Great Western Coffee Shop

Hi all,

Will ticket office staff on the station be able to sell all ticket types using handheld equipment? Or is it just going to be the machines selling tickets?

Thanks in advance
GWR 158

As proposed, the answer is that station staff, including ticket experts, will NOT be able to sell tickets.   Tickets will be available online, from TVMs and from train managers.

OK, thank you. Are there any current plans to update ticket machines across the network to sell all ticket types?

Not sure about all, but this sets it out quite well.

https://www.raildeliverygroup.com/uk-rail-industry/customer-focused-reform/customer-focused-stations

I vaguely remember seeing a recent item about Reading Green Park and thinking it seemed to be very well resourced with staff. I would have thought that many of the passengers using it are regular commuters and that there wouldn't be much demand for those with challenging journey requirements.

Under the proposals no doubt the larger stations would have a number of visible staff assisting passengers for most or much of the day, but I wonder what criteria will be used to determine a presence and its size at some of the smaller ones.

In GWR land? The current ticket office hours, as listed in their proposal document available on the GWR website. They propose to staff as per that document

Thanks for that, Chris.

The standard plan for all stations (not that I worked my way through the entire list) seems to be: "The proposed changes coming into effect from October 2023 to June 2024 will see colleagues move closer to customers in other locations at the station to support and assist with ticket purchases, and ticket office windows close."

In the case of Tilehurst (and some others), there's not much scope when it comes to "other locations",which offer little protection from the elements. What do "colleagues" (one colleague, I suspect) do when the rain is pelting down or it's freezing cold?

I note that Tilehurst Ticket Office sells 18,035 tickets a year and the vending machine (when it's working) sells 31,370. Which suggests that there will be longer queues at the vending machine formed by those who can't/won't use their phones.

Without knowing the split between TVM sales while TO is open/closed, it's difficult to say whether there would be longer queues at the TVM.

A popular theory is that a TO closure also means that the public indoor area is being closed also - but I'm unsure that that will be the case. The TO will close (probably becoming a rest room for the station staff) while the public area will continue as is.

What's happening with Annual Season tickets and the like? I've not renewed mine since lockdown but the online experience was poor when I last looked.

It doesn't appear that many have looked at the GWR proposals which are easily found on their website.

Online & Telesales for season tickets. Meaning no purchase on the first day of use.