I am the sort of bloke who queues up in the supermarket to checkout with a human rather than be shouted at about my bagging items, but I’m not opposed to genuine progress. In this case, the supermarket saves money by employing fewer people but I get no discount for using the self-scanning machines.
The railway equivalent is getting rid of ticket offices and making the staff redundant and it keeps rearing its ugly head. The latest version, according to a variety of news sources is that 980 ticket offices will be closed or ‘repurposed’ to save up to £500m a year.
This works out at an average cost of £510,204 a year. I would suggest that there are probably some quite quick fixes that could be explored before making staff redundant. I doubt we have many ticket office staff paying the additional rate of tax (£150k+) and so what is that money going on?
Over a very long period with greater investment and technological developments, this is possibly the way to go but we are so far off that now that we have to wonder whether this is the latest hairbrained transport scheme that just does not stack up.
Here are 5 reasons why closing the ticket offices will worsen the travelling experience:
- Helps stop people getting ripped off – The fares system is too complicated. Do you want an advance single, single, super off-peak day single, anytime day single, off-peak day single, anytime day single? (See the photo below) Unless you have a particular passion for spreadsheets or calculating different options, it is not easy to feel confident that you have got the best value ticket, particularly for an unusual journey. Going into a ticket office and speaking to someone experienced with the fares system helps build confidence in travel and protect passengers from getting ripped off.
- Ticket office staff do so much more than just sell tickets – At Hildenborough for example, the person manning the ticket office also opens the toilets and the waiting rooms. Without someone to do that role, the station loses virtually all functionality. We are certainly not alone on this. This is why we have made such a fuss about Hildenborough ticket office remaining open whilst the incumbent is on maternity leave. We fear that it will be too easy for management to not staff the ticket office.
- Accessibility for all – how often have you been stuck behind someone who is painfully slow on the ticket machine? It is a horrible feeling to have a queue of people breathing down your neck as you try to get an unresponsive touch screen to spell out your destination or wait an inordinate amount of time for the machine to decide to print a wedge of tickets. By having a combination of a manned ticket office, ticket vending machines and online purchases it gives everyone a chance to have an option that suits them. The Government have said that 1 in 8 tickets are still bought over the counter and so these services are being used.
- Availability – Not all tickets can be bought online. We have heard reports of people being unable to buy child monthly tickets between Edenbridge and Tonbridge online. In one instance the tickets were printed with the parent’s name on rather than the child. Buying these in person enables them to be challenged and corrected there and then.
- Diverts pressure onto on-board staff – I frequently see people buying tickets from on-board conductors. Is this really the best use of their time? If ticket offices close, more and more people will buy on the train or at excess fares offices. Would a better outcome not be to free up the on-board staff so they can assist passengers’ and be vigilant on security matters?
Without serious consideration and significant investment, this plan will not work and is therefore unlikely to save £500m a year.
We welcome you back to the railway post pandemic
Contradictions are at the heart of transport policy. The Government and rail industry want to do all they can to welcome passengers back to the railway and encourage their use. Well absolutely, they should do because they have got into a position where all the railways’ costs are on tax payers. If the railway fails, we all end up poorer.
Yet today (Sunday) we have the transport minister say it’s not for the Government to intervene on the strike action taking place this week. Well, negotiation between Network Rail Management and the union does not seem to be working and so why wouldn’t the minister step in? At the base level, the strike started with Network Rail staff. Network Rail is owned and run by the Government. Perhaps Great British Railways is just going to be a spontaneous organisation that appears out of nowhere and funds itself by magic?
There are lots of examples of this, one famous one being the Thameslink Ironing board seats and first class – You can read more on this BBC article.
Flexi-season tickets – make sure you get your refund
Flexible Season Tickets are another badly implemented idea. If you have one of these tickets, you will likely lose money as a result of next weeks strikes. As the validity period is a very tight 28 days, it only suits a regimented 2 day a week travel pattern and so there is no flexibility. Your only solution to avoid this is to get a refund. The obvious answer is to use TLC’s idea and extend the validity period to 42 days and then you have much more wiggle room for things like this, but it is TLC’s understanding that flexi-season tickets cannot be extended. If you are holding one of these tickets and are affected by the strikes, make sure your claim your refund. Sadly, many wont.
Stay safe and good luck if you need to travel this week. My thoughts will be with school children trying to get to exams and key workers who have no choice but to travel. It will not be pretty so our advice is to stay at home if you can.
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4 thoughts on “5 Reasons why getting rid of rail ticket offices is a bad idea and a strike tip for flexi-season ticket holders”
My first thought when I heard about this is that it takes us closer to unmanned stations, and we already have too many of those. I am male, but this just increases the risk for any woman travelling alone, at night, or, unfortunately, just travelling. We need to be making that safer, not less safe.
Now apparently it is no longer policy to issue tickets on the train. If you have no ticket because of a ticket machine queue you are liable to a £100 penalty. Someone in that situation was told they should have queued and waited for the next train. Valued customer??
I thought you were allowed 10 mins to queue and if after that time you could not purchase a ticket, because of the length of the queue, you were allowed to travel and purchase your ticket at the earliest possible time.
No , and No not to band the English ticket rail , For those that have to live alone and sight loss ‘ for the Women and children stranded to get home , for the poverty that can not order on line with no internet ,Children that travel from schools that need to be home , We need the support of the Ticket office for the guild in the areas to travel – for the smiles and there conduct and the reassurance to travel the directions to charm the anxious travel a Human being talking to us for the right direction Not a robot ‘ we want a Live Human being with a smile and knowing they are their early hours or late at night keeping us all in save in public destination and money not wasted in the wrong machines .