They will probably target the easier targets of those more rural stations which act as railheads for nearby towns which have limited or no bus service & roads don't lend themselves for walking or even cycling.
As has to be pointed out every time a u-turn happens under the recent Tory govts, this isn't the government coming up with a well researched idea that has to change in the face of new evidence or unforeseen circumstances.
TfL itself doesn't completely 'give' them free travel, the largest scheme - the Freedom Pass is funded by the London Boroughs. This is in contrast to the 60+ London Oyster photocard for those over 60 but younger than required to qualify for a Freedom pass which is TfL provided, but these are the 'young retired'.
Unfortunately good employees have always left, retired, moved sideways or are promoted for a multitude of highly individualistic reasons regardless of weather changes are under consideration or not .
However, in this case, she would not have left but for the ill-thought out booking office closure proposals.
Where is the Scotrail ticket office?
My comment back in July -
Helpfully beyond the gateline to the left of the main platforms
that will be why I have never seen it, never knew they had one there.
Presumably it acts as an Excess Fares desk for arriving passengers
Or somewhere to buy products that ScotRail don't allow anyone else to sell
Maybe, but I don't see them as easier targets. MPs in rural areas are more likely to be backbenchers with more time on their hands to campaign against it.
All of the ex Wessex trains stations, so all of Cornwall, Teignmouth, Dawlish, Torquay, Paignton Exmouth Exeter Central and so on have multi skilled grades, there are different grades of multi skilled grades, for example, the S7 grade does dispatch, ticket Office, gateline (where appropriate), most at these stations are that grade, S8 is I believe basically the same but supervisory and only at larger stations.
We have a holiday cottage and some guests still pay by cheque. Fortunately we can just scan the cheque to pay it in with the bank we use.
I am non-youthful enough to remember when the "porter" at a station could do literally everything - ticket sales, platform, parcels, sweeping up, shovelling snow, loading freight in the goods shed, lit the waiting room fire, saw each train away, pasting up posters, carried old ladies' bags, phoned for taxis, cleaned the windows, contacted control over any irregularities or connections to be held at the main line, had the keys to lock up, etc. They could also do the full, proper signalbox, single line tokens, etc. They also did the daily balance of cash against ticket sales.
The final death knell was when Railtrack came into being I think and the stations were restructured as "retail" grades.
If they do.... the RMT dispute will continue !
The devil is in the details. It would be unrealistic to submit every minor change of hours to consultation, say a 15 minute reduction.
The tragic thing is some will really believe that he marched up to Mark Harper who stepped in personally after this ' lobbying 'to save Ulverstons ticket office.
I often buy tickets from local outlets (a corner shop miles from a rail station and the Spar next to Sheffield station). The various staff in both have always been most willing to follow my guidance on how to issue the tickets even when they have never heard of them before. The staff at Sheffield station booking office are fully aware of the tickets but point blank refuse to issue them because "they" won't allow it.
Clearly you are not familiar with the ticket office at Sheffield.
Are we talking about trying to purchase Greater Manchester 'Wayfarer' tickets at Sheffield? (Whilst not valid for use at Sheffield, they are valid at Grindleford, a couple of stations along the line from Sheffield).
They're all at it, there's clearly been a message sent down from above. I saw the MP for Accrington did the same bit on Facebook, and while most of the replies were pointing out that it was originally the government's idea, there were a few in there - presumably local party members joining in with the charade - posting replies of the "Well done, thanks for continuing to fight for us locals" variety.