Ticket Office Closure Consultation

[whole diary]

[Timmer]

Well there's a surprise!

Quelle surprise!

Did anyone really buy that it was all about getting staff out to help passengers? I don’t think they did.

[TaplowGreen]

Well there's a surprise!

Quelle surprise!

Did anyone really buy that it was all about getting staff out to help passengers? I don’t think they did.

Ahhhh a lovely photo of Plymouth station - most of the ticket positions closed and only one person in the queue - perhaps a bit more thought could have gone into using that one in this context!!! 

[Marlburian]

Well there's a surprise!

"This is ultimately a matter for the train operators, but they have taken the view that their staff can be better redeployed across the station concourse platform and barrier, accessing 100% of passengers, rather than the 10% nationally who purchase their tickets from a ticket office."

What a load of tosh. I still can't see how "redeployment" would work at the stations that I most often use.

[grahame]

"... they have taken the view that their staff can be better redeployed across the station concourse platform and barrier, accessing 100% of passengers, rather than the 10% nationally who purchase their tickets from a ticket office ..."

Err - but can't the other 90% walk up to the ticket office and ask a question already?  I certainly do, and the ticket office staff when they are the only people around are typically helpful, more informed than anyone else, and can be found in a known place.  They are also protected from passengers with RailRage who are p***ed off because two successive trains in each direction have been cancelled ...

[ChrisB]

I note that no one one has mentioned that each TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) has now published the Equality Impact Assessments for all stations. GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) has produced one file of nearly 1500 pages & a file size of 50Mb!!

So no chance of loading it up on here!

You can find it here -  https://www.gwr.com/haveyoursay - just above FAQs^▸ (Frequently Asked Questions)

Download it, save it somewhere, and do a search on the station name you want to find. There is a station appendix within every station, so you will need to page on down until you find the first page of the report for the searched station. Then page through to the final page of that station & print out the page range you have just located.

Good luck everyone!

[grahame]

I note that no one one has mentioned that each TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) has now published the Equality Impact Assessments for all stations. GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) has produced one file of nearly 1500 pages & a file size of 50Mb!!

So no chance of loading it up on here!

Mirrored at http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/mirror/GWR_Station_Equality_v1.pdf for members

[grahame]

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/sweden-rail-ticket-offices-uk-b2399932.html

Ticket offices went in Sweden in 2021 .

The crucial dimension: for travellers who need human assistance, the market has delivered solutions. A convenience store assistant could not be expected to interpret a rail ticket system as Byzantine as the UK^▸ (United Kingdom)’s. But that is because our fares structure is bonkers: simplify the system and everyone will benefit.

The train back to the capital paused at Knivsta station. The handsome century-old ticket hall has been transformed into a microbrewery. Change can deliver some surprising benefits.

[Bmblbzzz]

A different aspect is raised in a Graudian article about shoplifting:

She captures the problem: automation has led to lawlessness to which there is no ready solution in the justice system. And it’s not just shops where this is happening. Slowly, gradually, we are removing “secondary social control mechanisms” – shop staff, train ticket collectors, park keepers and bus conductors. Part of their job – an overlooked fact – was to maintain order. A bigger social problem may be looming.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/aug/27/shoplifting-out-of-control-forget-police-stores-need-to-up-their-game

[ChrisB]

So much so that John Lewis offer their local plods free tea & coffee from their cafe's in order to discourage them...

[TaplowGreen]

Just read a very interesting suggestion on another forum in respect of this - why not just give disabled people free travel passes?

(And yes I know.................ooooooooooooooos gonna pay for it?)

Given that the chief objection to closing ticket offices seems to be that it leaves disabled people vulnerable, it would surely kill two birds with one stone?

They can already get 1/3 off - why not go the whole way? (It may even just be the right thing to do?)

[Bob_Blakey]

...the chief objection to closing ticket offices seems to be that it leaves disabled people vulnerable...

But if the proposed new arrangements - mobile customer service agents on the concourses, at the gatelines, and on the platforms - are implemented properly (this is a DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) / RDG^‡(resolve) project so fat chance?) it would potentially be easier for disabled passengers to get the help they need when compared to having a more disconnected conversation with an individual stuck behind a glass screen.

[ChrisB]

Bob - Until you are disabled, don't pre-suppose you know why disabled people are up in arms! If you are blind, how on earth do you find someone? Guide dogs are trained to know where the ticket office is!

[TaplowGreen]

The idea is growing on me - surely it would be possible to combine passes for all forms of public transport into one for disabled people?

Maybe the blue badge for parking too?

It would make all concerned lives much more straightforward.

If the Government are determined to close down (the majority of) ticket offices then they will in the end by hook or crook - maybe the campaign against it should factor an idea like this into the debate?

[Electric train]

The idea is growing on me - surely it would be possible to combine passes for all forms of public transport into one for disabled people?

Maybe the blue badge for parking too?

It would make all concerned lives much more straightforward.

If the Government are determined to close down (the majority of) ticket offices then they will in the end by hook or crook - maybe the campaign against it should factor an idea like this into the debate?

You have to consider this Government has no regard for the average person that uses public services, their sole interest at this moment in time is to cut public spending to build up a pot of money so they can curry favour with the voters by cutting taxes ahead of the General Election in years time

Blue Badges are administered by Local Authorities so would need a change in that process, which will cost money something this Government are unlikely to spend on.

[TaplowGreen]

The idea is growing on me - surely it would be possible to combine passes for all forms of public transport into one for disabled people?

Maybe the blue badge for parking too?

It would make all concerned lives much more straightforward.

If the Government are determined to close down (the majority of) ticket offices then they will in the end by hook or crook - maybe the campaign against it should factor an idea like this into the debate?

You have to consider this Government has no regard for the average person that uses public services, their sole interest at this moment in time is to cut public spending to build up a pot of money so they can curry favour with the voters by cutting taxes ahead of the General Election in years time

Blue Badges are administered by Local Authorities so would need a change in that process, which will cost money something this Government are unlikely to spend on.

I'm no fan of this Government however they have pumped many millions of £ into the £2 bus fare cap and billions to keep the railways running and largely carting fresh air around during COVID, so in the transport context something along the lines of what I've suggested perhaps isn't too wide of the mark - but I'm not here for political debate on this one - I just think it'd be a good idea, help some of the most vulnerable people, and mitigate the effect of ticket office closures for them.

Fair point re: blue badge but surely not something that can't be overcome by wrapping it into a national scheme?