Ticket offices: on track for closure?
Proposal to shut the vast majority of the 1,000-plus ticket offices across England has prompted uproar

A “huge and worrying change” is coming down the railway track, said The Sunday Times.
The Rail Delivery Group, which represents Britain’s train companies, is proposing to shut the vast majority of the 1,000-plus ticket offices across England; only the largest will be kept. The rationale for this “high-handed” plan is that only 12% of tickets are now bought face-to-face, compared with 82% 30 years ago.
‘Sense of security and oversight’
Ticket machines and the smartphone revolution are making ticket counters obsolete, and their staff can now be freed, or so rail bosses claim, to “transition to multiskilled ‘customer help’ roles”. What this ignores, though, is that for some travellers – the elderly, the disabled, those without a smartphone – ticket offices remain essential. Without them, many will be put off travelling by train, or will end up paying more than they need to.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
You don’t have to be in a vulnerable group to loathe this plan, said Jemima Lewis in The Daily Telegraph. “A ticket office is more than just a place to buy tickets.” It’s a “manned post”, creating an immediate “sense of security and oversight” – and ensuring that a “paid professional, however surly”, will provide “the kind of individual service that no algorithm can supply”. If you want to object, be quick: a three-week consultation period ends on 26 July.
‘Glow of nostalgic glamour’
Now that they’re threatened with the axe, these “Dickensian cubbyholes” are being bathed in a “glow of nostalgic glamour”, said Libby Purves in The Times. But their loss needn’t be a disaster. Elderly people are often cited as vulnerable in these cases, but today’s octogenarians have had 20 years to get used to phones and screens. And those who do need assistance should still be able to get it, from the counter staff who’ve been redeployed to offer assistance on concourses and platforms.
Don’t count on that, said Simon Kelner in The i Paper. This so-called modernisation of the “ticketing experience” is a cynical cost-cutting measure, and the idea that staff will be kept on to provide “more face to face” support is pure corporate “sophistry”. Unions know it, and so do disabled and passenger groups, who have already made their objections clear. It’s pretty obvious that “in one sense at least, we are being taken for a ride”.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
The NCAA is a 'billion-dollar sports behemoth' that 'should not be a nonprofit'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Trump picks conservative BLS critic to lead BLS
speed read He has nominated the Heritage Foundation's E.J. Antoni to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics
-
What's a pocket rescission and can Trump use one?
The Explainer The White House may try to use an obscure and prohibited trick to halt more spending
-
A tour of southern Greenland
The Week Recommends New international airport has given this 'bucolic' island a welcome boost
-
Bonnie Blue: taking clickbait to extremes
Talking Point Channel 4 claims documentary on the adult performer's attention-grabbing sex stunts is opening up a debate
-
Broccoli and lentil salad with curried tahini and dates recipe
The Week Recommends Flavoursome and healthy, this creamy salad is perfect as part of a mezze
-
Savages: a tragi-comedy set in a 'quirky handcrafted world'
The Week Recommends This new animated film by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Claude Barras is undeniably political, but it has a hopeful message
-
Merryn Somerset Webb chooses five books on how the world works
The Week Recommends The financial columnist picks works by Peter Turchin, Adam Smith and Christopher Clark
-
6 sturdy post-and-beam homes
Feature Featuring a wood stove in New York and hand-hewn beams in New Hampshire
-
The Naked Gun: 'a dumb comedy of the expert kind'
The Week Recommends Liam Neeson shows off his comedy chops in this reboot of Leslie Nielsen's crime spoof
-
King of Kings: 'excellent' book examines Iran's 1979 revolution and its global impacts
The Week Recommends Scott Anderson 'easily and elegantly' paints a picture of a century of Iran's history