Passengers disadvantaged by the closure of rail station ticket offices must make their voices heard in the next few days, campaign group Railfuture has warned.
Although the vast majority of tickets are now bought online or at station ticket machines, closure of ticket offices could result in many passengers paying more than they need to due to the complexity of fares and ticketing.
Uproar greeted the proposal to close nearly all ticket offices when this was first announced, and as a result train operators had to extend the consultation period.
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Stations including those in Oxford, Didcot Parkway, Banbury and Bicester would be affected by the closure plan.
The window of opportunity for opposition closes on Friday morning, September 1.
Disabled and blind people, and those who don’t have online access, were among the first to object.
Dave Richardson, spokesman for Railfuture’s Thames Valley branch, says many more passengers could lose out if there is no-one at stations to buy a ticket from, and some may be put off travelling by rail altogether.
“We know that train operators are being forced to make economies by the Government, but this isn’t the right thing to do,” he said. “If passengers are driven off the railways because of the difficulty buying tickets and ever increasing fares, it’s bad for everyone and undermines our efforts to travel ‘greener’ rather than by car.
“We are pressing for a staff presence to be retained selling tickets at major stations, whether behind a ticket office window or on the station concourse. While some train operators say this will be retained, we fear that it may not happen in practice as staff members are reduced and jobs lost.
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“There are nearly 3,000 different types of tickets available on our railways, so how do you explain that to the occasional traveller? Even if you book online or at a station ticket machine, you could be caught out and end up paying more. For example, many station ticket machines won’t sell you a cheaper off-peak ticket before 9am in the morning, even if you’re travelling at five past nine. But ticket office staff can.
“We urge anyone concerned about these proposals to make their voices heard now. You can object online or collect a form from a ticket office, but either way the deadline is next Friday.”
Full details on how to object can be found at www.transportfocus.org.uk/ticket-office-consultation
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