All Train ticket offices to close
Discussion
Just been reported on sky news will this mean more strikes
https://news.sky.com/story/nearly-every-railway-ti...
https://news.sky.com/story/nearly-every-railway-ti...
Yes, it will mean more strikes because, well, that's what they do.
I am all for this with one caveat. We need to reserve at least 50% of the machines for people who know what the f
k they're doing and have a train that leaves in 5 minutes. If you've booked your party of 12 online and are bit confused over which buttons to press, haven't got the email up yet and can't read the screen even when you do then kindly sod off to your own dedicated machine so I don't miss my train.
I am all for this with one caveat. We need to reserve at least 50% of the machines for people who know what the f
k they're doing and have a train that leaves in 5 minutes. If you've booked your party of 12 online and are bit confused over which buttons to press, haven't got the email up yet and can't read the screen even when you do then kindly sod off to your own dedicated machine so I don't miss my train.deckster said:
Yes, it will mean more strikes because, well, that's what they do.
I am all for this with one caveat. We need to reserve at least 50% of the machines for people who know what the fk they're doing and have a train that leaves in 5 minutes. If you've booked your party of 12 online and are bit confused over which buttons to press, haven't got the email up yet and can't read the screen even when you do then kindly sod off to your own dedicated machine so I don't miss my train.
? If you know what you are doing, surely e-tickets are much easier than buying the tickets online and then collecting at the station, or are there still scenarios when that doesn't work?I am all for this with one caveat. We need to reserve at least 50% of the machines for people who know what the f
k they're doing and have a train that leaves in 5 minutes. If you've booked your party of 12 online and are bit confused over which buttons to press, haven't got the email up yet and can't read the screen even when you do then kindly sod off to your own dedicated machine so I don't miss my train.The harsh reality is that only 12% of train users use ticket offices.
I can't remember the last time I used one - but then again I am able bodied, fully sighted and not disabled - the argument is that these people will be the most disadvantaged. However (as a fairly frequent rail user) I also can't recall the last time I saw a blind/partially-sighted/disabled person using a ticket office.
Those with mobility/vision difficulties who cannot use a ticket machine or pre-book online are a tiny minority of the rail travelling community, we cannot financially justify keeping ticket offices open at over 1,000 stations nationwide just for them, sadly.
As long as the RDG continue to employ multi-skilled staff to help these people with the technology we should be OK. Problem is we all know they won't, it will become very difficult to access a ticket at a station if you have vision/disability challenges.
I can't remember the last time I used one - but then again I am able bodied, fully sighted and not disabled - the argument is that these people will be the most disadvantaged. However (as a fairly frequent rail user) I also can't recall the last time I saw a blind/partially-sighted/disabled person using a ticket office.
Those with mobility/vision difficulties who cannot use a ticket machine or pre-book online are a tiny minority of the rail travelling community, we cannot financially justify keeping ticket offices open at over 1,000 stations nationwide just for them, sadly.
As long as the RDG continue to employ multi-skilled staff to help these people with the technology we should be OK. Problem is we all know they won't, it will become very difficult to access a ticket at a station if you have vision/disability challenges.
PurpleTurtle said:
The harsh reality is that only 12% of train users use ticket offices.
I can't remember the last time I used one - but then again I am able bodied, fully sighted and not disabled - the argument is that these people will be the most disadvantaged. However (as a fairly frequent rail user) I also can't recall the last time I saw a blind/partially-sighted/disabled person using a ticket office.
Those with mobility/vision difficulties who cannot use a ticket machine or pre-book online are a tiny minority of the rail travelling community, we cannot financially justify keeping ticket offices open at over 1,000 stations nationwide just for them, sadly.
As long as the RDG continue to employ multi-skilled staff to help these people with the technology we should be OK. Problem is we all know they won't, it will become very difficult to access a ticket at a station if you have vision/disability challenges.
I guess it means many more stations will be unmanned so the risk of theft, vandalism etc. in those stations will increase. Similarly, safety will probably get worse in some stations as there is less likely to be somebody responsible for the station to report any issues such as children doing stupid things. Our village station has a ticket office which is manned during certain hours (I don't know, I don't really use the station) and I consider that they are really there to look after the station in general. I can't remember the last time I used one - but then again I am able bodied, fully sighted and not disabled - the argument is that these people will be the most disadvantaged. However (as a fairly frequent rail user) I also can't recall the last time I saw a blind/partially-sighted/disabled person using a ticket office.
Those with mobility/vision difficulties who cannot use a ticket machine or pre-book online are a tiny minority of the rail travelling community, we cannot financially justify keeping ticket offices open at over 1,000 stations nationwide just for them, sadly.
As long as the RDG continue to employ multi-skilled staff to help these people with the technology we should be OK. Problem is we all know they won't, it will become very difficult to access a ticket at a station if you have vision/disability challenges.
Eric Mc said:
We will soon be conducting our affairs with no human contact whatsoever.
I'm glad I'll be dead by the time our only interactions will be with machines, computers, bots and other mechanical devices.
I’d like to see a bot try and do your job Eric. I'm glad I'll be dead by the time our only interactions will be with machines, computers, bots and other mechanical devices.
I bet you still get clients present you with a box of receipts and scraps of paper each year.
Eric Mc said:
We will soon be conducting our affairs with no human contact whatsoever.
I'm glad I'll be dead by the time our only interactions will be with machines, computers, bots and other mechanical devices.
Well I hope that will be many years away and you enjoy all the time you have remainingI'm glad I'll be dead by the time our only interactions will be with machines, computers, bots and other mechanical devices.
Eric Mc said:
We will soon be conducting our affairs with no human contact whatsoever.
I'm glad I'll be dead by the time our only interactions will be with machines, computers, bots and other mechanical devices.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels a bit uneasy (to say the least) about this prospect. I'm glad I'll be dead by the time our only interactions will be with machines, computers, bots and other mechanical devices.
I'm sure it's all very 'efficient' and 'cost effective' and 'good for the bottom line' and all those things we are told are so important and worthwhile. But it's really raising the spectre of the final, almost complete, atomisation and individualisation of society (which then isn't a society).
Increasingly, we work from home (communicating with colleagues and customers via chat messengers and webcams). We order food and goods online via apps. When we do actually go to the shops for groceries, we leave via a self-service terminal. A lot of pubs and restaurants let you order your food to your table via an app. My bank now doesn't give ordinary account holders the ability to speak to a person - you get directed to a bot-based webchat, and if that doesn't answer your question (it rarely does) it sends you to a phone version where you have to shout at a voice-recognition bot instead.
And now we're heading for self-service ticket machines on under/un-manned railway stations, so we can get on single-manned trains with no onboard catering. The drive for 'efficiency' and 'value for money' is basically turning the railways into an understaffed low-cost airline experience on rails. Which, to me at least, takes away some of the main attractions of rail travel.
I know we can't have a Bernard Cribbins on every platform, touching the peak of his cap as he offers to carry your luggage, and cheerfully pointing you in the direction of a waiting room with a tea and cake stand run by Joyce Carey.
But it's another step in - apparently - shearing life of all the little day-to-day interactions and exchanges that allowed for little moments of humanity and connection, even if it's just a customer service assistant behind a counter in a train stations saying "Ah, you see, I can get you a better price if I sell you an off-peak half-time single to Mugby Parkway with Great Northeastern Midland South & Western Railways going out, and then combine it with a day saver one-way via Ploverleigh with Trans-Binary Trains coming back, but you can hop on the earlier Quantocks Express service if you want...".
I can't say I'm looking forward to the glorious cyberpunk future of going through life via screens and apps (he says, typing on a laptop into an online discussion forum...)
2xChevrons said:
I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels a bit uneasy (to say the least) about this prospect.
I'm sure it's all very 'efficient' and 'cost effective' and 'good for the bottom line' and all those things we are told are so important and worthwhile. But it's really raising the spectre of the final, almost complete, atomisation and individualisation of society (which then isn't a society).
Increasingly, we work from home (communicating with colleagues and customers via chat messengers and webcams). We order food and goods online via apps. When we do actually go to the shops for groceries, we leave via a self-service terminal. A lot of pubs and restaurants let you order your food to your table via an app. My bank now doesn't give ordinary account holders the ability to speak to a person - you get directed to a bot-based webchat, and if that doesn't answer your question (it rarely does) it sends you to a phone version where you have to shout at a voice-recognition bot instead.
And now we're heading for self-service ticket machines on under/un-manned railway stations, so we can get on single-manned trains with no onboard catering. The drive for 'efficiency' and 'value for money' is basically turning the railways into an understaffed low-cost airline experience on rails. Which, to me at least, takes away some of the main attractions of rail travel.
Merely mechanisation spreading to the services industry just as it did to manufacturing decades ago. I'm sure it's all very 'efficient' and 'cost effective' and 'good for the bottom line' and all those things we are told are so important and worthwhile. But it's really raising the spectre of the final, almost complete, atomisation and individualisation of society (which then isn't a society).
Increasingly, we work from home (communicating with colleagues and customers via chat messengers and webcams). We order food and goods online via apps. When we do actually go to the shops for groceries, we leave via a self-service terminal. A lot of pubs and restaurants let you order your food to your table via an app. My bank now doesn't give ordinary account holders the ability to speak to a person - you get directed to a bot-based webchat, and if that doesn't answer your question (it rarely does) it sends you to a phone version where you have to shout at a voice-recognition bot instead.
And now we're heading for self-service ticket machines on under/un-manned railway stations, so we can get on single-manned trains with no onboard catering. The drive for 'efficiency' and 'value for money' is basically turning the railways into an understaffed low-cost airline experience on rails. Which, to me at least, takes away some of the main attractions of rail travel.
People moan about low economic growth (or often what this leads to) but fail to recognise this is based upon low productivity growth. A large part of the low productivity growth is due to a services based economy.
People should be expensive and companies should always be looking to provide more and better services with less staff.
So yes you may not have a natter with Doris on the tills, or some bloke in a ticket office, but these are in any case low value social interactions. Don't rely on the supermarkets and train companies to provide social interaction. Keep in touch with family and friends, join a club if need be.
I've found the insidious automation of supermarket checkouts far more concering as the volume of jobs being quietly shelled through them must be huge.
I simply refuse to use them and yet you have humans walking up and down and meekly directing you to an auto checkout when you decided to queue instead and deal with another human. I always remind them that it will be their job tomorrow.
I'm rather more ambivalent about train tickets as I don't use them much through I do have the Trainline app which to be fair works very well provided that the trains are actually running.
But the continuous hoovering up of wealth from the many to be concentrated in the hands of the very few is deeply worrying, and yet we are all guilty of playing our part.
I simply refuse to use them and yet you have humans walking up and down and meekly directing you to an auto checkout when you decided to queue instead and deal with another human. I always remind them that it will be their job tomorrow.
I'm rather more ambivalent about train tickets as I don't use them much through I do have the Trainline app which to be fair works very well provided that the trains are actually running.
But the continuous hoovering up of wealth from the many to be concentrated in the hands of the very few is deeply worrying, and yet we are all guilty of playing our part.
768 said:
I heard our local station was losing its ticket office staff.
Was news to me that we had any.
Ours was off sick last time I arranged to collect a ticket. The train conductor acted like he was doing me a massive favour not fining me for not having a ticket (I had the email conf).Was news to me that we had any.
2xChevrons said:
I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels a bit uneasy (to say the least) about this prospect.
I'm sure it's all very 'efficient' and 'cost effective' and 'good for the bottom line' and all those things we are told are so important and worthwhile. But it's really raising the spectre of the final, almost complete, atomisation and individualisation of society (which then isn't a society).
Increasingly, we work from home (communicating with colleagues and customers via chat messengers and webcams). We order food and goods online via apps. When we do actually go to the shops for groceries, we leave via a self-service terminal. A lot of pubs and restaurants let you order your food to your table via an app. My bank now doesn't give ordinary account holders the ability to speak to a person - you get directed to a bot-based webchat, and if that doesn't answer your question (it rarely does) it sends you to a phone version where you have to shout at a voice-recognition bot instead.
And now we're heading for self-service ticket machines on under/un-manned railway stations, so we can get on single-manned trains with no onboard catering. The drive for 'efficiency' and 'value for money' is basically turning the railways into an understaffed low-cost airline experience on rails. Which, to me at least, takes away some of the main attractions of rail travel.
I know we can't have a Bernard Cribbins on every platform, touching the peak of his cap as he offers to carry your luggage, and cheerfully pointing you in the direction of a waiting room with a tea and cake stand run by Joyce Carey.
But it's another step in - apparently - shearing life of all the little day-to-day interactions and exchanges that allowed for little moments of humanity and connection, even if it's just a customer service assistant behind a counter in a train stations saying "Ah, you see, I can get you a better price if I sell you an off-peak half-time single to Mugby Parkway with Great Northeastern Midland South & Western Railways going out, and then combine it with a day saver one-way via Ploverleigh with Trans-Binary Trains coming back, but you can hop on the earlier Quantocks Express service if you want...".
I can't say I'm looking forward to the glorious cyberpunk future of going through life via screens and apps (he says, typing on a laptop into an online discussion forum...)
On fares, wouldn't it be better just not to have the silliness of convoluted schemes that could save you £2.50 on your ticket? Plug in what you need in an app and it gives you the best price (and/or options that may be available).I'm sure it's all very 'efficient' and 'cost effective' and 'good for the bottom line' and all those things we are told are so important and worthwhile. But it's really raising the spectre of the final, almost complete, atomisation and individualisation of society (which then isn't a society).
Increasingly, we work from home (communicating with colleagues and customers via chat messengers and webcams). We order food and goods online via apps. When we do actually go to the shops for groceries, we leave via a self-service terminal. A lot of pubs and restaurants let you order your food to your table via an app. My bank now doesn't give ordinary account holders the ability to speak to a person - you get directed to a bot-based webchat, and if that doesn't answer your question (it rarely does) it sends you to a phone version where you have to shout at a voice-recognition bot instead.
And now we're heading for self-service ticket machines on under/un-manned railway stations, so we can get on single-manned trains with no onboard catering. The drive for 'efficiency' and 'value for money' is basically turning the railways into an understaffed low-cost airline experience on rails. Which, to me at least, takes away some of the main attractions of rail travel.
I know we can't have a Bernard Cribbins on every platform, touching the peak of his cap as he offers to carry your luggage, and cheerfully pointing you in the direction of a waiting room with a tea and cake stand run by Joyce Carey.
But it's another step in - apparently - shearing life of all the little day-to-day interactions and exchanges that allowed for little moments of humanity and connection, even if it's just a customer service assistant behind a counter in a train stations saying "Ah, you see, I can get you a better price if I sell you an off-peak half-time single to Mugby Parkway with Great Northeastern Midland South & Western Railways going out, and then combine it with a day saver one-way via Ploverleigh with Trans-Binary Trains coming back, but you can hop on the earlier Quantocks Express service if you want...".
I can't say I'm looking forward to the glorious cyberpunk future of going through life via screens and apps (he says, typing on a laptop into an online discussion forum...)
On the rest, the problem is that travellers at large clearly do not want to pay for the extra human contact. A peak ticket from where I am to London is £45 return. If it would be £55 with a Bernard Cribbins then sorry Bernard, I'm out.
How long do you spend talking to Bernard on your typical train journey anyway? A minute tops?
Sheepshanks said:
768 said:
I heard our local station was losing its ticket office staff.
Was news to me that we had any.
Ours was off sick last time I arranged to collect a ticket. The train conductor acted like he was doing me a massive favour not fining me for not having a ticket (I had the email conf).Was news to me that we had any.
Arguably the service is better now but the pricing seems beset with bizarre schemes to make us dizzy.
Gassing Station | News, Politics & Economics | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff