A few notes: * Respond to the consultation here: www.transportfocus.org.uk/train-station-ticket-office-consultation/ * While I would have loved to have included more voices - I was very limited on who was available at short notice for the production of this video. * At East Didsbury, you see me holding a ticket. This was a promise to pay ticket from part of that scene that didn't make the final cut * I have not included my usual Patreon / Member thank you in this - it doesn't feel appropriate in context. Go watch my other videos, if you like what I do and do want to support - links are in those places. * Save our bloody ticket offices.
It even effects us coming down from the north. Staff are there when there is issues with the lines, they are knowledgeable on the lines and that is scotrail. When I was travelling to glasgow via dundee, and I got to dundee and there was issues further down the line, thankfully the staff were there to help us. What happens when something happens on the line? I used the link and they are closing edinburgh? That's where the waiting place and access to burger king and M&S are for getting food for the train home. through the waiting room.
Hello Jen, I truly support what you are doing in making as many people as possible aware of this mad idea. There is another problem that has not been properly thought out. Off duty and retired rail staff that need to purchase priveledge tickets, the computerised ticket machines do not appear to have been set up for that process, aaand as I understand it the barriers are potentially going to be linked to these machines, so no ticket-no entry...Now, as most people know we do get free travel as well but only on so many occasions. So, the drum needs banging loud and clear...If you need a hand in Manchester at any time, let me know, ok? Take care, Jon B.
I've put in a reply: my mum uses trains as well, and she needs the staff to help her buy tickets as she doesn't have a computer and she shouldn't have to ask a friend or use the phone to buy them (she does have some issues with her hearing). She also needs mobility assistance when travelling on trains, and the station staff are always helpful to her. Without them, I think she wouldn't be able to use the trains. Also, the station staff often know about tickets that aren't on the ****ing apps and websites, and can give information. This plan is digital exclusion - our MP (Zarah Sultana) is very keen on dealing with this issue, perhaps we should be engaging our MPs as well?
Even as a rail geek there are MANY things I do not know because of how stupidly complex the railway and ticketing system is. Staff are extremely helpful to help me make sure I know how to get to where I need to on the desired service, and as someone who is vulnerable they also give me peace of mind that I am safe.
Love what you're doing. I/we need ticket office staff. The.ticketing system is so complicated that I need help from a person. AI is not as good as a human being in dealing with these complexities. The pricing structure of on line ticketing deliberately penalises purchase of tickets from ticket offices. This should be reversed. The government should finance the railways properly, I see it aiding the environment by making rail travel cheaper down with internal flights around GB, lorries and unnecessary car journeys. Privatisation has been a disaster. Renationalise the Railways. 😊
But it's only 12% of sales, 12% of £9bn is a huge amount of potential lost revenue! It's just a ridiculous proposal 🤬. Great video demonstrating why closing ticket offices is such a stupid idea.
@@fatcontrole1optimistically you're only retaining half your sales if you do this. Ticketing outside London (which did away with its ticket offices) is complicated. Disability charities have said this is a bad idea.
Well f***ing said Jen and Stu and I 100% agree, it's not just about ticket office closure, it's about people safety and I can give you a perfect example that I witnessed back in 2021 in Scotland at Carluke. There no staff at that station after 2pm and what happened was just after half 7 in the evening, myself and my friend and saw this person in distress, he came to us and wanted help to get to Wishaw to get help as his mental heath was bad. So there were a few trains planned to pas through and didn't give a f**k about them as helping this person was more important, he just kept on talking while we listened, went over the footbridge with him onto the other platform, even my friend was chatting to him and the person who was in distress even had suicidal thoughts as well, But ended up helping him onto the train, my friend had a chat with the conductor onboard and he even join in the conversation and was very helpful by chatting and listening to the person who was in distress and when we got to Wishaw, the person thanked us, got off the train and left the station and honestly cannot imagen what would had happened if myself and my friend weren't there at Carluke . Railway staff behind the ticket office are not there just to sell tickets. They are there for people safety and you take that safety away, the Railways will become a unsafe place.
@@chriscrew6541 Okay then express myself without using expletives (even know the expletives were censored which I cannot see a problem with that) But yes my story has no staff involved, expect for the conductor on the train, which you're correct, but the POINT is which I've mentioned that Railway Staff are there for people safety, You take away those people behind the ticket office who's going to watch the station? Because people behind the ticket office can monitor the entire station from a ticket office using CCTV as well as well as selling tickets, so if anyone is in distressed on the station and they're ready to jump they can act quickly to help that person but without the staff at the stations.... who going to help people who are in distress?
@@garethhenshaw There was one time I did kind of had a moan in Newport (South Wales) as platform 2 and 3 were out of use which no one was allowed on them BUT there were other enthusiasts on the platform, S decided to go down the bottom end of platform 1 and one member of staff came up to me and wanted me to move down the platform, I replied that's fine but why are those people are on platform 2 and 3 when the platform is closed? But he said he look into it... he didn't But it also half these railway stations are not disable access friendly, one of my local stations Rugeley Trent Valley has 3 platforms and no lifts, just a footbridge and if a disable person in a wheelchair comes off the train at Rugeley Trent Valley from Cannock but want to go to London.... they're screwed as they cannot cross the footbridge, most likely they would had to travel to Stafford to get a train to London from Stafford
This ticket office closure is a small part of the government's plan to make life as diifcult as possible for the incoming Labour government. Not only will they close the ticket offices, but will sell off or long term lease out the buildings to prevent them from reopening. Thank you for making this excellent video which I have shared on twitter.
Until the ticket machines are capable of issuing EVERY type of ticket, then no ticket office ANYWHERE should be closed. That situation is NOT the case. T.S.S.A. - wake up and do your job as a Union for once!
This intention by the train companies does not allow for anyone with *any* form of disability or just someone who is ageing to use rail transport. I would even go so far as to say aspects of this may be contrary to the Equalities Act.
I’ve just added to the tweet I sent wondering whether anyone had talked to the HSE about some of the implications. I’ll lay money on the fact that there isn’t a risk assessment to be seen let alone a method statement say how they deal with safety issues.
A very well presented video Jen, fully backed up with facts and proof. Although I had already purchased my ticket, I was speaking to a chap from Alnmouth ticket office a couple of days ago. the station is quite small, but is on nthe ECML. He was very helpful and the small waiting room, where the office was, had infrmation on local attractions etc. While I was talking, another passenger asked him for the key to the toilet. I had honestly not thought about the extra consequences, but thinking about it now, you are 100% correct. That chap seemed to be the type of person, who genuinely considered the station as 'theirs' and would probably do anything to keep it running wll, kept clean and safe.
I agree with pretty much everything said. One of the comments near the end of the video made it even more interesting. It was about railcards. If someone wants to buy a railcard but don't have or struggle with the Internet, they can't realistically buy one unless they buy one by post.
I can't stress how much I am against this too. Thakfully my ticket office has been reprieved for now, but others around me are closing, and as someone who doesn't have a credit card on them, I can only pay by cash. These machines are card only mostly and what if I need to get a single back from a station to my home station? Yes, I can use my phone, as I do for pre planned journeys using the Trainline App, but what if I need a train back urgently? This is absurd, I think the goverment will U turn on it.
I think the important thing there is "reprieved for now". Once the majority have gone, they'll use that to add weight to closing the remaining few. It's a dangerous precedent
As a conductor, even I get confused the the vast array of tickets especially those exceeding my TOCs courage. The training and knowledge the ticket office staff have is extraordinary, a TVM just won't cut it.
Fantastic video Jen and Stuart Totally Agree with you both we need to keep ALL not some ALL ticket offices open let’s hope they don’t go through with their horrific plan ❤
Thank you for this video. I live in Lancaster ( one of the stations to potentially to close) and the proposed hours staff are available will be cut to less than the ticket office is open at the moment. This is absolutely about cutting staffing levels in the long run. I have raised my objections via my local MP who has a dedicated portal. She (Cat Smith) raised the issue at PM questions today and received a dismissive reply from the deputy PM.
I HATE TVM's with a passion, as I do self checkouts in a supermarket. Hate is such a strong word but Ticket Offices as you have rightly stated serve more than just 'A' place to buy 'A' ticket. And I say this as one who works for a long distance operator based on the WCML. A lot of my work mates will ultimately pay the price of these machines. Go to most stations in Europe and they have fully manned ticket offices.
Great video Jen, perfectly highlighting just what's wrong with this situation. I'm tech savvy but to go to a ticket machine and be told there are no tickets?!!! 🤯
Jen this the most important video you have made. Ticket offices at major stations must be kept opened and staffed at off peak hours too. Keep up the good work.
Not all of the reasons were covered. Just some and all were good reasons. What about removal of choice, long queues at machines meaning missed trains, people travelling without tickets due to inability of option to purchase. It's a false economy because it will lead to an increase in fraudulent travel but not by intent, whilst former ticket office staff will be pushed onto state benefits.
I often use a ticket office to work out which train I need, mostly when I have an open return. When I lived with my parents, their local station wasn't stopped at by every train that went through the area as there is also a bypass nearby. So when a dot matrix says something like going to Exter (starting at Bristol), it wouldn't always say if it would be doing a local stopping service or a straight-through, minimal stopping. Staff in a ticket office, however, can say exactly what train is going where and when without the faff of trying to tell a machine where I am going while not wanting a new ticket.
Has anyone mentioned about season and railcard tickets? It's a nightmare to navigate even with staff if you've never needed one and suddenly have to buy them for the first time? Yeah, I'm glad someone who knows more can explain that to me. Closing most of the major stations is a completely ridiculous thing, even if the tiny local ones go.
#SaveTicketOffices PLEASE! Jen makes very amazing points on why they shouldn't close. Even in rushes to get a train you have to wait so long for them machines to load and load and load and load and load and load and load and load and load and load and load and load until it's unavailable and you miss your train. So many jobs will become lost for all these people who work as a ticket officer and they're left with no luck and no job.
This video is incredibly important. I live on what could definitely be described as an already barebones served railway line, Between Warrington Central and Liverpool South Parkway. Of the stations just between that small section, My local of Halewood, as well as Hough Green, Widnes (Which by the way, has already seen drastic cuts to only be open until 2pm on weekdays), Warrington West, and Warrington Central, are all to lose their ticket offices, with no alternative. Halewood is staffed by a small team of 3 local people, who have helped me and the residents of this small town buy train tickets consistently since 2009, and I do mean all three of them. Without them, not only will the station become a dangerous place to be, as there's no one to keep watch, but with our only ticket machine consistency destroyed and vandalised (and none at all on platform 2), I fear that as a traveller who often relies on paper tickets, this could potentially put me off using the station after dark entirely, due to the risks. For the sake of the 3 amazing people who look after our tiny little station with only one train an hour, I pray to god that rather the plan is abandoned, or Merseytravel step in to save ticket offices at city line stations, like they plan to do at Merseyrail stations. Save the ticket offices, for all of us that need them. Please.
JEN AND stu fantastic what you have done. Your both right about whats happening they say its not cost cutting but it is. No waiting rooms or toilets or information. The Uk was the first to have the railways we should all be proud to have a railway and staff it for the public
came over from Nick's channel when you both did a pointless journey. New subscriber, loving the content! Also this video is very important and I hope lots of people see it.
Well said Jen - Customers are ALWAYS first -the rail companies forget this - closing ticket offices is JUST to save money - WRONG - no ticket office equals NO FAREs!!!
Great video Jen! Leyland station has a major issue with platform alterations where they are only announced and displayed by the station's CIS when the train arrives because of the old 70s signalling system still in place in the Preston area. I am trying to campaign for Network Rail to upgrade the signalling via my #ResignalPreston campaign but our solution in the meantime is for Preston PSB to phone the ticket office in advance of an alteration so they can put out an announcement manually. Despite it not being perfect as the PSB do quite often forget to call, it's definitely better than nothing! Me, Friends of Leyland Station and staff currently working at Leyland are completely against the closure of the ticket office and will fight to keep it open. #SaveTicketOffices
I'm sorry that I couldn't include your point in the video. I already struggled to get this down from over an hours worth of footage to the current length!
I’ve heard an incident at Winbledon Park station for London Underground where a ten year old boy was seperated from his mother and was left on that platform. I would have ignored everything about gEt OfF aT tHe NeXt StAtIoN and gone a stop further to Wimbledon which is more busy and more likely to have staff, or use some type of signal to alert driver (maybe put your hand out at the car marker to alert the driver that something is wrong) but of course the average ten year old boy wouldn’t think of that and he was left at an unstaffed station. Whats worse, northern promised to remove staff, LUL promised to add staff to every station. Poor boy.
OMG! THIS IS SO INSANE! CLOSING TICKET OFFICES WAS HIGELY DETREMENTAL IN RURAL AMERICA! I can only imagine how you all will be hit given how much more regular services! This seems like the modern day version of the Beaching Act.
So pleased to see you're championing the cause to retain ticket offices and making plenty of noise about how passionate you and many others are about this. As a disabled passenger I'd much rather buy rail tickets from a person where I can discuss options and ensure I get the right ticket.
You and stu both said it well about the ticket offfices, there are plenty of people who still need them, rangers and rovers are only sold there and if theres a ticket office open, then theres almost certainly a member of staff guarenteed if theres someone in danger in the station. Also theyve been able to sort out tickets i purchaed for the wrong date from the ticket machines at Leicester. We should #SAVETICKETOFFICES.
I agree with you 100 percent, and I live in another country. In the northeast US you will only find ticket agents in the major hubs like New York and Boston. The vast majority of people will manage without them. But, even as a casual train user I've been asked by people how to use the ticket machines. If you don't read English or know local terminology it could be very difficult to navigate. In an area that attracts foreign tourists that's an issue. Additionally, I can't see my elderly parents using one of those "God damned things".
They can't have thought about tourists. Anyone coming from abroad is unlikely to have the app on their phone. Ticket machines at stations are ok but not ideal.
Great work Jen - you have an admirer here in Australia. With your passionate, well articulated and thoughtful arguments, you should be getting a wider audience. Surely someone can get you on some tv interviews to spread the word about this?
Thank you for the compliment! But the mainstream media is not a safe place for a trans person right now - even if offered, I'd turn it down for my own safety
I have twice in the past found detonators on the platform of a London suburban station. I picked them up and handed them in to the ticket office. At another station I once saw smoke coming from under a carriage as an, electric, train left the station. I reported it to the ticket office.
I gave a yearly season card. If i were to travel outside its boundary. Only way to get a ticket is at a ticket office none of the ticket machines can cope.
What annoys me is people say it’s only 12% who uses the offices. Yes but this percentage of people are more likely to the majority of people who use the railways that are vulnerable and elderly who need additional support. Are we saying these people don’t matter anymore. The same argument applies to the cashless society we are moving towards. Does the people who only deal in cash not matter anymore and they should be in gods waiting room to pass away because they are an inconvenience to cashless and the digital society. It’s discussing THESE PEOPLE DO MATTER!!!!! The fact that Piccadilly is on the list of potential closure is crazy. There will be a lot more fare dogging if the ticket offices go….
Here's a challenge: can you buy a Sail&Rail ticket to Belfast, Dublin, or even one to Galway or Derry (i.e., including Irish Rail or NIR travel too) from a machine? Annoyingly, Irish Rail no longer sells these tickets at stations: you need to buy online long enough in advance that they can physically post them out to you. It's absurd.
Please, spare just a few minutes of your time to fill out the consultation. We need everyone we can to oppose this politically and financially driven move that will make the railways less safe, less inclusive, less accessible and more stressful. Everyone, let’s #saveourticketoffices Thank you so much Jen for creating such a detailed video showing the harms of ticket office closures. My local station, though staffed, is due to have its ticket offices closed too.
The whole idea of closing ticket offices is crazy.Not only having a human presence for welfare side but just having someone there for information can save time as well as just having that reassurance.When you think that the major stations in my area (Bristol) are going to suffer the same fate, just does not make sense.Thank you ,Jen
Absolutely agree with you about ticket offices and stations without any members of staff can be frightening place. If you are ever in Dublin Jen you could make a great video about our wonderful suburban rail line the Dart from Howth and Malahide on the Norhside to Bray and Greystones in Co. Wicklow. Unfortunately, many of the stations have no members of staff during the day.
It's utterly unacceptable that these proposals even got to a public stage, let alone actually pushed forward with. My local station is a relatively quiet, 2-platform 2-tph deal, and the other day while I was in the waiting room (which as you mentioned is locked whenever the ticket office is unstaffed!) no less than four different groups of people went to the ticket counter to either buy a ticket or ask a question within the space of ten minutes. And as for New Street, which I've used at least once a week for the past five years as a student in Birmingham, I've often seen >20 people queueing outside the ticket office! They are well-used and a vital part of generally making life easier for passengers. It really feels like at best, a reversion back to Beeching-era thinking of railways as a business from which every drop of profit must be squeezed rather than a public service first and foremost, and at worst a blatantly transparent attempt to make rail travel more difficult. I will 100% be responding to that consultation, thank you Jen for speaking up about this 👍
i agree we need ticket offices. i can see people just getting on trains with out buying a ticket. some of the stations that don't have a ticket offices. where i use to live in Barnt green before they had 2 ticket offices the amount of times the mashince would be down was a joke. so if i was going to Redditch i would have no choice but to get on the train and hoped the train gaurd would come down. it was about 1 in 10 times they would come down. and some times there would be no one at the Redditch office to get a ticket from. there is more resons to keep the offices open then to close them.
It's total madness... you CANNOT buy the full range of tickets from a TVM. I tried to buy a St Albans plusbus recently I put in my origin as St Albans City & my destination as St Albans Abbey... it couldn't find the ticjet as both the origin and destination were the same !!. Its totally hopeless, not thought out at all and will end up in a total mess, many thanks to the hopeless ideas of the DaFT, treasury & HM Government, !!
Thanks Jen and Stu for this very necessary video! Although I'm in Scotland, I've responded to the consultation due to the proposed closure of the Avanti ticket office at Glasgow Central. The complete inconsistency of which offices are affected also shows how poorly thought through these ideas are - e.g. Avanti closing the Manchester Piccadilly ticket office vs. LNER keeping the Edinburgh Waverley ticket office open with the exact same opening hours as just now
My friend runs the cafe at Bromsgrove Station. She is only allowed to open the Cafe when the ticket office is open (it’s in the lease). Sad - her coffee is great.
As a registered optician the first thing I thought of is those who are low or partially sighted. The ticket machines are not at all accessible for them.
Great video, Jen, I'm pleased someone is speaking out on RUclips about this scandal. My home town station, and one you are very familiar with (Bromsgrove) has been operating very poor ticket office availability for some time now, despite what it claims on their displayed opening hours. You're lucky if you find it open beyond noon and sometimes it doesn't open at all. However, it's Bromsgrove and you just expect a poor service. The new station has been open 7 years and CrossCountry trains rattle through regularly to many destinations but are still not calling here despite the many promises when the station opened with a fanfare. It's a modern and well-equipped station but it really is a joke.
I live in the US, Seattle Area to be exact, and not having Ticket agents or Station staff for all trains at stations with station buildings and a ticket/station staff area can mean that catching a train is either unsafe because of the time of day trains come through, your stuck outside in potentially unfavorable weather, or don't have access to train arrival info and restrooms. I have two stations on Amtrak that I want to mention, as I've had experience with them. First of all is Centralia, Washinton. Here the station is only open for what is considered Daylight trains 90% of the year and the trains that are Nighttime trains during the remaining 10% of the year never have staff to help with informing us of delays or giving us a safe place to wait for the train and have access to the Restrooms. The station is how ever a local office for one of the local freight rail companies, Burlington Northern Santa Fe, but they can't open the station at all and will lock the platform at a certain hour even there are delayed trains that haven't come through yet, which I ran into and I had to get help from the BNSF staff to find out my train had broke down and was getting a freight locomotive to tow it the rest of the way to Seattle which meant at least another 2-3 hours of waiting. If the station building and ticket office was open then I could have at least waited inside and not in the snow. The other station is Kelso, Washington. Here all trains arriving before 8:30pm have Volunteers to meet the train. If a train is delayed to after 8:45pm then the staff leave and lock up the station even if the train comes in at 8:50pm the staff have to leave. I was at this station on December 17th, 2015 during a major windstorm waiting for a train that was 3 hours late. The station almost lost power 3 times shortly before my train was to arrive. Also the train was not just 3 hours late but getting even later to where we almost had to move out to the platform during the storm to wait for the train with out station staff and potentially with out power. If the power was out, we'd of had no way to make sure the train operators could see the platform clearly and not over shoot the station as has happened there before. Thankfully all went well for my train but the following train had no station staff as it normally would have if it two hadn't been delayed. I'd like to quickly tell you about my favorite station of all. That station is Centennial Station serving Olympia and Lacey, Washington. Here the station has Volunteer staff who have made a promise to Amtrak Passengers to be on hand to meet Every Single Train. They also have a passenger safety fence between parking lot and platform that station staff have to open only if a train is in the station and only emergency personnel, ie police, fire, or paramedics, can open only in an emergency. At Centennial Station Staff have never missed a train since the station building first opened. If Centennial Station lost it's staff the station would lose ridership as it would fell less safe to use the station. Also here in the US, unlike the UK, we have a lot more Checked Luggage situations. Checked Luggage on Amtrak can only occur if a station is staffed by Amtrak personnel and only during station building open hours. If you checked luggage to a station whose building is closed when your train arrives you just collect it on the platform. So if we lost station Ticket offices we'd lose checked luggage and people wouldn't be able to travel long distances as easily. I as someone who wants to visit the UK and use rail while i'm there doesn't like the idea of ticket offices closing because I and over tourists know next to nothing about buying rail tickets in the UK.
..and another thing. Supermarkets have had self service checkouts for what 20 years? But apart from one or two across the whole country, they still give people the choice of self service or staffed tills. If supermarkets still think its necessary to give people a choice, why does the railway think it shouldn't?
I use both Greater Anglia and c2c and seeing that ticket offices closing or have reduced hours is a big mistake. Plus with c2c their ticket machines don’t always seem to work and it’s causing such frustration with people who use c2c having to see ticket machines breaking down every time. As I’ve seen pictures of ticket machines failing to work on social media. And for myself have seen these ticket machines failing. But I do think think it’s a bad idea to close ticket kiosks at smaller stations that gets a lot of people. And it’s also made people with disability much harder to travel on.
Ticket machines can not offer the correct ticket for certain journeys. One can not talk to a ticket machine. Ticket office's can give the right ticket for one's journey.
After all we live in a country that likes to shoot itself in the foot. Who came up with this decision and why? We are supposed to be encouraging people to use the train.
Something else that you might not have thought about... A number of ticket offices around Birmingham went down to being open only two hours in the morning peak. No one will take the job for two hours a day so the ticket offices are always closed due to "staff shortages". Brian.
first of all well done to you & Stuart for making this very important video even tho the majority of tickets i buy are online or on machines but i still need ticket offices to renew my railcard and to buy rover tickets at my local station on the machines you cant buy rover tickets you cant buy tickets from another station & worst of all you cant buy the cheaper off peack ticket till 9am and to add to that the machine wont sell you the railcard discount till the time its valid so basically if your train was at say 10am & the next one isnt for an hour your scewed thats why we need ticket offices to stay open and most of the people i work with only get the train when they are going for a day out in the Capital and they use a ticket office as someone in a ticket office will tell you the resctrictions in London like you cant get a fast train out of London between 4pm & 7pm i do t think a machine will tell you that anyway brilliant video
As an Australian, I was amazed by the complexity of buying train tickets in Britain. So many fares, train routes etc. So many restrictions. So difficult to take on board when you are an infrequent traveller. I recall the occasion when I bought a ticket to Bletchley, Obviously missed something on the ticket machine and got a single instead of the intended return to and from Euston. The price difference was only 40 p between a single and return. So I went into the ticket office and a most helpful clerk there issued me with a return ticket. There's no way I could have done that on a machine. Agree with comments about safety, vandalism and closing up facilities on stations when they're unstaffed. It will bounce back in terms of extra maintenance costs. People will be more inclined to use express coach services than trains, if you don't have facilities available when waiting it's no different than waiting at a bus stop. And at least for Britain, far cheaper for the traveller. Bean counter mentality so beloved of Tory governments.
Came to the comments to add: Just look at Germany where they've already closed most ticket offices, there are hardly any waiting rooms and none are actually spaces you want to be in. On some smaller lines you still have to call two days in advance if you want to make the journey with a wheelchair. In some medium sized towns they have offices with very limited opening times and (I guarantee this will happen to you too) they actually charge a fee if you buy your ticket there. And this is all technically operated by the state, watch how bad it's gonna get with you.
Excellent video Jen It’s the small things people will miss out on and the idiots that listen to the media bile when actually you’ve stated the facts correctly
What if the ticket machine is out of order, like you said the car is starting to look like a great option, I swear the government doesn't want us to travel an move around
I buy my tickets on Trainline, but like you say, it affects everyone in many different ways. My grandparents would be lost without ticket offices and on the off chance I need some info, the help won't be there
Gonna be interesting to see a drop in revenue if ticket offices do close as planned. Because if you can't buy a ticket on the station (if the machines aren't working like those in the video, or other reasons), and you still have to travel by train, you're just gonna hop on without a ticket. It's a ridiculous move, and reduces the accessibility of the railways at a point where we really need to increase it.
In Melbourne Australia we've had suburban ticket closures for years. We have some roaming wannabe police officers located at stations. How the HECK do rail companies think taling personnel off stations is a good thing is baffling. Love you Jen, keep up the good fight 💪
Very solid video, shows the very everyday reality of these bonkers proposals. It should be sent in as a consultation response. Thinking of sending it to my MP. I live just outside of London and can use an oyster card for most of my rail journeys and still need a ticket office every now and then. Every time I renew my railcard, a member of staff has to apply the discount to my oyster card manually for me to benefit from the railcard as it can't be done at a ticket machine. You used to be able do this at any station, now I have to do to go to a tube station, which is for me is 7 miles away, instead of the 1 mile my local station is. It's not convienient and without ticket offices, people who still bother to use the train will inevitably pay more due to the confusing tickets we have and get a less pleasant journey at the same time. I agree that many people will just stop using trains and add to all the road traffic if this goes ahead. I don't like what self service tills have done to our supermarkets, so going to use the ticket office a lot more going forward, its far easier to collect tickets bought online from them. I know the system well and still struggle with getting the right ticket without staff sometimes. Technology can never emulate or replace the social human presence. Even the neighbouring villages station had a queue in the ticket office in the middle of the day the other day when the place is quiet, they are so valuable and we will always need them.
Me personally I’m from Australia and i also agree its a stupid idea to remove ticket offices in Australia we have the same issues if a station isn’t a big one it either has limited staff hours or none at all and it’s ridiculous i don’t know who is the one that thought closing ticket offices was a good idea but its not ur defeating the purpose of even using a railway if u decide to remove ticket offices should just close the railways in general bc otherwise as other people have said it will become very unsafe and I’m not tryna get myself cancelled by saying this but i think that sucide might go up rapidly which is a very bad thing we don’t want that to happen we all have lives to live without ticket offices its almost impossible to travel around good job to everyone who participated in this video your all speaking the honest truth and i hope the British Railways rethink this decision
Even though TFL shut down all its LU ticket offices, most stations on the National Rail sections of TFL have them and are quite popular with people who instantly think that the TFL ticket machines are only for Oyster cards or TFL tickets and would rather speak to someone to get their ticket to a non TFL served destination quicker than if they were to try and figure out how to use the machine and risk missing a connection and some ticket machines in general are slow to even print tickets and give back change...
American here... One of the first times I went to France a ticket office was indispensable, I couldn't find where I wanted to go on the ticket machine. Between my broken French and the employee's English we were able to get me tickets to my destination. Without that personalized help, I probably never would have gotten there. Unfortunately, I see the same thing happening to others in this situation; no intimate local knowledge results in someone missing out on something important. Not to mention all the other side effects talked about in this video.
Saw you at Piccadilly that evening as I was on my way back to Southport from Malton after a day out filming Scots Guardsman. Was the chap you also had a brief chat with too while the cameras we're off.
A few notes:
* Respond to the consultation here: www.transportfocus.org.uk/train-station-ticket-office-consultation/
* While I would have loved to have included more voices - I was very limited on who was available at short notice for the production of this video.
* At East Didsbury, you see me holding a ticket. This was a promise to pay ticket from part of that scene that didn't make the final cut
* I have not included my usual Patreon / Member thank you in this - it doesn't feel appropriate in context. Go watch my other videos, if you like what I do and do want to support - links are in those places.
* Save our bloody ticket offices.
It even effects us coming down from the north. Staff are there when there is issues with the lines, they are knowledgeable on the lines and that is scotrail. When I was travelling to glasgow via dundee, and I got to dundee and there was issues further down the line, thankfully the staff were there to help us. What happens when something happens on the line? I used the link and they are closing edinburgh? That's where the waiting place and access to burger king and M&S are for getting food for the train home. through the waiting room.
Hello Jen,
I truly support what you are doing in making as many people as possible aware of this mad idea.
There is another problem that has not been properly thought out. Off duty and retired rail staff that need to purchase priveledge tickets, the computerised ticket machines do not appear to have been set up for that process, aaand as I understand it the barriers are potentially going to be linked to these machines, so no ticket-no entry...Now, as most people know we do get free travel as well but only on so many occasions.
So, the drum needs banging loud and clear...If you need a hand in Manchester at any time, let me know, ok?
Take care,
Jon B.
I've put in a reply: my mum uses trains as well, and she needs the staff to help her buy tickets as she doesn't have a computer and she shouldn't have to ask a friend or use the phone to buy them (she does have some issues with her hearing). She also needs mobility assistance when travelling on trains, and the station staff are always helpful to her. Without them, I think she wouldn't be able to use the trains.
Also, the station staff often know about tickets that aren't on the ****ing apps and websites, and can give information. This plan is digital exclusion - our MP (Zarah Sultana) is very keen on dealing with this issue, perhaps we should be engaging our MPs as well?
Even as a rail geek there are MANY things I do not know because of how stupidly complex the railway and ticketing system is. Staff are extremely helpful to help me make sure I know how to get to where I need to on the desired service, and as someone who is vulnerable they also give me peace of mind that I am safe.
Love what you're doing. I/we need ticket office staff. The.ticketing system is so complicated that I need help from a person. AI is not as good as a human being in dealing with these complexities.
The pricing structure of on line ticketing deliberately penalises purchase of tickets from ticket offices. This should be reversed.
The government should finance the railways properly, I see it aiding the environment by making rail travel cheaper down with internal flights around GB, lorries and unnecessary car journeys. Privatisation has been a disaster. Renationalise the Railways. 😊
But it's only 12% of sales, 12% of £9bn is a huge amount of potential lost revenue! It's just a ridiculous proposal 🤬. Great video demonstrating why closing ticket offices is such a stupid idea.
That's only based on the people that do use them not buying by other means when they do close
@@fatcontrole1optimistically you're only retaining half your sales if you do this.
Ticketing outside London (which did away with its ticket offices) is complicated. Disability charities have said this is a bad idea.
Well f***ing said Jen and Stu and I 100% agree, it's not just about ticket office closure, it's about people safety and I can give you a perfect example that I witnessed back in 2021 in Scotland at Carluke. There no staff at that station after 2pm and what happened was just after half 7 in the evening, myself and my friend and saw this person in distress, he came to us and wanted help to get to Wishaw to get help as his mental heath was bad. So there were a few trains planned to pas through and didn't give a f**k about them as helping this person was more important, he just kept on talking while we listened, went over the footbridge with him onto the other platform, even my friend was chatting to him and the person who was in distress even had suicidal thoughts as well, But ended up helping him onto the train, my friend had a chat with the conductor onboard and he even join in the conversation and was very helpful by chatting and listening to the person who was in distress and when we got to Wishaw, the person thanked us, got off the train and left the station and honestly cannot imagen what would had happened if myself and my friend weren't there at Carluke . Railway staff behind the ticket office are not there just to sell tickets. They are there for people safety and you take that safety away, the Railways will become a unsafe place.
Errr....Your point being? No ticket office staff involved then, and can you really not express yourself without using expletives?
@@chriscrew6541 Okay then express myself without using expletives (even know the expletives were censored which I cannot see a problem with that) But yes my story has no staff involved, expect for the conductor on the train, which you're correct, but the POINT is which I've mentioned that Railway Staff are there for people safety, You take away those people behind the ticket office who's going to watch the station? Because people behind the ticket office can monitor the entire station from a ticket office using CCTV as well as well as selling tickets, so if anyone is in distressed on the station and they're ready to jump they can act quickly to help that person but without the staff at the stations.... who going to help people who are in distress?
@@garethhenshaw There was one time I did kind of had a moan in Newport (South Wales) as platform 2 and 3 were out of use which no one was allowed on them BUT there were other enthusiasts on the platform, S decided to go down the bottom end of platform 1 and one member of staff came up to me and wanted me to move down the platform, I replied that's fine but why are those people are on platform 2 and 3 when the platform is closed? But he said he look into it... he didn't
But it also half these railway stations are not disable access friendly, one of my local stations Rugeley Trent Valley has 3 platforms and no lifts, just a footbridge and if a disable person in a wheelchair comes off the train at Rugeley Trent Valley from Cannock but want to go to London.... they're screwed as they cannot cross the footbridge, most likely they would had to travel to Stafford to get a train to London from Stafford
This ticket office closure is a small part of the government's plan to make life as diifcult as possible for the incoming Labour government. Not only will they close the ticket offices, but will sell off or long term lease out the buildings to prevent them from reopening. Thank you for making this excellent video which I have shared on twitter.
Until the ticket machines are capable of issuing EVERY type of ticket, then no ticket office ANYWHERE should be closed. That situation is NOT the case. T.S.S.A. - wake up and do your job as a Union for once!
This intention by the train companies does not allow for anyone with *any* form of disability or just someone who is ageing to use rail transport. I would even go so far as to say aspects of this may be contrary to the Equalities Act.
Excellent point❤
I’ve just added to the tweet I sent wondering whether anyone had talked to the HSE about some of the implications. I’ll lay money on the fact that there isn’t a risk assessment to be seen let alone a method statement say how they deal with safety issues.
A very well presented video Jen, fully backed up with facts and proof.
Although I had already purchased my ticket, I was speaking to a chap from Alnmouth ticket office a couple of days ago. the station is quite small, but is on nthe ECML. He was very helpful and the small waiting room, where the office was, had infrmation on local attractions etc. While I was talking, another passenger asked him for the key to the toilet. I had honestly not thought about the extra consequences, but thinking about it now, you are 100% correct. That chap seemed to be the type of person, who genuinely considered the station as 'theirs' and would probably do anything to keep it running wll, kept clean and safe.
I agree with pretty much everything said.
One of the comments near the end of the video made it even more interesting.
It was about railcards. If someone wants to buy a railcard but don't have or struggle with the Internet, they can't realistically buy one unless they buy one by post.
It's gonna be so hard to buy anything but basic tickets
Totally agree #SAVETICKETOFFICES these are vital public services
I can't stress how much I am against this too. Thakfully my ticket office has been reprieved for now, but others around me are closing, and as someone who doesn't have a credit card on them, I can only pay by cash. These machines are card only mostly and what if I need to get a single back from a station to my home station? Yes, I can use my phone, as I do for pre planned journeys using the Trainline App, but what if I need a train back urgently? This is absurd, I think the goverment will U turn on it.
I think the important thing there is "reprieved for now". Once the majority have gone, they'll use that to add weight to closing the remaining few. It's a dangerous precedent
As a conductor, even I get confused the the vast array of tickets especially those exceeding my TOCs courage. The training and knowledge the ticket office staff have is extraordinary, a TVM just won't cut it.
Fantastic video Jen and Stuart Totally Agree with you both we need to keep ALL not some ALL ticket offices open let’s hope they don’t go through with their horrific plan ❤
Thank you for this video. I live in Lancaster ( one of the stations to potentially to close) and the proposed hours staff are available will be cut to less than the ticket office is open at the moment. This is absolutely about cutting staffing levels in the long run. I have raised my objections via my local MP who has a dedicated portal. She (Cat Smith) raised the issue at PM questions today and received a dismissive reply from the deputy PM.
So at next election we must say THANK YOU for Conservatives for this.
They ruining this country bit by bit.
Well done Jen; keep banging the drum on this.
You know me! I get shouty when I need to!
I HATE TVM's with a passion, as I do self checkouts in a supermarket.
Hate is such a strong word but Ticket Offices as you have rightly stated serve more than just 'A' place to buy 'A' ticket. And I say this as one who works for a long distance operator based on the WCML. A lot of my work mates will ultimately pay the price of these machines.
Go to most stations in Europe and they have fully manned ticket offices.
Whoever came up with the idea of closing the ticket offices on the railways should be fired or resigned… this is the dumbest idea that I’ve seen! 🤬
They be one boris. Mates promoted house lords Tory Scum
TORYS goverment.
Remember at next elections.
Its scary really, also they can be places of safety for people on a night out, for emergencies and much more.
Wow, I think hell's just frozen over - the government actually listened to the people and scrapped this ridiculous idea.
Possibly the most important video you have made, so far. Thank you.
Great video Jen, perfectly highlighting just what's wrong with this situation. I'm tech savvy but to go to a ticket machine and be told there are no tickets?!!! 🤯
Jen this the most important video you have made. Ticket offices at major stations must be kept opened and staffed at off peak hours too. Keep up the good work.
Thank you for making this video, ticket offices are so vital and are so important for safety and accessability for all rail users.
Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant!
Such a good video Jen
Thank you for doing this.
Brilliant video! Perfectly summing up why we need to keep our ticket offices!
We must all protest about the closure of ticket offices.
You covered all the reasons why this is such a stupid idea - lets hope all the petitions and such will have an effect. Great video
Not all of the reasons were covered. Just some and all were good reasons. What about removal of choice, long queues at machines meaning missed trains, people travelling without tickets due to inability of option to purchase. It's a false economy because it will lead to an increase in fraudulent travel but not by intent, whilst former ticket office staff will be pushed onto state benefits.
It’s going to be hell for me, I am a wheelchair user, and I am Autistic and I signed the petition and sent a letter to my mp
Jen we have started a potion in Bridlington to stop the closure and a lot of tickets can not be brought from a machines .
I often use a ticket office to work out which train I need, mostly when I have an open return. When I lived with my parents, their local station wasn't stopped at by every train that went through the area as there is also a bypass nearby. So when a dot matrix says something like going to Exter (starting at Bristol), it wouldn't always say if it would be doing a local stopping service or a straight-through, minimal stopping. Staff in a ticket office, however, can say exactly what train is going where and when without the faff of trying to tell a machine where I am going while not wanting a new ticket.
Has anyone mentioned about season and railcard tickets? It's a nightmare to navigate even with staff if you've never needed one and suddenly have to buy them for the first time? Yeah, I'm glad someone who knows more can explain that to me. Closing most of the major stations is a completely ridiculous thing, even if the tiny local ones go.
#SaveTicketOffices PLEASE! Jen makes very amazing points on why they shouldn't close. Even in rushes to get a train you have to wait so long for them machines to load and load and load and load and load and load and load and load and load and load and load and load until it's unavailable and you miss your train. So many jobs will become lost for all these people who work as a ticket officer and they're left with no luck and no job.
At my local station, if the office closes then half the facilities including toilets will probably be gone
Yes it is crazy to close ticket office the government need to have a major rethink otherwise they could have trouble on their hands
Not sure the government cares.
Good information, may I suggest signing the appropriate Government Petition? We need the offices to stay open.
This video is incredibly important. I live on what could definitely be described as an already barebones served railway line, Between Warrington Central and Liverpool South Parkway.
Of the stations just between that small section, My local of Halewood, as well as Hough Green, Widnes (Which by the way, has already seen drastic cuts to only be open until 2pm on weekdays), Warrington West, and Warrington Central, are all to lose their ticket offices, with no alternative. Halewood is staffed by a small team of 3 local people, who have helped me and the residents of this small town buy train tickets consistently since 2009, and I do mean all three of them.
Without them, not only will the station become a dangerous place to be, as there's no one to keep watch, but with our only ticket machine consistency destroyed and vandalised (and none at all on platform 2), I fear that as a traveller who often relies on paper tickets, this could potentially put me off using the station after dark entirely, due to the risks.
For the sake of the 3 amazing people who look after our tiny little station with only one train an hour, I pray to god that rather the plan is abandoned, or Merseytravel step in to save ticket offices at city line stations, like they plan to do at Merseyrail stations.
Save the ticket offices, for all of us that need them. Please.
JEN AND stu fantastic what you have done. Your both right about whats happening they say its not cost cutting but it is. No waiting rooms or toilets or information. The Uk was the first to have the railways we should all be proud to have a railway and staff it for the public
Fully Agree Jen 100%!
came over from Nick's channel when you both did a pointless journey. New subscriber, loving the content! Also this video is very important and I hope lots of people see it.
Well said Jen - Customers are ALWAYS first -the rail companies forget this - closing ticket offices is JUST to save money - WRONG - no ticket office equals NO FAREs!!!
Thanks for making this video Jen!
Great video Jen! Leyland station has a major issue with platform alterations where they are only announced and displayed by the station's CIS when the train arrives because of the old 70s signalling system still in place in the Preston area. I am trying to campaign for Network Rail to upgrade the signalling via my #ResignalPreston campaign but our solution in the meantime is for Preston PSB to phone the ticket office in advance of an alteration so they can put out an announcement manually. Despite it not being perfect as the PSB do quite often forget to call, it's definitely better than nothing! Me, Friends of Leyland Station and staff currently working at Leyland are completely against the closure of the ticket office and will fight to keep it open. #SaveTicketOffices
I'm sorry that I couldn't include your point in the video. I already struggled to get this down from over an hours worth of footage to the current length!
@@JenOnTheMove It's fine don't worry about it, just shows the scale of chaos that this will cause
I do the job in question....... thank you so much 🙏
I’ve heard an incident at Winbledon Park station for London Underground where a ten year old boy was seperated from his mother and was left on that platform. I would have ignored everything about gEt OfF aT tHe NeXt StAtIoN and gone a stop further to Wimbledon which is more busy and more likely to have staff, or use some type of signal to alert driver (maybe put your hand out at the car marker to alert the driver that something is wrong) but of course the average ten year old boy wouldn’t think of that and he was left at an unstaffed station. Whats worse, northern promised to remove staff, LUL promised to add staff to every station. Poor boy.
OMG! THIS IS SO INSANE! CLOSING TICKET OFFICES WAS HIGELY DETREMENTAL IN RURAL AMERICA! I can only imagine how you all will be hit given how much more regular services!
This seems like the modern day version of the Beaching Act.
This seems like something stupid that we would do here in the U.S., where ridership levels pale in comparison to the U.K.; I hope some MPs see this.
Great video, I totally agree it's crazy to close them
So pleased to see you're championing the cause to retain ticket offices and making plenty of noise about how passionate you and many others are about this. As a disabled passenger I'd much rather buy rail tickets from a person where I can discuss options and ensure I get the right ticket.
I live in Smithy Bridge and I can't remember the last time it worked and arguing at Victoria
You and stu both said it well about the ticket offfices, there are plenty of people who still need them, rangers and rovers are only sold there and if theres a ticket office open, then theres almost certainly a member of staff guarenteed if theres someone in danger in the station. Also theyve been able to sort out tickets i purchaed for the wrong date from the ticket machines at Leicester. We should #SAVETICKETOFFICES.
Wow Jen this is an amazing video. As someone who works in a ticket office, you absolutely smacked the nail on the head with your observations.
I agree with you 100 percent, and I live in another country. In the northeast US you will only find ticket agents in the major hubs like New York and Boston. The vast majority of people will manage without them. But, even as a casual train user I've been asked by people how to use the ticket machines. If you don't read English or know local terminology it could be very difficult to navigate. In an area that attracts foreign tourists that's an issue. Additionally, I can't see my elderly parents using one of those "God damned things".
They can't have thought about tourists. Anyone coming from abroad is unlikely to have the app on their phone. Ticket machines at stations are ok but not ideal.
This changed my view on this issue entirely, thank you for making this.
Great work Jen - you have an admirer here in Australia.
With your passionate, well articulated and thoughtful arguments, you should be getting a wider audience. Surely someone can get you on some tv interviews to spread the word about this?
Thank you for the compliment! But the mainstream media is not a safe place for a trans person right now - even if offered, I'd turn it down for my own safety
I have twice in the past found detonators on the platform of a London suburban station. I picked them up and handed them in to the ticket office. At another station I once saw smoke coming from under a carriage as an, electric, train left the station. I reported it to the ticket office.
I gave a yearly season card. If i were to travel outside its boundary. Only way to get a ticket is at a ticket office none of the ticket machines can cope.
It's the same situation here in Sweden. We need an alternative if the whole internet were to fail.
What annoys me is people say it’s only 12% who uses the offices. Yes but this percentage of people are more likely to the majority of people who use the railways that are vulnerable and elderly who need additional support. Are we saying these people don’t matter anymore. The same argument applies to the cashless society we are moving towards. Does the people who only deal in cash not matter anymore and they should be in gods waiting room to pass away because they are an inconvenience to cashless and the digital society. It’s discussing THESE PEOPLE DO MATTER!!!!! The fact that Piccadilly is on the list of potential closure is crazy. There will be a lot more fare dogging if the ticket offices go….
Thanks Jen for this video, I have to make an argument speech so this will be a really good topic to do it on!
Here's a challenge: can you buy a Sail&Rail ticket to Belfast, Dublin, or even one to Galway or Derry (i.e., including Irish Rail or NIR travel too) from a machine?
Annoyingly, Irish Rail no longer sells these tickets at stations: you need to buy online long enough in advance that they can physically post them out to you. It's absurd.
Hattersley has just been redone with a brand new ticket office and if it gets closed it's millions of pounds been put to waste.
Important points well made. Everyone share this video!
Totally agree, 🤞 they listen to the consultation, but it’s unlikely
Please, spare just a few minutes of your time to fill out the consultation. We need everyone we can to oppose this politically and financially driven move that will make the railways less safe, less inclusive, less accessible and more stressful.
Everyone, let’s #saveourticketoffices
Thank you so much Jen for creating such a detailed video showing the harms of ticket office closures.
My local station, though staffed, is due to have its ticket offices closed too.
The whole idea of closing ticket offices is crazy.Not only having a human presence for welfare side but just having someone there for information can save time as well as just having that reassurance.When you think that the major stations in my area (Bristol) are going to suffer the same fate, just does not make sense.Thank you ,Jen
Absolutely agree with you about ticket offices and stations without any members of staff can be frightening place. If you are ever in Dublin Jen you could make a great video about our wonderful suburban rail line the Dart from Howth and Malahide on the Norhside to Bray and Greystones in Co. Wicklow. Unfortunately, many of the stations have no members of staff during the day.
It's utterly unacceptable that these proposals even got to a public stage, let alone actually pushed forward with. My local station is a relatively quiet, 2-platform 2-tph deal, and the other day while I was in the waiting room (which as you mentioned is locked whenever the ticket office is unstaffed!) no less than four different groups of people went to the ticket counter to either buy a ticket or ask a question within the space of ten minutes. And as for New Street, which I've used at least once a week for the past five years as a student in Birmingham, I've often seen >20 people queueing outside the ticket office! They are well-used and a vital part of generally making life easier for passengers.
It really feels like at best, a reversion back to Beeching-era thinking of railways as a business from which every drop of profit must be squeezed rather than a public service first and foremost, and at worst a blatantly transparent attempt to make rail travel more difficult. I will 100% be responding to that consultation, thank you Jen for speaking up about this 👍
Great video Jen & Stu. Well said. Totally agree with everything you say.
i agree we need ticket offices. i can see people just getting on trains with out buying a ticket. some of the stations that don't have a ticket offices. where i use to live in Barnt green before they had 2 ticket offices the amount of times the mashince would be down was a joke. so if i was going to Redditch i would have no choice but to get on the train and hoped the train gaurd would come down. it was about 1 in 10 times they would come down. and some times there would be no one at the Redditch office to get a ticket from. there is more resons to keep the offices open then to close them.
It's total madness... you CANNOT buy the full range of tickets from a TVM. I tried to buy a St Albans plusbus recently I put in my origin as St Albans City & my destination as St Albans Abbey... it couldn't find the ticjet as both the origin and destination were the same !!. Its totally hopeless, not thought out at all and will end up in a total mess, many thanks to the hopeless ideas of the DaFT, treasury & HM Government, !!
100 percent! This is all tory rubbish, lets vote em out!!!
Spot on
Thanks Jen and Stu for this very necessary video! Although I'm in Scotland, I've responded to the consultation due to the proposed closure of the Avanti ticket office at Glasgow Central. The complete inconsistency of which offices are affected also shows how poorly thought through these ideas are - e.g. Avanti closing the Manchester Piccadilly ticket office vs. LNER keeping the Edinburgh Waverley ticket office open with the exact same opening hours as just now
Diabolical liberty!! Stanford-le-Hope doesn't even have a ticket office and hasn't had one for three years.
My friend runs the cafe at Bromsgrove Station. She is only allowed to open the Cafe when the ticket office is open (it’s in the lease). Sad - her coffee is great.
As a registered optician the first thing I thought of is those who are low or partially sighted. The ticket machines are not at all accessible for them.
Great video, Jen, I'm pleased someone is speaking out on RUclips about this scandal. My home town station, and one you are very familiar with (Bromsgrove) has been operating very poor ticket office availability for some time now, despite what it claims on their displayed opening hours. You're lucky if you find it open beyond noon and sometimes it doesn't open at all. However, it's Bromsgrove and you just expect a poor service. The new station has been open 7 years and CrossCountry trains rattle through regularly to many destinations but are still not calling here despite the many promises when the station opened with a fanfare. It's a modern and well-equipped station but it really is a joke.
I live in the US, Seattle Area to be exact, and not having Ticket agents or Station staff for all trains at stations with station buildings and a ticket/station staff area can mean that catching a train is either unsafe because of the time of day trains come through, your stuck outside in potentially unfavorable weather, or don't have access to train arrival info and restrooms.
I have two stations on Amtrak that I want to mention, as I've had experience with them. First of all is Centralia,
Washinton. Here the station is only open for what is considered Daylight trains 90% of the year and the trains that are Nighttime trains during the remaining 10% of the year never have staff to help with informing us of delays or giving us a safe place to wait for the train and have access to the Restrooms. The station is how ever a local office for one of the local freight rail companies, Burlington Northern Santa Fe, but they can't open the station at all and will lock the platform at a certain hour even there are delayed trains that haven't come through yet, which I ran into and I had to get help from the BNSF staff to find out my train had broke down and was getting a freight locomotive to tow it the rest of the way to Seattle which meant at least another 2-3 hours of waiting. If the station building and ticket office was open then I could have at least waited inside and not in the snow.
The other station is Kelso, Washington. Here all trains arriving before 8:30pm have Volunteers to meet the train. If a train is delayed to after 8:45pm then the staff leave and lock up the station even if the train comes in at 8:50pm the staff have to leave. I was at this station on December 17th, 2015 during a major windstorm waiting for a train that was 3 hours late. The station almost lost power 3 times shortly before my train was to arrive. Also the train was not just 3 hours late but getting even later to where we almost had to move out to the platform during the storm to wait for the train with out station staff and potentially with out power. If the power was out, we'd of had no way to make sure the train operators could see the platform clearly and not over shoot the station as has happened there before. Thankfully all went well for my train but the following train had no station staff as it normally would have if it two hadn't been delayed.
I'd like to quickly tell you about my favorite station of all. That station is Centennial Station serving Olympia and Lacey, Washington. Here the station has Volunteer staff who have made a promise to Amtrak Passengers to be on hand to meet Every Single Train. They also have a passenger safety fence between parking lot and platform that station staff have to open only if a train is in the station and only emergency personnel, ie police, fire, or paramedics, can open only in an emergency. At Centennial Station Staff have never missed a train since the station building first opened. If Centennial Station lost it's staff the station would lose ridership as it would fell less safe to use the station.
Also here in the US, unlike the UK, we have a lot more Checked Luggage situations. Checked Luggage on Amtrak can only occur if a station is staffed by Amtrak personnel and only during station building open hours. If you checked luggage to a station whose building is closed when your train arrives you just collect it on the platform. So if we lost station Ticket offices we'd lose checked luggage and people wouldn't be able to travel long distances as easily.
I as someone who wants to visit the UK and use rail while i'm there doesn't like the idea of ticket offices closing because I and over tourists know next to nothing about buying rail tickets in the UK.
..and another thing. Supermarkets have had self service checkouts for what 20 years? But apart from one or two across the whole country, they still give people the choice of self service or staffed tills. If supermarkets still think its necessary to give people a choice, why does the railway think it shouldn't?
I use both Greater Anglia and c2c and seeing that ticket offices closing or have reduced hours is a big mistake. Plus with c2c their ticket machines don’t always seem to work and it’s causing such frustration with people who use c2c having to see ticket machines breaking down every time.
As I’ve seen pictures of ticket machines failing to work on social media. And for myself have seen these ticket machines failing. But I do think think it’s a bad idea to close ticket kiosks at smaller stations that gets a lot of people. And it’s also made people with disability much harder to travel on.
Ticket machines can not offer the correct ticket for certain journeys.
One can not talk to a ticket machine.
Ticket office's can give the right ticket for one's journey.
After all we live in a country that likes to shoot itself in the foot. Who came up with this decision and why? We are supposed to be encouraging people to use the train.
On the app front - sometimes the machines at my local station wont work for the card recognition, and guess who helps. THE TICKET OFFICE
Something else that you might not have thought about...
A number of ticket offices around Birmingham went down to being open only two hours in the morning peak. No one will take the job for two hours a day so the ticket offices are always closed due to "staff shortages".
Brian.
That sucks it was nice seeing at Manchester Piccadilly the other day jen it's Jacob
It’s amazing how, despite the big fancy screen, the experience here is 100x worse than the tiny screened machines I used in 2006. How?!
first of all well done to you & Stuart for making this very important video even tho the majority of tickets i buy are online or on machines but i still need ticket offices to renew my railcard and to buy rover tickets at my local station on the machines you cant buy rover tickets you cant buy tickets from another station & worst of all you cant buy the cheaper off peack ticket till 9am and to add to that the machine wont sell you the railcard discount till the time its valid so basically if your train was at say 10am & the next one isnt for an hour your scewed thats why we need ticket offices to stay open and most of the people i work with only get the train when they are going for a day out in the Capital and they use a ticket office as someone in a ticket office will tell you the resctrictions in London like you cant get a fast train out of London between 4pm & 7pm i do t think a machine will tell you that anyway brilliant video
people can time NRE and perchance the required ticket(s) over the phone you can also speak to staff
As an Australian, I was amazed by the complexity of buying train tickets in Britain. So many fares, train routes etc. So many restrictions. So difficult to take on board when you are an infrequent traveller. I recall the occasion when I bought a ticket to Bletchley, Obviously missed something on the ticket machine and got a single instead of the intended return to and from Euston. The price difference was only 40 p between a single and return. So I went into the ticket office and a most helpful clerk there issued me with a return ticket. There's no way I could have done that on a machine. Agree with comments about safety, vandalism and closing up facilities on stations when they're unstaffed. It will bounce back in terms of extra maintenance costs. People will be more inclined to use express coach services than trains, if you don't have facilities available when waiting it's no different than waiting at a bus stop. And at least for Britain, far cheaper for the traveller. Bean counter mentality so beloved of Tory governments.
Came to the comments to add: Just look at Germany where they've already closed most ticket offices, there are hardly any waiting rooms and none are actually spaces you want to be in. On some smaller lines you still have to call two days in advance if you want to make the journey with a wheelchair. In some medium sized towns they have offices with very limited opening times and (I guarantee this will happen to you too) they actually charge a fee if you buy your ticket there. And this is all technically operated by the state, watch how bad it's gonna get with you.
Excellent video Jen
It’s the small things people will miss out on and the idiots that listen to the media bile when actually you’ve stated the facts correctly
What if the ticket machine is out of order, like you said the car is starting to look like a great option, I swear the government doesn't want us to travel an move around
I buy my tickets on Trainline, but like you say, it affects everyone in many different ways. My grandparents would be lost without ticket offices and on the off chance I need some info, the help won't be there
Also... come to Sheffield and explore our trams!
Gonna be interesting to see a drop in revenue if ticket offices do close as planned. Because if you can't buy a ticket on the station (if the machines aren't working like those in the video, or other reasons), and you still have to travel by train, you're just gonna hop on without a ticket.
It's a ridiculous move, and reduces the accessibility of the railways at a point where we really need to increase it.
In Melbourne Australia we've had suburban ticket closures for years. We have some roaming wannabe police officers located at stations. How the HECK do rail companies think taling personnel off stations is a good thing is baffling. Love you Jen, keep up the good fight 💪
Can’t believe it , no assistance getting on or off trains .
Very solid video, shows the very everyday reality of these bonkers proposals. It should be sent in as a consultation response. Thinking of sending it to my MP. I live just outside of London and can use an oyster card for most of my rail journeys and still need a ticket office every now and then. Every time I renew my railcard, a member of staff has to apply the discount to my oyster card manually for me to benefit from the railcard as it can't be done at a ticket machine. You used to be able do this at any station, now I have to do to go to a tube station, which is for me is 7 miles away, instead of the 1 mile my local station is. It's not convienient and without ticket offices, people who still bother to use the train will inevitably pay more due to the confusing tickets we have and get a less pleasant journey at the same time. I agree that many people will just stop using trains and add to all the road traffic if this goes ahead. I don't like what self service tills have done to our supermarkets, so going to use the ticket office a lot more going forward, its far easier to collect tickets bought online from them. I know the system well and still struggle with getting the right ticket without staff sometimes. Technology can never emulate or replace the social human presence. Even the neighbouring villages station had a queue in the ticket office in the middle of the day the other day when the place is quiet, they are so valuable and we will always need them.
Me personally I’m from Australia and i also agree its a stupid idea to remove ticket offices in Australia we have the same issues if a station isn’t a big one it either has limited staff hours or none at all and it’s ridiculous i don’t know who is the one that thought closing ticket offices was a good idea but its not ur defeating the purpose of even using a railway if u decide to remove ticket offices should just close the railways in general bc otherwise as other people have said it will become very unsafe and I’m not tryna get myself cancelled by saying this but i think that sucide might go up rapidly which is a very bad thing we don’t want that to happen we all have lives to live without ticket offices its almost impossible to travel around good job to everyone who participated in this video your all speaking the honest truth and i hope the British Railways rethink this decision
Even though TFL shut down all its LU ticket offices, most stations on the National Rail sections of TFL have them and are quite popular with people who instantly think that the TFL ticket machines are only for Oyster cards or TFL tickets and would rather speak to someone to get their ticket to a non TFL served destination quicker than if they were to try and figure out how to use the machine and risk missing a connection and some ticket machines in general are slow to even print tickets and give back change...
American here... One of the first times I went to France a ticket office was indispensable, I couldn't find where I wanted to go on the ticket machine. Between my broken French and the employee's English we were able to get me tickets to my destination. Without that personalized help, I probably never would have gotten there. Unfortunately, I see the same thing happening to others in this situation; no intimate local knowledge results in someone missing out on something important. Not to mention all the other side effects talked about in this video.
Saw you at Piccadilly that evening as I was on my way back to Southport from Malton after a day out filming Scots Guardsman. Was the chap you also had a brief chat with too while the cameras we're off.