There are concerns the removal of ticket office staff at Bicester North Station will impact customers who “rely on face-to-face contact”, a town councillor has said.
Chiltern Railways has proposed to move staff from the ticket office to the station concourse, as it is argued that they will able to help passengers more easily with purchasing tickets and boarding trains.
However, Bicester Town Councillor Sam Holland has expressed concerns the change could disadvantage passengers who rely on face to face contact and who may struggle with purchasing tickets online or via an app.
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Mr Holland said: “I do have concerns about how this will impact some local customers who rely on that face to face contact to enable them to travel freely and safely on the railway network.
“It is vital that customers can call upon station staff not just at peak times but at all hours when there are services from Bicester North."
Mr Holland has said there needs to be “reliable ticket machines” available at all points during the day as he said the station only has one currently.
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Chiltern Railways has launched a public consultation on the proposal and responses to this must be sent in by July 26 by emailing Transport Focus or London TravelWatch.
Mr Holland welcomed the consultation and the “attempt to engage with local residents and regular users of the station”.
However, he said he hoped Chiltern Railways would “live up to their proposals for a customer focused station by listening to customers and adding the appropriate staff and ticket machine resource accordingly”.
Chiltern Railways has highlighted on their website that in 1995 85 per cent of all tickets were sold at ticket offices but this number has since plummeted to only 12 per cent.
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Under the proposals, if passengers are struggling to buy a ticket using the app then staff members on the platform would be expected to help them using the self-service vending machines.
Chiltern Railways has said bringing staff out from the offices would allow the railway to respond to a generational shift in customer behaviour, in common with many other industries and organisations that have long since done so, such as Transport for London, most airlines, banks and supermarkets.
The “customer focused station model”, which has been proposed for Bicester North Station, is already in use at Bicester Village and Oxford Parkway Stations.
Those wishing to respond to the consultation should email ticketoffice.chiltern@transportfocus.org.uk or chiltern.consultation@londontravelwatch.org.uk.
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