To think they shouldn’t close 1,000 rail ticket offices?

[TiredArse]

Latest plan to ‘improve’ the railways. Up to 1,000 will close.

We’ll be left with those shitty, self service machines that are a pain to use on a good day. Got a disability or struggle to use a machine? Tough shit. Got a query? Tough shit.

Does anyone actually believe that the money saved will reduce fares or improve services?

You can fill in the consultation form here - not easy to see, you have to click on the words ‘consultation response form’. https://www.transportfocus.org.uk/train-station-ticket-office-consultation/

@user1497207191 who do you think puts the ramp up on driver only trains?

Staff from the platform / ticket office.

And mark my words, the government will come for the guards next.

Haven't you paid any attention to the rail strike ? This was one of the main areas of contention, not just pay. It's been publicised for months, why have you only just noticed ?

Nobody gives a shit about the job losses either, because they all have trainline downloaded

And ironically anyone using trainline is being ripped off as they charge a surcharge for each ticket while the ticket offices (and of course the train companies’ own websites) don’t.

Yes, I didn't pay the Trainline surcharge on principle and bought my ticket at the station, can't remember if I used the ticket office or machine, I didn't realise at the time the train companies own websites were free and it put me off buying online as I thought it was a bit sneaky especially as it wasn't even a special offer ticket just a normal day return

It means the train companies will lose money from free rides.

The ticket machine at our station is often out of order. This often means queuing to buy a ticket at Paddington if guard doesn't come round during (short) journey. Not everyone has or wants a smartphone.

Only from stations with no barriers.

If they have barriers it just means people who can’t use the machines can’t reliably use those stations

Like shoplifting, it's likely the cost of employing staff to check fares (or stop shoplifting) is more than the money lost through fare dodging (or theft).

Our local line (just 5 miles to the "big" station) has 3 stations, has no ticket offices and not even any ticket machines on the stations. You either pay online or you pay the guard. The guard makes no real effort to make everyone pay as he simply hasn't got the time. He can sell just a handful of tickets between stations, so can't possibly check everyone's ticket and can't sell everyone a ticket who hasn't got one. For years, all the "fare dodgers" just sit/stand at the front of the train, knowing the guard is in the back carriage operating the doors and never gets as far as the front carriage to deal with tickets.

The train company "could" employ someone else to sell tickets on the train, but that's another wage, and hounding people for a £2 or £3 fare just isn't economically viable - do the Maths, the numbers don't stack up! So it has to be run on "trust" - the moral/law abiding people pay in advance or seek out the guard to pay - the others just keep their heads down and have a freebie!

To those asking, most small rural stations have machines, no offices, no staff, no barriers. If the machine is broken, which is often, you find the train guard and he sells you a ticket.

If you are disabled, unfortunately, you have never been able to access the opposite platform over the bridge.

They are closing them because people don't use them and it's cheaper to have a machine than a person in a heated, lit, office.

Unless you can change those facts. It's a done deal.

There are other facts to consider though...

staff will be available actually on the platforms/concourses for anyone that needs help with a ticket.
No they won't. Have a look at the detailed proposals, many stations will effectively become unstaffed.

Big stations keep the offices
Avanti are closing the lot, including London Euston and Manchester Piccadilly. Even RMT acknowledge that some booking offices don't pay their way, but a sledgehammer is being used to crack a nut.

Demand is not down. In April passenger figures were consistently above 2019 figures (and that was a historic high, do we really want a return to chronic overcrowding?). On one day it even got as high as 109% of the equivalent day in 2019.

If income is down, it will have a lot to do with the government's mismanagement of the railways, such that in March Transpennine Express cancelled 17% of its services. Other European countries have provided funding to their railways to help them grow and decarbonise transport. Germany for example have introduced the Deutschland ticket which offers unlimited travel on regional services across Germany for €49/month.

It's not a free market at all. The government is running the railways, with private companies paid management fees in order to take the flack for the government's unpopular decisions.

I’m amazed at most people’s response to this ! I use trains every week and travel over 250 miles on the train for each return journey. I use large urban stations and tiny rural ones on my journey. I used to buy my ticket online and use the app. Recently I have not always been offered this on the app and only ticket pick up from a machine has been offered. I can assure you that I am not stupid or technically challenged and yet on three occasions recently I have been told by the machine that the tickets are unavailable for collection. Other travellers in the queue before and after me where also in this position.Without the ticket office I would have missed my train ,despite allowing myself 20 mins on arrival at the station to collect the tickets.I have noticed too that the staff on the actual platforms have been much reduced recently. I wonder how many realise that you need to purchase a ticket before travelling on most stations now. I have recently seen passengers issued with a fine for trying to purchase a ticket on the train. What about those for whom technology is threatening and difficult? I’m not going to list the categories but I saw a young person crying at the station .They couldn’t work the ticket machine ,were about to leave as they didn’t realise they could approach the ticket office for help. I was recently at a station where someone sadly committed suicide. There was complete pandemonium but the ticket office was a humane and safe place for passengers to ask for help. I don’t think a ticket machine would have risen to cope with that circumstance. Finally I find it chilling that so many M ‘netters’on this thread think that eroding our rights as humans to interact with one another is acceptable. Why can I talk to any number of concession catering staff on a station about what sort of coffee I prefer ,but I can’t talk to a real person about the actual train service that I have come to use ?

Interestingly most buses don't have ticket offices. And trams don't in Greater Manchester. Why the exception, and furore, over trains

Because trams and buses are local transport and you probably have a bus pass or local pass or it's a straight-forward journey that you can buy tickets from the driver or a machine at the bus stop.

Trains are long distance, have complicated fare structures, penalty fare zones and barriers. You get fined if you have the wrong ticket (that also happens on buses and trams, but it's much harder to have the wrong ticket).

As for "most" 70-80 year olds managing fine with tech - yes according to my mum they do, usually because they have family close by who help them do online bank transfers etc. What about those who don't?

Because the vast majority of regular train users do understand that you have to have a ticket before they board a train; they have season tickets etc. And they don’t want to pay an even more inflated ticked price to keep open a service which they don’t ever use.

But they don't seem to be limiting this to small stations. Our local station is quite a busy hub in outer London with mainline, underground and overground lines going through it, the ticket office is in constant use, but it is apparently one where the ticket office will close.

I’m not sure what i would have done when all the machines were out of order at my station for weeks…I obviously used the ticket office

as long as they change the rules back so you can buy a ticket on the train I suppose it would have been fine

So let's stuff the disabled and people who actually do need to use ticket offices? Is that really the way this country is going?

Most disabled people don't use ticket offices either to be fair.

What do you base this on? Most of the people I know who have disabilitys of various kinds do use the office. Including myself.

Yet, you can only buy the tickets for wheelchair users at a ticket office. I've been told to go to the ticket office to get assistance.

What are you basing your claims on? You only need to read Twitter to know many disabled people do use ticket offices.

Same as you - I'm basing my response on the people I know with disabilities. Of the 3 wheelchair users I know, 2 always book ahead so that there is someone on hand to set up the ramps (works around 50% of the time) and the thirds has a season ticket, friends/family with hearing loss (4) avoid the ticket office like the plague, ditto those with asd (6) because it might mean an awkward conversation and anyway they prefer to know which trains they are catching etc well in advance (one is more flexible but he still wouldn't want to talk to anyone if he could avoid it).

I'm sure there are people with disabilities who prefer the ticket office but I don't by the assumption that this is the case with the majority of disabled people.