All railway ticket offices in England to close?

[skyhigh]

I worked during the evenings of Storms Doris and Eunice and we were inundated with passengers asking for help and what to do with nearly all services being cancelled, what would these passengers have done if the ticket office and its staff hadn't been there?

To be honest, turn to Twitter, Facebook, help point or phoning customer services. Of course they turn to the ticket office as that's a visible staff presence, but it doesn't mean they couldn't cope without the ticket office being there. If the railways invested more into better customer information during disruption, there would be even less need for staff.

Supermarket checkout staff process transactions at the checkout, not down the aisles

Bad example in my opinion. Conductors sell tickets down the aisles, carry cash and aren't given BTP constant protection.

Please note I don't agree that all ticket offices should be shut, but anyone who thinks there won't be any changes or closures coming has their head firmly in the sand.

 

[Starmill]

To continue the discussion in a more appropriate thread; I can only speak from experience that disruption tends to push people, who would normally book their tickets online, to the ticket office for help. I have worked at two busy stations and this has always been the case at both of them and remains so even today. I have spoken to many people (some young and fit) who consider the ticket office an essential point for help with journey enquiries, ticket queries and disruption. I worked during the evenings of Storms Doris and Eunice and we were inundated with passengers asking for help and what to do with nearly all services being cancelled, what would these passengers have done if the ticket office and its staff hadn't been there?

I think you can deduce from this that many passengers do not consider 'online' as more useful in these circumstances and that closing all booking offices would be unhelpful for passengers. People mention about having booking office staff outside roaming the station and while I think it would be a more efficient system to have staff going outside at times to offer assistance, it would be impractical and unsafe to have staff permanently outside and selling their tickets on the platform with cash on them. Supermarket checkout staff process transactions at the checkout, not down the aisles, so I don't see why ticket office staff should be moved away from the office and desk for their transactions, particularly at stations without a BTP presence.

I think that you're correct in pointing out that any ticket offices which remain are likely to take on the primary role of an 'assistance desk' or 'information point' as currently provided in a small number of locations.

Travel centres which are currently provided in addition to the main booking office windows, which serve little use as customer information desks because they're "tucked away", are likely to close and be turned into a retail unit, as is happening right now at Liverpool Lime Street.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I think that you're correct in pointing out that any ticket offices which remain are likely to take on the primary role of an 'assistance desk' or 'information point' as currently provided in a small number of locations.

Travel centres which are currently provided in addition to the main booking office windows, which serve little use as customer information desks because they're "tucked away", are likely to close and be turned into a retail unit, as is happening right now at Liverpool Lime Street.

Was that still open? I thought it closed years ago.

Milton Keynes Central lost its Travel Centre over 10 years ago. Their purpose was dealing with advance bookings, and almost all of those are now done online.

 

[Starmill]

Was that still open? I thought it closed years ago.

Milton Keynes Central lost its Travel Centre over 10 years ago. Their purpose was dealing with advance bookings, and almost all of those are now done online.

It was. Watford Junction's was closed even 20 years ago. The LNER one at Leeds was closed when the First Class Lounge was refurbished under VTEC but as far as I'm aware the Northern one is still going strong. As far as I'm aware Edinburgh and Glasgow Central also still have them?

 

[507020]

This week I had an issue with “APIService.APIServiceError 5” when attempting to book a ticket online, from a station that does not have a ticket machine, so I bought an anytime ticket from a ticket office, at a cost £0.75 greater than a pair of advances.

What would I have done if the ticket office had been closed and the train was DOO, i.e. could not buy a ticket on board?

 

[Starmill]

This week I had an issue with “APIService.APIServiceError 5” when attempting to book a ticket online, from a station that does not have a ticket machine, so I bought an anytime ticket from a ticket office, at a cost £0.75 greater than a pair of advances.

What would I have done if the ticket office had been closed and the train was DOO, i.e. could not buy a ticket on board?

Same thing you'd do if you use a station that doesn't have a ticket office or ticket machine today. Pay on the train, where you change trains (if there's enough time) or at your destination. Still a large number of such stations today e.g. Middlewood.

Lots of DOO trains have someone onboard who sells tickets.

 

[Hadders]

To continue the discussion in a more appropriate thread; I can only speak from experience that disruption tends to push people, who would normally book their tickets online, to the ticket office for help. I have worked at two busy stations and this has always been the case at both of them and remains so even today. I have spoken to many people (some young and fit) who consider the ticket office an essential point for help with journey enquiries, ticket queries and disruption. I worked during the evenings of Storms Doris and Eunice and we were inundated with passengers asking for help and what to do with nearly all services being cancelled, what would these passengers have done if the ticket office and its staff hadn't been there?

I think you can deduce from this that many passengers do not consider 'online' as more useful in these circumstances and that closing all booking offices would be unhelpful for passengers. People mention about having booking office staff outside roaming the station and while I think it would be a more efficient system to have staff going outside at times to offer assistance, it would be impractical and unsafe to have staff permanently outside and selling their tickets on the platform with cash on them. Supermarket checkout staff process transactions at the checkout, not down the aisles, so I don't see why ticket office staff should be moved away from the office and desk for their transactions, particularly at stations without a BTP presence.

The ticket office at my local station was closed when I passed through this morning. There were additional staff roaming around by the ticket machines helping passengers who needed help buying tickets from the ticket machines. Thsi is how I would anticipate things working in the future.

There won't be staff roaming around the platform carrying wads of cash around with them. If a passenger wants to pay with cash then they will be helped to do so on the ticket machines (which will be improved to sell things like Rovers, Rangers and Advance tickets before anyone asks). A single traditional style ticket office window might be retained at some busy station for relevent staff to pop into for anything particularly complex.

 

[Starmill]

which will be improved to sell things like Rovers, Rangers and Advance tickets before anyone asks

Given you don't need a photocard or smartcard to do this, it's inexcusable that there are any machines left that cannot sell these.

 

[O L Leigh]

Lots of DOO trains have someone onboard who sells tickets.

… and many do not.

 

[RPI]

Given you don't need a photocard or smartcard to do this, it's inexcusable that there are any machines left that cannot sell these.

Absolutely and groupsaves too, currently GWR TVM's won't do groupsaves yet SWR will

 

[Bread & cheese]

The Daily Telegraph reports that Transport Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan said she was “asking industry to launch consultations on reforming our ticket office provision across the country”...
“There will be some stations where the ticket office will be important to the running of the station. In other areas, rail employees may be better in front of the glass helping passengers."
Full report below.

Rail ticket offices to stay open in olive branch to unions
By Nick Gutteridge POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
The Daily Telegraph
05 Oct 2022

TICKET offices at train stations should not be removed completely, the Transport Secretary has said, as she offered unions an olive branch ahead of fresh rail strikes.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan insisted that plans to modernise the railways are “not about cutting jobs” but reflecting the fact more passengers now buy online.

In a conciliatory speech to the Tory party conference, she said that the “very last thing that the country needs right now is more damaging industrial disputes”.

Mick Lynch, the general secretary of the RMT union, has accused “profit-hungry” rail companies of seeking to close ticket offices sparking “thousands” of job losses.

He has vowed to “fight this every step of the way with our national rail strike” and urged the public to “tell the politicians they must oppose the closures”.

The Transport Secretary said that only 12 per cent of tickets are now bought at the station with the vast majority purchased online as consumer habits have shifted.

“We need to be looking at ways to move with the trend and support customers in the most effective way possible,” she said in her conference speech.

“There will be some stations where the ticket office will be important to the running of the station. In other areas, rail employees may be better in front of the glass helping passengers.

“This is not about cutting jobs – this is about putting the passenger at the heart of the railway.”

Ms Trevelyan said she was “asking industry to launch consultations on reforming our ticket office provision across the country”.

Under previous plans drawn up by rail firms, all of the almost 1,000 ticket offices across England would close, saving £500million a year.

The proposals were ready to be implemented from last month, and would have seen all physical tickets replaced with digital ones.

But they sparked concerns over how elderly passengers and those who do not have smartphones or the internet would be able to use the railways.

The Transport Secretary said there was a “deal to be done” between the unions and train operators to avoid more damaging strikes this winter.

She stressed that any agreement “will require compromise” but struck a softer note than her predecessor, Grant Shapps.

 

[Ashley Hill]

There are stations that are single staffed for early turn only. That member of staff unlocks the toilets/waiting room,sells tickets during morning peak,locks up at lunchtime and goes home. Neither do they have dispatch or safety critical duties. If the booking office is then closed under the government cuts this job is then redundant leading to total loss of facilities at this station. Equally it leaves Network Rail with redundant buildings which it would no doubt be keen to demolish. I cannot see a TOC paying a member of staff at a location like this to hang around a TVM in the morning when for the rest of the day that is all there is!

 

[Starmill]

There are stations that are single staffed for early turn only. That member of staff unlocks the toilets/waiting room,sells tickets during morning peak,locks up at lunchtime and goes home. Neither do they have dispatch or safety critical duties. If the booking office is then closed under the government cuts this job is then redundant leading to total loss of facilities at this station. Equally it leaves Network Rail with redundant buildings which it would no doubt be keen to demolish. I cannot see a TOC paying a member of staff at a location like this to hang around a TVM in the morning when for the rest of the day that is all there is!

There are stations with TVMs under security doors which are unlocked and locked by a contractor in a car. There even used to be stations where the guard unlocked the waiting room on the first train and locked it on the last. I don't know if that still happens.