It’s YOU who will have to pay if ticket offices don’t go away: Train firms plan to hike prices after ministers U-turn on hundreds of station offices closures
Rail passengers face the possibility of larger fare hikes after ministers today ditched plans to close hundreds of ticket offices in England.
The U-turn came amid growing opposition to the proposed closure of up to 974 booking offices, including from senior Tory MPs such as Dame Priti Patel.
Transport Secretary Mark Harper said he has ordered train operators to withdraw the proposals he had asked them to draw up in order to find savings.
It came after a consultation in which passenger watchdogs Transport Focus and London TravelWatch said they opposed the planned closures over issues such as the impact on accessibility. Petitions online received hundreds of thousands of signatures.
But the industry reacted with fury and accused ministers of caving in to militant rail union bosses, who have been calling strikes in part over the issue since June 2022.
Rail passengers wait in line at the LNER ticket office at Edinburgh Waverley train station on July 18
Passengers queue for tickets at the office at Abbey Wood station in south-east London on September 1
People line up for help at the London Euston station ticket office on August 30 this year
They also warned it would mean having to make cuts elsewhere or hiking fares further, which are already set to rise by as much as 8 per cent next year.
One senior rail source said: ‘This will only embolden the unions with their militant strike campaign. The plan was signed off by civil servants and ministers. They’ve U-turned.’
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Another added: ‘The government asked operators to draw up these plans, signed them off, asked industry to sell and defend them. If savings can not be made through this programme, what other things will the government ask us to cut?’
There are currently 1,766 stations in England run by train operators controlled by the Department for Transport. Of these, 43 per cent (759) already operate without a ticket office. A further 40 per cent (708) have ticket offices staffed part-time and 17 per cent (299) full-time.
It is the vast majority of these 1,007 stations, either with a part-time or full-time ticket office, which would have closed under the proposals.
They would have brought England into line with countries such as Sweden and Switzerland, where most rail ticket offices have closed.
Ticket office staff would have been re-deployed onto platforms to help people use machines or assist with bookings made on digital devices. This is what happens on the London Underground, which closed nearly all ticket offices in 2015.
Internal industry figures show that the worst-performing of remaining ticket offices sell less than one ticket an hour on average.
Overall, only around 12 per cent of fares are bought from a ticket office, with most opting to buy online and use a digital ticket or buy them from on-platform machines.
But today Mr Harper, after being sent the findings from the consultation, said not a single ticket office will be closed.
Passengers wait in line for assistance at the Scarborough train station ticket office in North Yorkshire on August 20
Those looking to travel by train queue for the ticket office at Kings Lynn railway station in Norfolk on August 18
A group of people wait in line for train tickets at Reading railway station in Berkshire on July 22
He added: ‘The consultation on ticket offices has now ended, with the Government making clear to the rail industry throughout the process that any resulting proposals must meet a high threshold of serving passengers.
‘We have engaged with accessibility groups throughout this process and listened carefully to passengers as well as my colleagues in parliament.
‘The proposals that have resulted from this process do not meet the high thresholds set by ministers, and so the Government has asked train operators to withdraw their proposals.’
In September, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak suggested that closing ticket offices was ‘the right thing for the British public and British taxpayers’ as ‘only one in 10 tickets are sold currently in ticket offices’.
Ministers had asked industry chiefs to draw up the proposals to make savings after bailing the industry out to the tune of more than £15billion during the Covid pandemic.
However, the U-turn could create good will with the RMT to end a long-running dispute. The militant union has been calling strikes since last summer in a row over pay and conditions, including the closure of ticket offices.
It has snubbed a pay hike offer of 9 per cent over two years for 20,000 train guards, catering staff and ticket sellers.
RMT boss Mick Lynch said: ‘We are now calling for an urgent summit with the government, train operating companies, disabled and community organisations and passenger groups to agree a different route for the rail network that guarantees the future of our ticket offices and station staff jobs to deliver a safe, secure and accessible service that puts passengers before profit.’
Anthony Smith, chief executive of Transport Focus, said: ‘Following analysis of the 750,000 responses to the consultation and in-depth discussions with train companies, Transport Focus is objecting to the proposals to close ticket offices.
‘Some train companies were closer than others in meeting our criteria. Some train companies were unable to convince us about their ability to sell a full range of tickets, handle cash payments and avoid excessive queues at ticket machines.’
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