So it seems that rail ticket offices will be reprieved. After a vociferous campaign – not least on behalf of elderly travellers who might find it difficult to use mobile phone technology, let alone the network of often-dysfunctional ticket machines – the government has undertaken a U-turn and told rail companies to withdraw their proposals to close most ticket offices on the network.
Any other – genuinely private – industry would be deeply engaged in cost-cutting
It may be the right decision. We certainly don’t need as many booking clerks as we did in the day before ticket machines or online ticket sales. It is good that passengers have the option of buying electronic tickets if they find that more convenient. But as supermarkets have found, abandoning customers to automation without the option of dealing with a human being often ends with seriously aggravating experiences.
Moreover, the technology employed by rail companies seems to be increasingly defective.
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