McNulty Report - ticket office closures, increased fares? (merged topics)

[whole diary]

[Btline]

Sorry, didn't realise the link had already been put up. You have to admit, it's a pretty damming memo and it's not surprising people are in uproar.

The thing is, I don't see the future of ticket offices with Smartcards and online sales. The loss of travel centres at key station is a shame though.

A roll out of smartcards needs to be combined with a new fares system.

[paul7575]

Travel centres were closed at places like Southampton, Salisbury, Woking, Basingstoke....

And at Waterloo. But as far as most passengers are concerned, not much of a change.  Everything you could do at their travel centres is still available at the relevant station's counters.

Paul

[JayMac]

Everything you could do at their travel centres is still available at the relevant station's counters.

One thing you don't get in a travel centre is a queue of irate people behind you wanting a ticket while you are busy; booking your Advance, renewing your Season ticket, getting fares and timetable information..... at the one manned window at Salisbury....

[SapperPsmith]

In future you will not need to use a booking office window - alternatives are

Advance ticket - call centre or internet.  Ticket fullfillment by ToD, Smartcard or mobile (for those who think this is unreasonable my 77 year old mother does all her rail ticket purchase by phone and gets excellent advice).

Season Ticket renewal - via internet and delivered direct to smartcard or mobile next time you travel

Fares and Information - via smartphone or TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine) enabled with link to customer servcie center where you can speak to the person via a video link

Manned windows will become unnecessary - we must move the railway to a financially sustainable position.  Cinemas dont have ticket windows but have lots of staff giving customer service and selling food.  Like other posts above I wish we could have a sensible discussion about a properly staffed envioment where passengers feel safe rather than clinging to the view that nothing can change.

[JayMac]

And for those that don't have access to the internet or don't wish to pay for phone calls to someone who may be in another country, or who may not be able to deal with anything more complex than an A to B ticket?

Your 77 year old mother is no representative of society as a whole. There are many, many people for whom the only real option is to purchase tickets at a station. Often with journey requirements that require human interaction, and not human 'interaction' with someone hundreds, possibly thousands of miles away via video link. 

Smartcards will not have 100% take up and are very unlikely to have a network wide PAYG^▸ (Pay as you go) feature. Touch in at Altnabraec? Touch out at Berney Arms? Load up with ^300 for that Anytime Return to Manchester?

[SapperPsmith]

I hear your pain but there are many more (like my Mother) who cannot visit a station booking office as the nearest one is 15 miles away - what do you suggest for those parts of the country?  I also prefer UK^▸ (United Kingdom) call centres and think that those who moved offshore lost a USP and did not save much money.

I would also like to know how we will reduce the excessive cost of sale?  We certainly need to provide TVMs^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine) which are easy to understand and dont use railway language (where is London Terminals?).  Petrol stations which resisted self service went out of business and we can see Tesco and others introducing self servcie because it is cheaper.  We may not like it but if we are in a society where we want lower costs we have to move in the same direction.  Any organisation however big or small is in some part a reflection of society.