What should replace the railway ticket office?
Railfuture sets out its vision for the ways rail tickets should be sold and why in-person ticket sales remain an essential choice – even if the “ticket office” is to be closed.
Last weekend Neil Middleton, a Railfuture Director, went to Birmingham International station to take the train. This station, despite its size doesn’t have a conventional ticket office. Instead there are easy to use Ticket Vending Machines (TVMs) and a receptionist/concierge to give advice and to sell the occasional ticket when needed. Neil commented “It all seemed to work very well - A TVM was my natural first choice - but there were staff there had I needed help and to sell the occasional ticket when it was needed.” “It was unusual for me to buy a ticket at all at the station - I normally buy online, or even better, use Pay as You Go, but it still a very pleasant experience”.
There’s talk of moving to a 100% online ticket sales process, but this will disenfranchise those that are not able – or just not comfortable, buying online. The headlines often refer to the more elderly as not being online – either at all, or when on the move. But these are not the only ones who could be disadvantaged – those without a debit / credit card will have problems, as will those who struggle to use websites & apps due to dyslexia, arthritis and other limitations to dexterity. These are critical equality issues which we don't see getting enough recognition – and they are a source of income the railway seems happy to lose, rather than encourage. David Harby, Chair of Railfuture’s Lincolnshire Branch comments “[|I know a very active 78 year old who is out around the East Midlands nearly every day in summer watching cricket. Travelling by train with his cycle. He does not have either a mobile phone or any other IT. It is essential that people like him are not excluded from train travel.]”
So what’s needed instead of “a ticket office”? The first thing is to stop thinking of the ticket buying process as just a cost of the railway – it’s also the critical first step in getting any intending passenger to use the railway - for instance, a way to get the 50% of us who never use the railway to start to use the train.
It’s also important to remember that passengers really value a presence by staff at the railway station, so just because the ticket office is closed, that doesn’t necessarily mean that staff numbers at a station should go down - that staff presence also supports other features that encourage travel, such as waiting rooms that are open and toilets that can be used and support with boarding the train – these are often closed / not available when there are no rail staff at the station. Security and passenger reassurance is also much increased by the presence of visible staff.
As campaigners for a bigger, better railway, we want ticket buying to be easy and quick for everyone – and that to apply everywhere. So, what needs to be in place first before conventional ticket offices are closed?
The first part is to make the alternatives easier:
- It needs to be easier to buy tickets online - a single website (as is planned by GBR) that everybody can use, complete with good accessibility features (eg to assist the visually impaired, the neurodiverse) and an intuitive purchasing “journey” – and it needs to sell every ticket type, not just most ticket types.
- The process of simplifying fares needs to start - for instance, the myriad start times for off-peak tickets should be simplified, so intending travellers get more confident about which ticket to purchase, and advice and reassurance is needed less often.
- In time, using the orange striped ticket or its successor becomes only ever optional, not essential (eg at the moment one is usually required for cross London journeys).
- The option to print an online ticket on paper must always be available, to support those who do not have mobile Internet.
- Contactless and Pay as You Go (PAYG) needs to be rolled out more widely (everywhere, not just London and the bigger Cities), together with promises similar to that for Direct Debits so we can all feel confident about it when we might be spending £40 or £50 on our tickets for the day.
- In many cases, TVMs need to be made more user friendly – who hasn’t really struggled tapping away at the screen to get it to register your finger – and more of them may well be needed. And at busier stations, TVM Concierges could be provided to help (and at smaller stations, a roving Concierge could be available for a few specified hours each week).
As we outline above, not everyone can be served by online services. Solutions like the one at Birmingham International mean that the ability to buy a rail ticket from a staff member remains – but that staff member is also helping passengers in so many other ways. At a bigger station, the ticket sales task needs to move out from behind the glass and take on a wider welcoming and helping activity. At smaller stations, that staff member might help with a wider range of activities as well, accepting that ticket sales may only be available part of the time (but with clarity as to when those times are). And for many rural stations – and when things go wrong (TVMs are broken, staff are absent etc) then the option to buy a ticket from the Conductor remains essential.
To summarise it all: Many of us already prefer to buy tickets online – or use PAYG and, with improvements more of us would be happy to use these choices – but achieving 100% of travellers being able to buy their ticket online (or use PAYG) 100% of the time) is, in our view, a fantasy (to be clear, the current ratio of 1 in 8 tickets being bought in person, can, and should, be noticeably reduced).
Some commentators suggest that because the airlines only offer online purchase, rail can as well. But that is to miss a key fundamental – we usually plan to travel by plane a long time in advance, but rail travel can be spur of the moment – deciding to go, buying the ticket and being on the move. It is one thing to, once a year, help a relative buy an airline ticket 3 months in advance; another thing to be constantly available at short notice for many rail ticket purchases.
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Notes to editors:
50% don’t travel by train: Andrew Haines, Chief Executive - Network Rail at Accelerate Rail 2022 Conference, 16 March 2022
Railfuture on fares simplification: https://railfuture.org.uk/article1884-Fares-for-the-post-Covid-railway
For further information and comment please contact: Neil Middleton, Director 07887 628367 & neil.middleton@railfuture.org.uk
Railfuture is the UK's leading independent organisation campaigning for better rail services for both passengers and freight.
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