Plans to close train station ticket offices are “radical” and go “too far, too fast”, MPs have warned the government.
Iain Stewart, the Conservative chairman of the transport select committee, has written to Huw Merriman, the rail minister, voicing concern that the plans to close 870 booking offices risk excluding whole demographics of passengers from the railway.
The committee argued for the proposals to be “carefully piloted” in limited areas before being introduced.
The letter said: “At a minimum, changes this radical should be carefully piloted in limited areas and evaluated for their effect on all passengers before being rolled out. This would allow for the alternative proposals, which at present are too vague, to be properly understood.”
More than 680,000 people responded to a consultation on the plans — the biggest ever response to a public consultation.
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The closures, which have been widely criticised by cabinet ministers and backbench Tory MPs, include key stations such as London Paddington and Euston, Birmingham New Street, Manchester Piccadilly and Liverpool Lime Street.
Transport Focus, the industry watchdog, has until October 31 to examine the responses to the consultation. London TravelWatch is considering the responses relating to stations in the capital.
The watchdogs will pass their decision on each individual ticket office back to the train operating company responsible for the station.
Plans that are given the green light can go ahead, but those that are disputed cannot. The operating companies can opt to revise or abandon the plans for these stations, or — as is widely expected — pass the decision to Mark Harper, the transport secretary.
Operators are drawing up plans for voluntary redundancy schemes if the closures go ahead, with about 2,000 jobs on the line.
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Stewart said: “We hope and expect that the consultation will ultimately lead to much better proposals that will reflect the needs of all passengers.”
His letter added: “The lack of information and analysis made available by operators, the Rail Delivery Group [which represents operating companies] and, especially the Department for Transport about the cumulative impact of the proposals on the rail network has been unacceptable.
“Campaigners and individuals have been left to do the considerable detective work of checking whether claims made by operators stack up against the detail of the proposals.”
He said there was “no overall data on customer interactions with staff other than for ticket purchases, which our evidence tells us are immensely valued by passengers”.
Particular concerns have been raised by disability groups, including the Royal National Institute of Blind People and Transport for All. Age UK also highlighted that some older passengers have difficulties using automatic ticket vending machines.
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Christopher Brooks, Age UK’s head of policy, told MPs: “If you are not familiar with using technology and computers, you cannot really be expected just to turn up in a station and use an automatic machine to help you choose the right fare, especially with the complex fare structure we have. Maybe that is a reform that needs to be looked at first.”
The Department for Transport said: “While these are industry proposals, we have been consistently clear that the industry must ensure that the quality of service for passengers is maintained to a high standard.
“The public consultation has now closed and independent passenger representatives will review the responses with train operating companies shortly.”
