offices, with those at Berwick, Durham, Darlington, Wakefield Westgate, Retford, Newark Northgate and Grantham closing.

Proposed Ticket Office closures and changes to retailing at our stations

Over the next three years we are committed to investing in our stations – modernising them and making sure they meet the needs of our customers.

www.lner.co.uk

From a glance it seems it's Category A and B stations retaining ticket offices, and everything else to lose them. Pleasantly surprised actually... as I had expected it only to be Category A to keep them!

They already took an axe to their hours the other year. EMR conductors take thousands out of Grantham particularly on a Friday and Saturday.

 

[dk1]

Just seen that. Absolutely ludicrous to close Ely given how well it is still used (and given they spent lots of money only last year to put in a new ticket office). The railway is trying to kill itself, it seems.

Age old with the railways though. Soon as a signalbox was painted or repaired you expected it to close. Ely could've gone either way in my opinion but a great shame none the less.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Avanti appear to be proposing to close ALL of theirs, including Euston, Manchester Piccadilly, Birmingham New Street and Preston!

Genuinely surprised at going this far when Northern propose to keep theirs at some much smaller stations open. This really should have been a national decision based on class A stations (or A and B) keeping them, or none at all.

I wonder will e.g. WMR and Northern end up considering taking some over due to the higher demand for local tickets? I guess Avanti probably do have most people booking online these days.

 

[Cletus]

Bit confused about the Southeastern map. It has the "London" ticket office closures in orange, but in Kent at say Folkestone Central nothing is coloured. Does that means the ticket offices at those stations are staying open?

What's the difference between a ticket office and a travel centre?

Ticket Office Consultation | Southeastern

www.southeasternrailway.co.uk

 

[kkong]

The (not-very-well-publicised) RDG consultation page:
https://www.raildeliverygroup.com/u...focused-reform/customer-focused-stations.html

 

[crablab]

I am surprised that they're proposing the complete closure of ticket offices at the big terminal stations.

I'm interested in the associated changes to the fare structure, NRCoT and bylaws which I presume will be required as a result of this. Turn up to pay with cash or warrant and no ticket office or cash TVM available? You can just jump on a train and hope that there's no guard checking tickets or RPI at a gateline, to get your journey for free. I imagine someone's thought about that loophole.

Likewise, for "complex" queries such as excesses, ticket refunds or changes to Advances - these will seemingly all rely on onboard staff or online customer services?

Unfortunately I see things that provide flexibility like excesses, which do benefit customers, being abolished in the name of "simplification" as they'll now be "too difficult" to provide.

 

[SteveM70]

Avanti appear to be proposing to close ALL of theirs, including Euston, Manchester Piccadilly, Birmingham New Street and Preston!

And Northern are also closing Piccadilly (but Oxford Road and Victoria are among the 18 that survive the cull)

 

[Bletchleyite]

And Northern are also closing Piccadilly (but Oxford Road and Victoria are among the 18 that survive the cull)

Northern doesn't operate a booking office at Piccadilly, just a few TVMs. Piccadilly's booking office is Avanti operated. Do you mean Deansgate? I'm not surprised at that, it's hardly used compared to the others.

 

[172007]

Avanti appear to be proposing to close ALL of theirs, including Euston, Manchester Piccadilly, Birmingham New Street and Preston!

Genuinely surprised at going this far when Northern propose to keep theirs at some much smaller stations open. This really should have been a national decision based on class A stations (or A and B) keeping them, or none at all.

I wonder will e.g. WMR and Northern end up considering taking some over due to the higher demand for local tickets? I guess Avanti probably do have most people booking online these days.

Avanti closing all their bookings office seems reasonable if the context is that WMR run New Street and Euston, Northern Rail Piccadilly etc.

 

[Benjwri]

Just been looking through my local one, GWR and surprisingly some stations are still over 30% cash rather than card sales. Particularly in holiday areas.

Also appears there are stations like Evesham with over 20% using cash rather than card, but with card only TVMs, presumably that means the 20%+ won't be able to buy tickets before boarding

Also get Stations eg Dawlish, where only 40% of journeys booked online, and other 60% are walk up, bought at station, but just a single TVM

Some eg Bristol Temple Meads are showing the ticket office as reduced windows, but then show complete closure late 2024 further down the page

Document is long, and gives breakdowns for one station per page

https://www.gwr.com/-/media/gwr-sc-website/files/Changes-to-Ticket-Retailing-at-GWR-Stations.pdf

Well that’s unexpected, certainly thought they’d keep some like London Paddington, Bristol, Reading, but even that is going. I believe that might make GWR the worst TOC for removing ticket offices.

Some other things I’ve noticed though are that Advance date changes on GWR bought tickets will no longer be possible. Does anyone know why they can’t move this online? Many companies offer it, some like CrossCountry for free. That seems ridiculous.

If you look at the list of places to buy tickets after this, the Cotswold Railcard doesn’t show any options, so I presume this is the death of that as well.

 

[kkong]

The following line from the RDG press release is typical of the type of PR we see these days.

"Across the network as a whole, there will be more staff available to give face to face help to customers out in stations than there are today"

There will be more staff available out in stations because they will have been moved there from ticket offices!

 

[scrapy]

Must admit there are quite a few on there I didn't know still existed - amazed Parbold still has one for instance, I thought they all closed between Southport and Wigan in the 1990s, I remember Burscough Bridge's closing as a kid (it was only a smelly, dank corner of the eastbound platform building with a tiny window with a bloke with a PORTIS before that).

Burscough Bridge actually got a new ticket office (along with Clitheroe and Carnforth) in the early 2000s. It was run by Lancashire County Council and lasted until 2018 when spending cuts caused closure.

 

[SteveM70]

Northern doesn't operate a booking office at Piccadilly, just a few TVMs. Piccadilly's booking office is Avanti operated. Do you mean Deansgate? I'm not surprised at that, it's hardly used compared to the others.

Apologies, total brain fade on my part.

 

[Alex C.]

SWR it's not really clear what they want to do - lots of stations (e.g London Waterloo, Havant) are 'Category 1' which means they retain full ticketing capabilities (but not clear if this is a ticket office?) on an interim basis.

In contrast to many of the TOCs, they seem to be proposing increasing opening hours - e.g Fratton currently has a ticket office theoretically open 5:55am-7:40pm on a Monday, although it's often closed at those times and they're proposing increasing staffing to 5am-11pm. Portsmouth Harbour goes from 5:50am-7:00pm to apparent 24 hour availability of ticketing staff which seems either incorrect or like they're converting all station staff roles into ticketing roles.

Edit: or of course, they are misleading by giving the new hours as the hours that a member of staff should be at the station, rather than the times you can actually buy a ticket (I'm sure station staff have plenty of other duties)

 

[Benjwri]

Unfortunately I see things that provide flexibility like excesses, which do benefit customers, being abolished in the name of "simplification" as they'll now be "too difficult" to provide.

To be fair the GWR one gives details of where they will sell tickets, and claim excesses will still be available on train. It does bring up the interesting question though of what happens if they don’t want to give you one, considering there isn’t an entitlement. Do you have to risk a PF?

 

[CyrusWuff]

Chiltern's consultation page is now up: https://www.chilternrailways.co.uk/ticketofficeproposals

Bare minimum of information therein, however!

 

[scrapy]

The following line from the RDG press release is typical of the type of PR we see these days.

"Across the network as a whole, there will be more staff available to give face to face help to customers out in stations than there are today"

There will be more staff available out in stations because they will have been moved there from ticket offices!

That was the justification for getting rid of dispatchers at Manchester Airport about 7 years ago. Apparently they would be focused on customer service. Now there is no-one on the platforms as they've gradually disappeared.

 

[MalaiseForever]

The Avanti one is most unexpected. I thought they would've kept Manchester and Euston at least. Can't say I'm that bothered about Crewe closing as they are never great when I have had to use them in the past.