Opening new ticket offices at unstaffed stations

[Starmill]

Arriva Trains Wales undertook a programme to equip many stations, especially in the Cardiff Valleys area, with TVMs from mid-2013. A quick look at my lists shows more than 60 have been installed, in two tranches: circa May 2013 to September 2013, and from March 2014 to date. They're card-only Shere FASTticket machines. (Oops - that was meant to be a multi-quote reply @Quakers Yard and @swcovas - must have clicked the wrong thing!)

This programme of ticket-machine instalation has appeared to go very well. Northern have been doing something similar; but they are using Parkeon card-only ticket machines - which are absolute ****e! Exucse my french!

I'd point out that for some inexplicable reason they have missed Mirfield. It has a shade under 400,000 passengers a year and no TVM nor ticket office. I suspect it's related to the awkward layout and lack of places to put a machine. Some stations have gained a crappy TVM with much less than half that passenger count (example: Mytholmroyd).

This recent thread may also be of interest to commentators here who've not yet seen it

 

[GatwickDepress]

Exactly the same fate struck Moses Gate and Kearsley (both between Bolton and Salford Crescent), in the same period of time too.

Calling all tin hatters. Perhaps it was a conspiracy by British Rail to destaff those stations.