Great Western Coffee Shop

From Powys County Times (https://www.countytimes.co.uk/news/18504054.ticket-office-permanently-close-newtown-railway-station/)


A story from a somewhat obscure station in Wales, or something more significant?

TravelWatch SouthWest discussed station hubs last Friday ... complete journeys getting people to and from the station, interchanges between various modes for the final miles, and the need for them to be friendly (manned) facilities in all but the smallest hub cases.

This afternoon (9th June 2020), 16:00, at our Coffee Shop Fireside Chat (zoom meeting - see http://www.passenger.chat/23580 for meeting code ) I'll ask the question about the future shape of staffing for such places. Is this relevant to the GWR area?  Yes - with the suggestion of a number of new interchanges / hubs in Devon (for example) there's the question of how they will remain friendly, clean and viable.

I'll also raise the question of "should volunteers be used as safety angels" as proposed by Grant Shapps and railed against by Mick Cash (has anyone in our ares been approached to take on this role?)

I'm noting driver training along to Brighton described as DOO (Driver Only Operation) ... train managers / conductors taken off the trains, or re-allocated to more customer focused work without the need to break from customer service work at each intermediate station?

The item on Newtown reads as though it is a privately run ticket office, rather like Chester-le-Street was. The trips to Brighton are route refreshers for drivers. No passengers so no conductor required.

Yes, I agree ... discussions points on the direction of both of these for this afternoon

Lewis Ward, Assistant Regional Development Manager (West) with GWR is from Newtown so I told him of these posts and asked him for his thoughts.  He sent me this to post here.

Richard, thanks for sharing the news, you remembered I’m of Cambrian provenance!  I hope the coffee shop are able to have a good debate about how such enterprises can thrive.  I know the station and community well as it’s my home town until I moved away for university.

I hope you don’t mind me sharing these thoughts – they are most definitely my own. This is indeed the privately run ticket office which had been there for over 20 years. It must have, in the past, benefited from some slightly ambiguous policies about when one should buy a ticket. At the outset, shortly after the closure of the official ticket office, some conductors could be heard challenging passengers ‘why didn’t you buy before you board’ which I personally felt to be unfair - the railway had made its own decision to close the Ticket Office in favour of ‘buy on board’. 

At that time it was an independent travel agent, at a station, and getting the balance right between providing the tickets whilst not being responsible for the train service would have been tricky – these were new and unusual times for the railway. In the mid 90’s passengers still expected the ticket seller to be an ambassador of all things railway; privatisation still embryonic. As a teenager I did begin the Intercity ticket retail course with a view to providing seasonal help there – but other distractions came along!  The office had, over time, cemented itself as a more formal agency, albeit at arm’s length to the TOC, there was even an ATW name badge often worn with pride along with other examples of close partnership. At that point it became a lot more like a ‘ticket office or travel centre’ and it became a local institution, often preferred over the more official channels. As an agency it even became proactive in helping to manage disruption, such was their good relationship with ATW. I guess there’s many considerations if setting out on such an enterprise now. Do such businesses need public premises these days? Can an online presence be a substitute? I wonder how costs could be reduced? How could such an endeavour be sustainable?
 
The business changed hands around four years ago. Investment in the line was in a good place following the introduction of an hourly frequency on the Cambrian main line (instead of two hourly) and before that the refurb of the 158’s in tandem with ERTMS introduction and a more robust timetable. Patronage was growing but there was the of the looming threat of TVM’s.

Of course, no-one foresaw the extra threat of Covid 19. Ordinarily the business could probably work, it very much majored upon the added value provided by helping customers to find cheaper routes, explaining restrictions, offering split ticketing and providing that extra reassurance for nervous or infrequent travellers - and there’s a lot of that in rural Wales where car is still very much king. So there was a loyal customer base and a word of mouth reputation for quality. A TVM probably won’t fit the bill as a replacement for that. Also, given that the mid Wales market towns were deliberately spaced around 15 miles apart by historic charter there’s normally plenty of time to sell tickets on board, so in the absence of the office, I suspect many will prefer buying from the conductor as the next best option. But I wonder if conductors will have to challenge people for not buying before they board? The TVM will become the mysterious urban machine which people in Mid Wales will need to fathom out. It goes full circle. It will be a shame.
 
As for ‘obscure’ ….well, in defence of my home town, I must point out Newtown’s prominence as the birthplace of Robert Owen (‘founder’ of the Co-Operative movement) and as home of Pryce Jones – the Royal Welsh Warehouse located alongside the station, it was Britain’s first large scale mail order retail outlet, by Appointment to Queen Victoria, and made good use of the train for distribution… back then the parcels business must have been thriving!