Northern issue penalty fares after ticket office left unmanned

[Bletchleyite]

And that is sensible enough, although people would still ignore them & others would still argue that they weren't big enough, plentiful enough, the right colour....

Then they lose. As long as the information is there, easily accessible and obvious, the railway has done its bit.

 

[sheff1]

Then they lose. As long as the information is there, easily accessible and obvious, the railway has done its bit.

Indeed. Apologies for bringing up Conisbrough again, but it is a station which epitomises the current problem. At a station which has had no ticketing facilities for 30+ years, it would have been very easy for Northern to (i) put a sign/poster at the entrance stating something along the lines of "ticket machine now available on platform 1" & (ii) add "buy tickets here" signage on/next to the new TVM. They chose to do neither and, as I have witnessed, people just do not know the TVM is there.

After a suitable 'new thing' period the sign/poster at the entrance could be changed to "buy your tickets from the machine on platform 1 before you board ....."

If people then chose to ignore clear signage, on their head be it.

 

[bb21]

Indeed. Apologies for bringing up Conisbrough again, but it is a station which epitomises the current problem. At a station which has had no ticketing facilities for 30+ years, it would have been very easy for Northern to (i) put a sign/poster at the entrance stating something along the lines of "ticket machine now available on platform 1" & (ii) add "buy tickets here" signage on/next to the new TVM. They chose to do neither and, as I have witnessed, people just do not know the TVM is there.

After a suitable 'new thing' period the sign/poster at the entrance could be changed to "buy your tickets from the machine on platform 1 before you board ....."

If people then chose to ignore clear signage, on their head be it.

CUSTOMER JOURNEY EXPERIENCE

It is surprisingly easy to get most of the little things right, if those in key positions at TOCs take the correct approach and consider things from a relevant perspective to those three words above. (Un)surprisingly many cannot, and/or are particularly bad at it.

It won't solve all problems but will make things a darn sight better for everyone involved.

 

[Bantamzen]

CUSTOMER JOURNEY EXPERIENCE

It is surprisingly easy to get most of the little things right, if those in key positions at TOCs take the correct approach and consider things from a relevant perspective to those three words above. (Un)surprisingly many cannot, and/or are particularly bad at it.

It won't solve all problems but will make things a darn sight better for everyone involved.

To this end I've found that Rail User Groups can sometimes make this difference. Early on the franchise my local RUG made a number of suggestions to a Northern manager who attended a meeting, and slowly but surely improvements have been made. In the case of this one it was more around a new shelter, additional CCTV but they are all coming together. I do agree that TOCs need to consider customer experience more, I've mellowed my views a bit during the course of this thread, but engagement from passengers instead of conflict seems to help nudge this process along.

 

[bb21]

Absolutely, a collaborative approach is always preferable.

It does however appear in many areas the industry as a whole needs to be more proactive in doing so, especially where potential impact for getting it wrong can result in very stressful experiences for customers.