Ticket offices - changes afoot?

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From my mailbox, addressing RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) members.

CHANGES TO TICKET OFFICES - GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY

A formal document has been received from Great Western Railway (GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)) management outlining the company's approach to station operations. While some points align with previous decisions made by the Union's National Executive Committee (NEC^» (National Exhibition Centre - about)), several proposed changes require urgent attention.

After reviewing the company's proposals and the report from your Lead Officer, the NEC has directed me to launch a recruitment campaign within GWR to strengthen industrial support. This action is necessary given the company's failure to properly consult and negotiate with your Union. If you know a colleague who is not yet a member of the RMT, please encourage them to join [snip]

In addition, the NEC has instructed me to prepare a ballot matrix for all Station Grade members within GWR.

The industrial ballot will be in response to:

The proposed changes to Ticket Offices
The unilateral 'watering down' of safety-critical duties of dispatch staff
Concerns regarding single staffing of gate line members.
If your job title, address, or workplace has changed recently, it is essential that you update your details. You can do so by:

[snip]

Frustratingly, GWR is using current legal loopholes under minimum service legislation to bypass public consultation. As a result, the NEC has also instructed me to escalate our campaign by raising awareness among RMT members, the public, disability rights groups, and other vulnerable campaigning groups about the detrimental impact of these changes. This effort will build on the Union's powerful 'Save Our Stations' initiative. Additionally, the Union is considering a coordinated national campaign to challenge similar threats across the railway network.

I trust this keeps you advised, and I will continue to keep members updated on this situation.

Yours sincerely,


Michael Lynch
General Secretary

The Coffee Shop looks to passengers and on that basis the above is provided for information and I have snipped out the member recruitment detail - but easy enough to find for readers who need it (and happy to share if you personal message me).

I queued at a ticket office yesterday - not a GWR one - and watched as several customers in front of me were handled by a lady clerk who had to be robust and was probably grateful for the screen she was behind, rather than being a roaming agent in the public area.    It struck me that whilst the majority of customers no longer buy a ticket from a staff member in front of every journey, there are still significant number who do and who need help with a system which does not seem easy, obvious or friendly to use for everyone.  I was also struck by the kindly advise to one person laying out the options that person had for purchase, and helping that person chose the most appropriate ticket rather than a more expensive one that would have bought more than needed.

[TaplowGreen]

From my mailbox, addressing RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) members.

CHANGES TO TICKET OFFICES - GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY

A formal document has been received from Great Western Railway (GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)) management outlining the company's approach to station operations. While some points align with previous decisions made by the Union's National Executive Committee (NEC^» (National Exhibition Centre - about)), several proposed changes require urgent attention.

After reviewing the company's proposals and the report from your Lead Officer, the NEC has directed me to launch a recruitment campaign within GWR to strengthen industrial support. This action is necessary given the company's failure to properly consult and negotiate with your Union. If you know a colleague who is not yet a member of the RMT, please encourage them to join [snip]

In addition, the NEC has instructed me to prepare a ballot matrix for all Station Grade members within GWR.

The industrial ballot will be in response to:

The proposed changes to Ticket Offices
The unilateral 'watering down' of safety-critical duties of dispatch staff
Concerns regarding single staffing of gate line members.
If your job title, address, or workplace has changed recently, it is essential that you update your details. You can do so by:

[snip]

Frustratingly, GWR is using current legal loopholes under minimum service legislation to bypass public consultation. As a result, the NEC has also instructed me to escalate our campaign by raising awareness among RMT members, the public, disability rights groups, and other vulnerable campaigning groups about the detrimental impact of these changes. This effort will build on the Union's powerful 'Save Our Stations' initiative. Additionally, the Union is considering a coordinated national campaign to challenge similar threats across the railway network.

I trust this keeps you advised, and I will continue to keep members updated on this situation.

Yours sincerely,


Michael Lynch
General Secretary

The Coffee Shop looks to passengers and on that basis the above is provided for information and I have snipped out the member recruitment detail - but easy enough to find for readers who need it (and happy to share if you personal message me).

I queued at a ticket office yesterday - not a GWR one - and watched as several customers in front of me were handled by a lady clerk who had to be robust and was probably grateful for the screen she was behind, rather than being a roaming agent in the public area.    It struck me that whilst the majority of customers no longer buy a ticket from a staff member in front of every journey, there are still significant number who do and who need help with a system which does not seem easy, obvious or friendly to use for everyone.  I was also struck by the kindly advise to one person laying out the options that person had for purchase, and helping that person chose the most appropriate ticket rather than a more expensive one that would have bought more than needed.

It's a similar equation to the Banks closing large numbers of their branches - there is an ever dwindling number of customers needing/wishing to transact face to face, so retaining them at their current number simply makes no sense whatsoever, and so they are being closed.

As a friend of mine who works for Lloyds in a reasonably senior, strategic role said "if you want us to keep all our branches open, ask yourself how much you'd be prepared to pay for us to do so?"

Perhaps it's a similar equation for rail ticket offices. Put simply, if the 12-15% of customers who still wish to use them want them all to stay open in their current form, how much extra are they prepared to pay for their rail tickets? Or do they expect the taxpayer to do so for them?

[TaplowGreen]

Being implemented in Scotland from the end of this month......

https://news.railbusinessdaily.com/scotrail-ticket-office-opening-hours-changes-to-be-implemented-on-31-march/

[ChrisB]

That seems to be pretty much what the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) wanted to do in England

[bradshaw]

Accompanying grandson to Penryn,by train from Axminster at 07.37, on Wednesday where he has a university interview. Researched the fares and found the return would be £67.30. Thus decided to renew the Senior Railcard, thus reducing the fare to £44.80.
I then looked at splitting the tickets at Exeter. The anytime return fare, with railcard, to Exeter St Davids  was  £15.20, from Exeter St Davids to Penryn came in as an off peak day return at 18.70, a total of £33.90.
Deciding to get the tickets in advance from Axminster station, rather than online, turned out to be a good decision. The ticket office clerk advised me to book Axminster to Exeter St Thomas, as it was out of the SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) area, for a day return ticket. This cost £10.10.
My journey will now cost me just £28.80.
This exemplifies the need for ticket reform and the retention of ticket offices.

Mods if you feel this should be posted elsewhere please do so.

[grahame]

Accompanying grandson to Penryn,by train from Axminster at 07.37, on Wednesday where he has a university interview. Researched the fares and found the return would be £67.30.

Deciding to get the tickets in advance from [snip] station, rather than online, turned out to be a good decision. The ticket office clerk advised me ...

My journey will now cost me just £28.80.
This exemplifies the need for ticket reform and the retention of ticket offices.

Mods if you feel this should be posted elsewhere please do so.

<devils mode=advocate>In an accountant's or treasury eyes, of course, it might be seen as a damned good example of why the ticket offices should be closed as this clerk has just cost the train operator / DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) / government nearly £40 in lost revenue, in addition to the salary he drew while advising you.</devils>

[PhilWakely]

<devils mode=advocate>In an accountant's or treasury eyes, of course, it might be seen as a damned good example of why the ticket offices should be closed as this clerk has just cost the train operator / DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) / government nearly £40 in lost revenue, in addition to the salary he drew while advising you.</devils>

So, whilst I agree with the above Devil's Advocate, why are the various ticketing websites that advocate split-ticketing allowed to continue to operate?

[bradshaw]

My real point, I feel, is that until we have a comprehensive review of ticketing these anomalies will continue to appear to those who have an understanding of the ticketing system.
The move to single leg pricing and perhaps tap-in systems will help to deliver this but will need to get the confidence of the passenger in this. Until that time the ticket office will have a significant role to play.
Is this gaming the system? Perhaps but the senior railcard was an obvious choice, especially as we live close to the Devon border and its Day Ranger ticket for days out.
Splitting tickets was my looking at alternatives, without using split ticket websites. Using the SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) website and checking that against the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) one.
The Senior railcard is not valid wholly within the NSE^▸ (Network South East) area, which includes Exeter St Davids until 09.00.
 Exeter St Thomas is beyond that area allowing access to the day return ticket at the lower price. I had thought about doing that but did not get round to it, until the ticket clerk mentioned it.

The irony is that we do not have to be in Penryn until the 13.30 interview thus theoretically could catch the 09.03 from Axminster and arrive at Penryn at 12.58, followed by a quick walk to the campus. That would have cost £20.20 but would have been a risky decision, relying on everything running to time!

[TaplowGreen]

My real point, I feel, is that until we have a comprehensive review of ticketing these anomalies will continue to appear to those who have an understanding of the ticketing system.
The move to single leg pricing and perhaps tap-in systems will help to deliver this but will need to get the confidence of the passenger in this. Until that time the ticket office will have a significant role to play.

Given that only between 12-15% of tickets are purchased via ticket offices, and that number is only heading one way, it's fair to say that their significance has already dwindled beyond the point of no return.

As has been pointed out elsewhere, split tickets are widely available via a number of other sources who will work out the best deal for the customer and present them with the options - the need to be "in the know", is limited only to having the knowledge that the opportunity for these savings exists.

No doubt some edge case anomalies will always remain!

[PhilWakely]

As has been pointed out elsewhere, split tickets are widely available via a number of other sources who will work out the best deal for the customer and present them with the options - the need to be "in the know", is limited only to having the knowledge that the opportunity for these savings exists.

The 'average customer' is only after the cheapest option and probably doesn't understand the full implications of split ticketing, particularly when combined with Advance Tickets. How often does a customer turn up early for their train; find out that there is an earlier train headed to their destination; then ask at the ticket office if their tickets are valid for the earlier train - only to find that there is a significant cost for them to do so, because.... a) the earlier train does not stop at one or more of the split ticket destinations; or b) there is an admin cost per ticket to change their Advance ticket(s)

Specific examples of the above are...
0718 Newton Abbot to London Paddington.... Off-Peak and stops everywhere and is overtaken by the
0731 Newton Abbot to London Paddington limited stop Peak service   
and
1054 Newton Abbot to London Paddington limited stop service followed by the
1113 Newton Abbot to London Paddington stopper.