There has been a significant shift in the way passengers purchase tickets with just one in every 10 transactions taking place at a ticket office in 2022/23, down from one in three a decade earlier. Some 99% of all transactions can now be completed online or at ticket machines. Despite this, our stations have hardly changed in the past 10 years, which means that staff are constrained to work in ticket offices, although they could serve passengers better on station platforms and concourses.
Together with the rail industry, the Government wants to improve and modernise the experience for passengers by moving staff out from behind the ticket office screens and on to station concourses and platforms. By making staff more visible and accessible, they will be able to provide support to passengers where they most need it and help to those who cannot or do not want to use contactless or digital tickets. This is something that already happens on the London Underground as well as other operators across the country, including the Tyne and Wear Metro.
Crucially, no currently staffed station will become unstaffed as a result of this reform.
When proposing major changes to ticket office opening hours (including closures), operators are required to take into account the adequacy of the proposed alternatives in relation to the needs of passengers who are elderly or disabled, and to include this in the notice of the proposal sent to other operators and passenger groups.
The very first discussions I had with any groups about these changes were with those groups that represent passengers with accessibility and mobility issues on the railway. The Department for Transport recently hosted roundtable discussions with industry and accessibility and transport groups to discuss this matter and we continue to engage with the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee. I told them that I am keen to work with them to help to ensure that these proposals are designed such that they work for each group with different characteristics. I will be looking to meet them again to ensure that that occurs.
Train operators must consult on any proposed changes, advertising them at the relevant stations and inviting members of the public who wish to comment on the proposal to write to the relevant passenger body (Transport Focus or London TravelWatch) within a 21-day public consultation period.
Southern
Southern Rail has set out how their proposed changes will affect Bexhill, Cooden Beach, and Pevensey & Westham stations. The public consultation is now underway and runs until 26 July 2023 (which has now been extended until 1 September 2023).
For full details of the proposed changes and information on how to respond to the consultation, please visit Southern’s website here.
Southeastern
Southeastern’s consultation will take place in phases. The first phase will be on 40 tickets offices in Southeastern’s Metro area. Proposals for all other stations – including Stonegate, Etchingham, Robertsbridge, Battle, and Crowhurst – will be consulted on in the autumn.
For further information, please visit Southeastern’s website here.
