Ticket office closures and customer information

[Adrian1980uk]

I stood at Norwich station the other day and thought all this noise about ticket offices, currently there's the ticket office that I can't remember the last time I saw anyone in, the open air customer information desk then the glass customer service office. Do we seriously need all 3, seems overkill.

Waterloo has a similar set up, open air customer information desk and ticket offices. Just wondering what the railways are really trying to achieve, ticket offices used to be the customer information point as well, is it really just now in the name that the argument is over.

 

[winks]

I noticed this at Waterloo too. I suspect the open air desk is a tester for what might be coming in terms of ticket selling / customer service. The multiple windows at Waterloo that are closed is a stark reminder that they probably haven’t been in full use since the 90s / 00s.

 

[Blindtraveler]

I'm not precious about a classic office with someone behind a bit of glass but I will fight tooth and nail as a regular user for a staff presence at a single point where they can be easily located and accessed for the purposes of ticket purchase and collection and customer inquiries, saying that staff will be visible and more approachable is quite frankly a load of nonsense as, with the greatest respect to all staff on this forum, how many times have you approached a station that is supposedly staffed and not been able to raise that member of staff for love no money because they are hiding either in a buffy on the platform or locked away somewhere that isn't the ticket office but equally isn't in full view of the passengers who might lead them

 

[Adrian1980uk]

I'm not precious about a classic office with someone behind a bit of glass but I will fight tooth and nail as a regular user for a staff presence at a single point where they can be easily located and accessed for the purposes of ticket purchase and collection and customer inquiries, saying that staff will be visible and more approachable is quite frankly a load of nonsense as, with the greatest respect to all staff on this forum, how many times have you approached a station that is supposedly staffed and not been able to raise that member of staff for love no money because they are hiding either in a buffy on the platform or locked away somewhere that isn't the ticket office but equally isn't in full view of the passengers who might lead them

It's true that we need somewhere central, I would argue that the desk is better located than the ticket office.. I personally think the issue is lost, large stations have staff everywhere, on the barriers, information desks etc. it's the smaller stations that will suffer.

 

[AlbertBeale]

I stood at Norwich station the other day and thought all this noise about ticket offices, currently there's the ticket office that I can't remember the last time I saw anyone in, the open air customer information desk then the glass customer service office. Do we seriously need all 3, seems overkill.

Waterloo has a similar set up, open air customer information desk and ticket offices. Just wondering what the railways are really trying to achieve, ticket offices used to be the customer information point as well, is it really just now in the name that the argument is over.

I've never found the Waterloo "information" desk much help: whatever I've asked them they've just told me what's on the information screens anyway - they don't seem to have any knowledge of the routes and service patterns that could help fill in gaps in the obvious basic information on the departure screens. (On the other hand I found such an information place at Liverpool Street very helpful once when I'd missed the train I'd hoped to get and needed advice on connections, timings, and so on. And they even tried to track down information about the likelihood of my finding a taxi at the small station I was heading to.) I do use the Waterloo ticket office quite often, and would hate it to be replaced by something in a more open environment like the information desk - I don't want to be "waving money around", or fiddling with my wallet, in such a public space.

It's true that we need somewhere central, I would argue that the desk is better located than the ticket office.. I personally think the issue is lost, large stations have staff everywhere, on the barriers, information desks etc. it's the smaller stations that will suffer.

Yes - but how many of them can sell you a ticket?