Consultation ends tomorrow (26th July but since extended to 1st September) on the Government’s proposed closure of station ticket offices which in my view is a wrong minded prelude to removing staff from local stations when we should be encouraging their use. The actual proposals involve moving staff out of the office and onto the platform but given their primarily purpose it to sell tickets and they will I understand no longer be able to, then the next step will be to claim staff are no longer needed at all. You have until the end of tomorrow to email your own response to TicketOffice.GTR@transportfocus.org.uk.

My response was as below:

Having a clearly sign-posted place in local stations such as Wivelsfield and Burgess Hill for people with ticket enquiries open at specific times provides certainty and confidence for customers who may struggle to otherwise locate station staff and feel more confident knowing that a station will be staffed. The proposals appear to be largely a prelude to removing staff from all but the largest stations.

Not all residents are able to use station ticket machines, or have the means to book a ticket in advance. Complicated journeys involving connections are likely to require human assistance to ensure customers purchase the most appropriate and cheapest tickets, and do not incur penalties from mis-booked tickets. Ticket machines are not always working and are not always located in convenient or accessible places for people to access – one of the two machines in Wivelsfield is only accessible by using stepped access for example.

The proposed move to replace ticket office staff with on station ticket assistance hours may mean you will be unable to buy a ticket if the ticket machine isn’t working; and the fear is this move is almost certain to be followed by making most of our small local stations unstaffed. If the move does go ahead I would urge you to allow on station assistants to sell tickets in the same way as conductors and provide advice on the cheapest ticket as this will be the main enquiry made of them and be available in a specific part of the station so that they are accessible.

I am concerned the closures will disproportionately affect elderly and disabled residents in Mid Sussex – as well as those with poor literacy and IT skills and will contribute to wider inequalities and make stations less safe as all but the largest will no longer be staffed as clearly that is the ultimate reason behind these proposals.