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stuving
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« Reply #15 on: July 05, 2023, 12:45:04 » |
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SWR» have published their proposals for each station. Some things are spelled out - notably (1) all ticket offices will close but (2) no stations become newly unstaffed - but not (1) what they mean by "colleagues with full retailing capacity and (2) what happens to staff numbers. This is the relevant announcement South Western Railway (SWR) is launching a consultation on a station change proposal, with new arrangements at 153 of SWR’s 190 stations to be consulted on.
The proposed changes include creating a single team of colleagues at each station, who will work together to help customers with different aspects of their train travel from journey planning to ticket purchasing.
The proposals would mean the closure of all ticket offices, but more face-to-face support for customers, greater visibility of colleagues throughout stations, and a higher proportion of colleagues trained to support customers with their retail choices. The more detailed page linked from there does not say much more, but there is a presentation/document listing all stations and their category 1-4. For their 24 highest service level (category 1) stations they do refer to "interim additional retailing facilities that will be able to provide the ticket types that customer are unable to purchase online or via ticket vending machines". I guess that means keeping ticket offices open (initially at least) or a staff member with a machine, as well as helpng with TVMs▸ of course.
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ray951
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« Reply #16 on: July 05, 2023, 12:58:37 » |
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Proposals for GWR▸ stations can be found here https://www.gwr.com/haveyoursayA quick glance at my local station Didcot Parkway Sales through ticket office 25% Sales through TVM▸ 7% Sales online 67% Looking at those figures I would suggest that the public wants to use ticket offices and that it is TVM's that are not required and therefore should be closed down.:-) So is the 12% figure disingenuous in that it includes stations with no ticket offices, I wonder what the percentage of tickets sales is at stations with ticket offices? |
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« Last Edit: July 05, 2023, 13:09:15 by ray951 »
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PhilWakely
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« Reply #18 on: July 05, 2023, 13:18:32 » |
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Interesting comment at the bottom of each notice.......... *- Date changes to Advance Purchase tickets will not be possible after windows are closed
I guess that will ultimately mean that NO Advance tickets will be sold 'at the station' |
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old original
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« Reply #19 on: July 05, 2023, 13:36:20 » |
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Interesting comment at the bottom of each notice.......... *- Date changes to Advance Purchase tickets will not be possible after windows are closed
I guess that will ultimately mean that NO Advance tickets will be sold 'at the station' ..along with railcards, seasons, almost anything which isn't a walk up type ticket. Admittedly it's pure speculation at the moment but I can't see much good coming out of all this. |
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8 Billion people on a wet rock - of course we're not happy
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eightonedee
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« Reply #20 on: July 05, 2023, 14:07:33 » |
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What to make of this?
The very brief announcement on RDG‡’s website refers to “the closure of a number of ticket offices across the network”, not most or all as widely touted (or are they waiting to see the outcome of the consultation before deciding how far to go?). Industry Insider’s spreadsheet extract indicates that no station in the eastern area of GWR▸ will become un-manned. So “staff move out from behind the glass” appears to be the main change for smaller stations (at least in “our” part of the world, speaking as a forum member from the Thames valley), with most redundancies actually being at the large stations. This also seems to be the case from the SWR» information that Stuving has directed us to.
I think Froome’s post yesterday sums the situation up well, but misses an important point. Currently, everyone knows that at a station with just one person on duty, they can be found in the ticket office, which almost always can be found near the main entrance to the station. If that member of staff has to wander around the station – likely to be at least two platforms, sometimes more. So if you arrive at Pangbourne (for example), you will have to go out on the up platform, check both ends, and if there’s non-one there, scuttle down the stairs and up again for the down platform, and repeat the exercise there. If the member of staff on duty was taking a comfort break when you arrived, you might emerge on the down platform just to see him (or her) emerge on the platform you have just left!
This will make it no easier for the public to use the railway, quite the opposite, and for those such as the elderly or disabled, it makes matters worse.
This is (bluntly) a very poorly thought-out proposal. By all means up-skill the station staff to be able to deal with more than just ticket sales (as many seem to, already). As Industry Insider has said, inevitably reduced ticket revenues and changing ticket-buying habits mean that staff cuts are likely, but let’s hope this silly idea (moving staff out of ticket offices on smaller stations) will be dropped.
The promotional video to which there is a link behind the “other cases” button in the text of the RDG announcement is not really relevant – it features two multi-staffed stations (Newbury and Green Park) – with fixed desks that are manned! (Doh!). If removing screens is the key, then remove them. However, if you are the only staff member on duty, is it unreasonable to suggest that a degree of protection is appropriate?
There’s a clear message that RDG is partly responding to union intransigence on other issues. I have some sympathy with this. Here’s an idea – let’s at last move to all trains having driver-operated doors, so on-board passenger facing staff are freed up to spend more time dealing the with public, selling tickets, checking them and dealing with queries. Having spent 20-odd years commuting down the North Downs line, and seeing the TMs‡ constantly having to abandon their progress through the train to deal with the doors at each station, there’s one blindly obvious way the railway industry can make better use of its staff’s time looking after the travelling public.
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ray951
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« Reply #21 on: July 05, 2023, 14:24:14 » |
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Given that Bristol TM‡, Paddington, Reading, Oxford have no ticket offices beyond Decemeber 2024, does that mean that there will be no ticket offices on GWR▸ from that date?
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PhilWakely
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« Reply #22 on: July 05, 2023, 14:47:21 » |
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What worries me is 'special events' - such as Teignmouth Air Show. Imagine the chaos at the gateline with hundreds of customers wanting to purchase tickets. I understand that, throughout a 9-hour day last Saturday at Newton Abbot, an average of one ticket every 35 seconds was issued through the two windows that were opened. The vast majority of these sales were to 'once-in-a-while travellers' (usually families) who did not know about Groupsave. Several railcards were also sold off the back of these sales.
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ChrisB
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« Reply #23 on: July 05, 2023, 14:52:03 » |
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If that member of staff has to wander around the station – likely to be at least two platforms, sometimes more. So if you arrive at Pangbourne (for example), you will have to go out on the up platform, check both ends, and if there’s non-one there, scuttle down the stairs and up again for the down platform, and repeat the exercise there. If the member of staff on duty was taking a comfort break when you arrived, you might emerge on the down platform just to see him (or her) emerge on the platform you have just left!
This will make it no easier for the public to use the railway, quite the opposite, and for those such as the elderly or disabled, it makes matters worse.
This is (bluntly) a very poorly thought-out proposal. Hmmm. poorly thought out assumption, I think. Who said they have to "wander around the station"? If a passenger needs/wants/asks for assistance, then that staff member may be with another custmer - but any business will want their 'customer-facing' staff in front of their customers, where customers are to be found, in station booking halls generally. So not difficult to find unless with other customers |
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ChrisB
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« Reply #24 on: July 05, 2023, 14:54:29 » |
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Given that Bristol TM‡, Paddington, Reading, Oxford have no ticket offices beyond Decemeber 2024, does that mean that there will be no ticket offices on GWR▸ from that date? Customer Hubs at the larger stations will retail those items not available from TVMs▸ or online. I would expect one of these at each of those you mention |
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eightonedee
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« Reply #25 on: July 05, 2023, 15:01:24 » |
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If a passenger needs/wants/asks for assistance, then that staff member may be with another custmer - but any business will want their 'customer-facing' staff in front of their customers, where customers are to be found, in station booking halls generally. So not difficult to find unless with other customers
So - you close and lock the old ticket office and the staff member stands outside? The implication of " Staff would move out of ticket offices and on station platforms, concourses and ticket halls, adopting new ‘customer help’ roles already in place in many parts of the railway" is that they are mobile! |
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ChrisB
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« Reply #26 on: July 05, 2023, 15:03:50 » |
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Yes, but all homing back to a start point - the customers....
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bobm
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« Reply #27 on: July 05, 2023, 15:05:23 » |
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Interesting newly opened Reading Green Park was specified with (and keeps seven staff) while the other intermediate stations on the line only have one currently.
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Electric train
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« Reply #29 on: July 05, 2023, 15:53:48 » |
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This is a DfT» (Government) driven agenda, it was "successfully" done on LUL▸ so they see no reason why it cannot be implemented on the National network. Eventually I can see a time when the smaller stations which currently only have part time ticket offices will be totally unstaffed and the larger stations will only have staff at peak times
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Starship just experienced what we call a rapid unscheduled disassembly, or a RUD, during ascent,”
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Poll
