If your station is Category E, write to your MP and local councillor
Map: is your ticket office on the hit list?As many as 675 station ticket offices are under threat of closure, with staff being replaced by ticket vending machines (TVM) that will cause problems for local communities who rely on that service. If your station is on the list and you agree with our reasons to defend it, reasons based on community experience elsewhere, why not take action to defend it. And tell us what you plan and how we can help.
McNulty recommends closing 675 station ticket offices
Chiswick Station is Category E - the ticket office will close if the government accepts McNulty's recommendations
Photo credit: Chiswick Station by Ewan-M (Ewan Munro)
Photo credit: Chiswick Station by Ewan-M (Ewan Munro)
The McNulty Report recommends the closure of ticket offices on 675 stations.
If by now you’ve had a chance to read the fine print of Sir Roy McNulty’s “Realising the Potential for GB Rail: Report of the Rail Value for Money Study” published in May you may have seen that there is a recommendation that will see the closure of all ticket offices on the 675 Category E stations.
Across the British rail network there are over 2,500 stations, all of which are classified from A to F. Category A stations are national hubs and amongst the largest railway stations, whilst Category F are small and unstaffed.
The McNulty Report has found that at smaller stations the majority of ticket sales take place in a three-hour period between 07:00 and 10:00, but that many ticket offices are open much longer with Category E stations opening for an average of 10 hours on any weekday.
The Train Operating Companies do not have the freedom to change opening hours as the Ticketing and Settlement Agreement (TSA) contractually fix these as part of the franchise agreements. Only with DfT approval can opening hours be changed.
McNulty has claimed that historically this has only been granted on rare occasions but as the railways trade unions will attest, it hasn’t stopped most train operators proposing changes – as witness the story on the Together for Transport Website about London Midland’s current attempts.
McNulty is suggesting that to make it easier for train operators to close ticket offices, the TSA should be amended so that the DfT no longer has to approve changes to ticket office opening hours, including complete closures.
The thinking behind the Report would appear to be that by installing more ticket machines in place of people in ticket offices is the way forward and even offering the opportunity to be able to purchase tickets via other “retail channels.”
Yet, for this to be seen as an improvement depends on the ticket machine technology because the criticism is that passengers have difficulty finding cheaper fares, won’t have access to travel information before making their purchases and in some cases cannot use cash – as with London Midland’s recent proposals – which would create problems for those who don’t have or don’t like using credit and debit cards, principally amongst the elderly.
Together for Transport comments: “As with other aspects of the Report, only a partial picture is provided to justify making cuts. Staff working in ticket offices on Category E Stations are usually involved in a range of duties additional to selling tickets – this is one of the many changes that has taken place over the last twenty years. In addition, outside of the morning rush, ticket office staff at many of these smaller stations also deal with enquiries from passengers who are not used to rail travel or who are seeking advice about cheaper tickets and better journey options.
McNulty’s solution is to close these ticket offices that give a service to local communities and that is why there are such vociferous protests when closures are proposed; just look at the London Midland issue.
And to silence this protest, it would appear that in future public protest will be directed at the companies who decide on the cuts rather than the DfT which doesn’t share the same commercial interest as the firms involved. How is this an improvement for communities – and especially with all this talk about the Big Society and localism? Our belief is that train operating companies would be able to close ticket offices without regard for public opinion because they would know there would be no sanction against them.”
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Rob Jenks on 01/08/2011Tagged in
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