Just one working ticket machine at Swindon. What future?

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From the Swindon Advertiser

Great Western Railways has launched a review of the contract for its ageing ticket vending machines across its entire estate, from London to Wales to Cornwall.

Physical train tickets are becoming a thing of the past as more and more digital applications such as Trainline - and even GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)'s app - now offering customers digital tickets instantly available.

The news comes after the Adver reported how just one ticket machine was working at Swindon station, leaving to long queues and frustrated commuters.

[snip]

After the Adver covered this issue on Wednesday and asked Great Western Railway for comment, the train company issued a response.

A spokesperson for GWR said: "We are reviewing the contract to provide ticket vending machines across our estate.

“Many of our ticket machines have reached, or are reaching, their end of life and a number of machines have been out of use for some time.

"The new contract takes into account the cost of new machines, installation and maintenance while recognising that the use of TVMs^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine) has significantly reduced, with people choosing to buy online rather than at the station and use more modern fulfilment methods, such as our mobile tickets, or smart cards."

The review also affects other Great Western Railway-run stations in Wiltshire, including:

Chippenham
Trowbridge
Bradford on Avon
Westbury
Warminster
Melksham
Pewsey
Dilton Marsh

Whilst perhaps the use of ticket machines is reduced, doesn't the fact that there's a long queue at the remaining working one mean that there's still a need for them - and a need for more of them too?

[CyclingSid]

The "new" ones with the big screens, as at Paddington, have all died at Reading. It did seem ironic to me that the previous generation ones are still working. As you say long queues, and for the ticket office windows.

You will have digital, and you will like it (while we save loads of money and keep jacking up the prices).

[Bob_Blakey]

Hypothesis: Given a significant proportion of the rail customer base won't, or can't always, get e-tickets, binning the TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine)'s would surely require some ticket offices / 'mobile sellers' to remain available. And where that cannot happen purchasing of tickets after boarding the train would have to be permitted.So the majority of trains would probably have to carry a dedicated revenue collector. And to avoid utter chaos at busy stations ticket barriers would have to be abolished or left open for extended periods. And penalty fares would probably have to be scrapped...all of which could lead to a significant decrease in the % of potential revenue that is collected.

[TaplowGreen]

Hypothesis: Given a significant proportion of the rail customer base won't, or can't always, get e-tickets, binning the TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine)'s would surely require some ticket offices / 'mobile sellers' to remain available. And where that cannot happen purchasing of tickets after boarding the train would have to be permitted.So the majority of trains would probably have to carry a dedicated revenue collector. And to avoid utter chaos at busy stations ticket barriers would have to be abolished or left open for extended periods. And penalty fares would probably have to be scrapped...all of which could lead to a significant decrease in the % of potential revenue that is collected.

Absolutely. There is clearly a need for some ticket offices to remain open at larger stations - it won't be difficult to work out which ones still see the sort of demand that justifies it.

The difficulty in this context is that both sides seem to be seeing it as a binary issue whereby all or none should close, which is clearly an untenable position on the one hand with only 13% of tickets being sold via that route, whilst appreciating on the other that some face to face resource should remain.