Thanks to everyone who objected to the planned mass closure of ticket offices. Result was unexpected and very welcome, following action by unprecedented numbers of train passengers, rail unions, and groups handing out leaflets outside stations. It showed ordinary rail staff and passengers on the same side. An initial outrageously short consultation period of about three weeks was extended to the end of summer, and about % million responses were sent to the regulator Transport Focus. They had to deal with separate consultations on every train operating company (TOC)’s proposals. All were different – in form and content. Ridiculous examples included Manchester stations, where Oxford Rd and Victoria were to keep ticket offices under Northern, whilst Piccadilly’s, under Avanti, planned to close.
Even within the same company, illogicality was not hard to find: all three Calderdale stations with booking offices were to lose them, but over the border Rochdale’s and Glossop’s were to stay. The whole thing smacked of a rush job that failed (even it tried) to consider local conditions, let alone national issues such as travellers with disabilities, including blind people, and people who simply prefer to transact with other human beings rather risk getting a bad deal from a machine. So Transport Focus ruled, and the HM Government could then not have been quicker to make the TOCs withdraw.
Is it all over? Of course not. There is a real fear that TOCs will come up with new proposals on a station by station basis. If we ever get (as we hope) a simpler fares system, with pay-as-you-go and London “Oyster” style tap-in tap-out the need for ticket offices will be less. That will not mean we don’t still need staff on our stations, based in a an office with a counter both for accessibility and personal security. (The problem with roaming staff is knowing where they roam.)
Not all TOCs were involved in the 2023 proposals. Merseyrail electrics is locally managed under Liverpool City Region Combined Authority. Most stations (if not every one) are staffed from just before first train of the day to just after the last one, and all have ticket offices. At the four biggest stations including Southport and Liverpool Central the ticket office is also a convenience store selling products from magazines and to food and drink that people might need on the journey. This may not be a solution at every station but it seems worth looking at.
And staff need to be around when passengers need them. When Northern won the franchise there were plans to reintroduce staff at stations like Mytholmoyd, Sowerby Bridge and Brighouse – quietly forgotten, it seems now. This summer’s proposed “journey maker” role was very limited hours. What happens when passengers need help late at night?
So if your station has a booking office, carry on using it!