ScotRail proposes to slash hours by one-third at Wick's ticket office – Labour MSP 'disappointed' with plans
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A Labour MSP has condemned the planned changes to ticket office opening times, that will reduce hours at Wick railway station by a third, as "a cost saving exercise".
ScotRail said it welcomed the 1500 public responses from a consultation on the matter that will affect the opening hours at 120 ticket offices across Scotland. In response to the feedback, the train operator has now put forward changes to its proposals.
Commenting on yesterday's announcement from Scotrail, Highlands and Islands Labour MSP Rhoda Grant said: “I submitted my opposition to these proposals and I’m disappointed to see Scotrail push forward with these plans with little change or reassurance to staff and customers. Scotrail is going to be returned to public ownership in a matter of weeks so I don’t see this as anything more than a cost saving exercise."
She added: “Scotrail need to retain the status quo until they return services to pre-pandemic levels. Once Scotrail returns to public ownership we can look at how we develop service to provide better customer experiences.”
The changes will see hours at Wick railway station's ticket office slashed by one-third from 42 hours and 24 minutes to 28 hours and 20 minutes. In a new move, the office will also be closed on Saturday.
Currently, the station's ticket office is open from Monday to Saturday from 10.10am to 5.14pm – a total of 42 hours and 24 minutes – and the changes will see the those hours reduced by 14 hours and 4 minutes with the office open from 7.50am until 1.30pm from Monday to Friday with the facility being closed on Saturdays.
ScotRail said that even before the pandemic, customers were "increasingly using online options or ticket vending machines, rather than ticket offices" and that there has been "a 50 per cent drop" in the use of ticket offices over the past 10 years.
A ScotRail spokesperson added: "This dramatic shift in customer patterns prompted a review of the opening hours of ticket offices for the first time since 1991 to see if the needs of customers are still being met.
"The assessment has considered where there is a decline in tickets sales at stations, the opportunities that exist to reduce fraudulent travel, and how to increase revenue through more revenue protection teams. It was proposed to amend the opening hours at 117 ticket offices and close three entirely."
A public consultation on the proposals was held last month, which was organised by Transport Focus, the independent watchdog for transport users. ScotRail says it will now implement the Transport Focus feedback and "strengthen tourist and leisure travel ticket offices at Girvan, Thurso, Inverclyde, and Wick, deploying staff on-site beyond the current proposed hours".
In addition, ScotRail will also retain current staffing hours at 51 of the 117 ticket office proposed to change their hours. This means that at 51 stations the number of hours staff will be available to support customers at the station will not change, even if they are no longer behind the ticket office window.
The train operator confirmed that affected staff in ScotRail will not lose their jobs because of any changes to ticket office opening hours, and that rather than being about cutting jobs, this is about "adding value for our staff and customers".
ScotRail will now work with Transport Scotland and the Scottish Government to discuss the next steps in considering these proposals.
Phil Campbell, ScotRail head of customer operations, said: “The changes we propose to make, as a result of the public consultation, demonstrate we are listening to our customers and creating an environment that improves safety, customer support, and the helpfulness of staff.
“The safety, comfort and wellbeing of our customers is a top priority, and we will always listen to what passengers and people who use our stations have to say. We believe this proposal takes into account most of the issues we identified as important in our original plan as well as the views of the public.
“We are on course to deliver a railway that is modern, safe, and reliable which will serve customers even better in the future.”
