Government-backed plans to close almost 1,000 railway ticket offices went “too far, too fast” and should be reconsidered, MPs said on Monday.
The Commons transport committee said many parts of the consultation were “unacceptable” and forced campaigners to turn detective in a bid to establish the scale of the changes proposed.
More than 150 ticket offices in London are thought to be at risk, out of 974 across England. There were almost 700,000 responses to the consultation – including 180,000 relating to London stations – in a massive passenger backlash against the cost-cutting proposals.
Committee chairman Iain Stewart, in a letter to rail minister Huw Merriman, said: “We therefore consider that the proposals as put forward by train operating companies in this consultation go too far, too fast, towards a situation that risks excluding some passengers from the railway.
“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.”
Transport Secretary Mark Harper on Monday sidestepped questions about ticket offices being saved, saying he was committed to getting more rail staff out from behind ticket office counters on to concourses.
According to the Department for Transport, the number of ticket office transactions is estimated to have fallen from 175 million in 2012/13 to 75 million in 2022/23.
Mr Harper, speaking to LBC ahead of the release of the committee’s letter, said: “Ninety per cent of people buy tickets on line or from ticket-vending machines, not through ticket offices.
“We want to get more people out on to platforms and out into stations to better support customers and the way they travel on the train network today.
“We also want the train operating companies to set out proposals for how vulnerable customers would still be able to be properly supported.”
The transport committee said it had heard “numerous concerns” about the consultation, and the proposals themselves, in terms of what they will mean for disabled passengers.
It said that it was not until several operators were under the threat of legal action from disabled campaigners that they made some of the documents available.
Mr Stewart said: “Given that the timing of this consultation was entirely in the gift of the operators and that the proposals had clearly been in preparation for some time, the inconsistency and inaccessibility of the consultation materials was unacceptable.
“The lack of information and analysis made available by operators, the Rail Delivery Group 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.”
The committee said it was “reasonable” to make the changes based on the increased use of online purchasing by the majority of passengers – but warned there was a need to safeguard the requirements of a minority of passengers who were reliant on help to travel.
The Standard revealed last month that a number of train firms, including Southeastern, South Western Railway and GoVia Thameslink Railway, had stopped recruiting staff to fill vacant posts some time ago – leading to accusations that they were imposing the closures by stealth.
Proposals that are accepted by London TravelWatch, or Transport Focus outside the capital, can go ahead.
But those that are rejected by the watchdogs have to be referred to Mr Harper for a final decision.
According to the Rail Delivery Group, “42 per cent of the network already operates without a ticket office”.
Mr Merriman has previously “his aspiration that no station will be left unstaffed that is currently staffed”.
