Railway Ticket Offices: 1 Day Left for Consultation.

As I said in my blog in early July, there is a public consultation concerning changes to ticket offices and staffing at railway stations, with an original end date for the consultation in July, but that was extended until tomorrow, Friday the 1st of September. The media has been full of this consultation and the concerns of people with disabilities in particular, and you still have a chance to have your say!

I'm cutting and pasting from Transport Focus below with more information:

Transport User Voice September 2023 – Ticket office consultation

31 August 2023

Last day to have your say

With one day to go before the public consultation on proposed changes to ticket offices ends, Transport Focus and London Travel Watch have received more than 460,000 responses. 

Transport Focus is reminding passengers to respond to proposals before the deadline.

The consultation on train operator proposals to close the majority of ticket offices in England ends on Friday 1 September, following an extension on 26 July.

The consultation provides people with the opportunity to have their say on proposed closures to ticket offices and changes to how operators sell tickets at stations would mean for them and how they might be impacted.

Anthony Smith, chief executive of the independent watchdog Transport Focus, said:

“More than 460,000 responses to the consultation have already been received, but it’s not too late to have your say. 

“There’s a really big decision to be made about the future of ticket offices and it’s vital that we hear from as many people as possible.”

Over the coming weeks, the two watchdogs will continue to analyse carefully the train operator proposals and consultation responses before they report their decisions on whether object to the plans.

Transport Focus and London Travel Watch will be considering issues such as whether the station will continue to be staffed, accessibility, the alternative options for buying tickets and whether passengers will continue to be able to access station facilities like lifts, waiting rooms and toilets.

It is a regulatory requirement as part of the process that the watchdogs and passengers are consulted.

What happens next?

Transport Focus will scrutinise the train company proposals in detail against a set of criteria.

We will look at factors such as whether the station will continue to be staffed, accessibility, alternative options for buying tickets and whether passengers will still be able to access station facilities like lifts, waiting rooms and toilets.

We will publish our response to each train company’s proposal on our website, the number of responses we have received, and the main issues raised in the consultation.