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Best way to book train tickets

brogdale said:
almost like it would be an idea to group these 'roving staff' into a signposted area where they could be found easily and serve the public?
Click to expand...

Definitely sounds like a more efficient system than having a ticket-dispensing member of staff move around like a Roomba
 
Yossarian said:
Definitely sounds like a more efficient system than having a ticket-dispensing member of staff move around like a Roomba
Click to expand...
Who of course won’t be replaced when they leave or retire . The lack of visible staff ,especially at night) on railway stations ( and tram stations in Manchester) is always mentioned in passenger responses to passenger safety .
 
platinumsage said:
They're closing ticket offices, not getting rid of ticket sellers, who will now be set free roaming station vestibules and entrance halls looking for confused people in between cleaning up sick and removing entangled kites from overhead wires.
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in the same way there's now loads of staff in supermarkets helping people use the crappy automated tills and so on?
 
I just don't get what the 'journey makers' will do, hanging around the platforms. It just doesn't make any sense. What about in terrible weather - one of the local staffed stations has no awnings on the platforms.

Having looked at the proposals for local stations, they are basically cutting the staffed times at the stations from early in the morning till 8 at night to more like 8am-1pm. So I'm assuming that will also mean other facilities at the station like indoor waiting rooms vanishing or being closed most of the day.
 
On the subject of the manning of railway stations...I came across this rather splendid 1971 picture of the staff employed at the Railway station where I was brought up. Deffo pre-privatisation vibe :)

When you could just rock-up and buy your ticket at the desk and get where you wanted to go for not much £ at all.

1688640064874.png
 
Fucking awful thing to do. As mentioned above, there are lots of people with lots of complex journeys who will be affected by this. But the worst bit, by far, is the effect on older people, disabled people and those who haven't got/don't want apps etc. And long term, there will be job cuts, absolutely guaranteed. Really shitty thing to do, that flies in the face of all the rhetoric of customer service. Similarly, as with so many forced usages of apps and the rest, it confirms the inflexibility of neoliberal consumerism.
 




One poster on here was lauding the closures as

"I can see a genuinely better industry, one with integrated ticketing, modern connectivity, better trains for staff and passengers, modern station facilities, all the things we should have were it not for shitty politicians and shitty vested interests. There's very few subjects where I disagree with the consensus on here so now I'm really aware of 'standing out' by supporting the railways taking people out of the offices and into the platforms."
 
While they might be actors it seems fairly clear they aren't the same person, but I guess they are both red-heads so they might as well be.
 
blog article from a respected transport professional (retired managing director of brighton + hove buses) about it all

busandtrainuser.com

The ticket office closure con

Saturday 8th July 2023 The delusional Rail Delivery Group reckon it’ll be better than ever. Moving staff from somewhere everyone knows where to find them (ie something called a ‘ticket …
busandtrainuser.com busandtrainuser.com
 
Crossposting from the other active trains thread:

General RMT campaign page about ticket office closures, with links to take part in the consultations:
www.rmt.org.uk

Save Ticket Offices

Over the last year the RMT has been campaigning against the DfT managed train companies’ plans for wholesale ticket office closures. The result has been the largest ever response to a government consultation. On October 31, 2023 the government announced the plans had been dropped.
www.rmt.org.uk
National days of action being planned for the 13th and 18th, with local protests to happen at train stations then:
www.rmt.org.uk

Save Our Ticket Offices Days of Action

www.rmt.org.uk
Manchester RMT will be holding a public meeting on the 18th:
1688935533181.png
Other branches will presumably also be doing something in their areas.
 
tribunemag.co.uk

‘I Don’t Know How I’ll Cope if They Disappear’: The Fight to Save Ticket Offices

The government is presiding over a managed decline of the railway. The closure of 1000 ticket offices is the latest move to make rail travel less safe and accessible while shareholders line their pockets.
tribunemag.co.uk tribunemag.co.uk

The purchase of tickets online is simply not an option for many disabled people who are more likely to be digitally excluded. In 2018, twenty-three percent of disabled people had no access to the internet compared to six percent of non-disabled adults. Ticket vending machines can also be inaccessible. According to the Royal National Institute of Blind People, only three percent of blind and partially-sighted passengers are able to use a machine. The disability equality charity Scope has previously highlighted how life for disabled people costs £583 more on average a month—a brutal financial penalty exacerbated by the cost of living crisis and likely to be compounded further by the removal of ticket offices. The fifty percent wheelchair user discount, for instance, can only be purchased at ticket offices.
Click to expand...
 
Also, it's good to see some stuff now being posted that explains this is part of a managed decline of the railways being undertaken by the government. Rather than the commonly seen simplistic narrative that it's all the result of a privatised system or the greed of the private railway companies. The fact is that we've currently got a partially nationalised system, one that's controlled by policy set by central government, policy which actively makes train travel more expensive and less convenient.
It's very convenient for that government to have blame deflected to the train companies themselves.
 
I don’t see why the cheapest ticket would be an off peak first class ticket :confused:

But from time of tweet it seems that the ticket office man was able to sell him a ticket for off peak before the off peak period began, while the machine was not.
 
Elpenor said:
I don’t see why the cheapest ticket would be an off peak first class ticket :confused:
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I think your error here is thinking that there's some kind of logic to the train pricing system, I think I've heard people I know tell me about journeys where first class tickets were the cheapest option before.

Anyway, the RMT save our ticket offices campaign page has loads of events over the next few days listed now:
www.rmt.org.uk

Save Our Ticket Offices Days of Action

www.rmt.org.uk

Burnham and Lynch meant to be speaking at the Manchester meeting now.
 
I've just submitted a pro forma letter (organised by the RMT) against the ticket office closures, to the consultation that's being carried out on this. It's only running for 3 weeks, and closes next Wednesday, 26th July, if anyone else wants to submit their views.

www.rmt.org.uk

Save Ticket Offices

Over the last year the RMT has been campaigning against the DfT managed train companies’ plans for wholesale ticket office closures. The result has been the largest ever response to a government consultation. On October 31, 2023 the government announced the plans had been dropped.
www.rmt.org.uk
 
chainsawjob said:
I've just submitted a pro forma letter (organised by the RMT) against the ticket office closures, to the consultation that's being carried out on this. It's only running for 3 weeks, and closes next Wednesday, 26th July, if anyone else wants to submit their views.

www.rmt.org.uk

Save Ticket Offices

Over the last year the RMT has been campaigning against the DfT managed train companies’ plans for wholesale ticket office closures. The result has been the largest ever response to a government consultation. On October 31, 2023 the government announced the plans had been dropped.
www.rmt.org.uk
Click to expand...
I always double check first class as it is often the cheapest (remaining?) option. I'll sometimes go for it if it is only a quid or two more as well and stock up on crisps and biscuits. Used to do it more when I regularly drank tea and coffee. Only so much orange juice I can drink.

We booked first class for a gig once £2 odd first class versus about a tenner for the cattle car. Had a bit of a run in with a local MP but I've detailed that elsewhere.
 
More RMT days of action happening on the 9th and 16th, events confirmed so far are:

August 6​


Exmouth 08:00 - 12:00

August 9​


Birmingham New St 0730-0930 organised by RMT (TK Max Entrance)

Worcester Foregate St 0700-0900 organised by RMT

Sutton Coldfield 0700-0900 organised by RMT

Nottingham 0700-0900 organised by RMT

Leicester 0900-1100 organised by RMT

Derby 0800-1000 & 1100-1300 organised by RMT

Beeston 1700-1900 organised by RMT

Birmingham Moor St 1700-1900 organised by RMT

Colchester

Norwich

West Malling 05:30

Penzance

Thorne

Swinton

Mexborough

Rotherham

August 16​


Birmingham New St 0730-0930 organised by RMT (TK Max Entrance)

Droitwich 0700-0900 organised by RMT

Nottingham 0700-0900 organised by RMT

Birmingham Snow Hill 0700-0900 organised by RMT

Derby 0800-1100 organised by RMT

Stourbridge Jcn & Town 1700-1900 organised by Save Stourbridge Station

Leicester 1530-1730 organised by RMT

Doncaster

Euston

Borough Green And Wrotham 05:30

Rotherham

Sure there'll be more announced soon.
 
Try using the ticket machines at London Marylebone, I gave up and went to the ticket office. Daft, when many tourists use that station.
 
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