Featured photo: Image by Owls1867 from Pixabay
We were recently made aware that most of the remaining ticket offices at railway stations in England would be closed over the next 3-years (over 1,000) with only the busiest stations keeping them, all the rest will use automated systems, many train stations already do this (including the ones near me).
Naturally this has caused much worry among people for various reasons. For one obviously is the fact people will be losing their jobs and may not have many other options to turn to afterwards. I know how hard it is to get a job and so being laid off one day – simply because you’re no longer seen as being ‘needed’ – is one of my biggest fears.
Another matter is that an automated system is simply not a person – even if it does use the latest in AI technology – it cannot truly replace a human at a ticket office when complex needs and help need to be met.
I am talking about the most vulnerable of us who may use train stations and strongly rely upon manned ticket offices along their route in order to successfully and safely accomplish their journey there and back again. An automated system can only help with what it has been programmed to help with and can only do it in so many limited scenarios – a human on the other hand is usually much more dynamic when things do not go to plan.
The local railway stations I have access to have been unmanned for a number of years now sadly which certainly can make things more difficult. I have only recently started using the train by myself and it is a tough process that would be made much easier if there were people at the station that can tell you the right platform to go to in order to head towards your destination – I noticed that the right platform you require when switching between trains is not always made obvious even on the train ticket apps/websites for whatever reason, so further down the line if I had no one to ask at other stations where to go I’d certainly become stranded and have a high likelihood of missing the train.
There is also the possibility if more people are needing to use the machines to get their tickets it may make stations have larger queues as new people try and get the hang of the machines. Seeing such chaos and packed stations would be another thing that will make using those stations so much more difficult for vulnerable people who are nervous around such situations.
I don’t entirely trust the ticket machines myself so I always make sure to get a PDF version of my ticket that can be scanned from my phone. But not everyone has the capability to do this, of particular concern to this regard are people who are blind or partially-sighted. For many, the human-ness of getting your ticket from a manned office feels much more reliable and can much more easily resolve any issues that come up in the process.
As trains will become a more important part of my life in the future it is quite discouraging to have this news come down. It is going to make it harder to learn the routes I need to learn. These proposals endanger those who wish to try and work toward living an independent life and maintain a stable job.
I hope the Government will reconsider its plans or at least commit to still have stations be manned even if it is not via ticket offices. It is important to take everyone into account, especially the most vulnerable in our society. Things are now uncertain for many of us when it comes to trains.
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