Govia Thameslink Railway responds to feedback from London TravelWatch

Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) has said it will consider carefully the constructive feedback given by London TravelWatch (LTW) today to its proposals to modernise some of its busier stations and looks forward to addressing concerns raised.

GTR’s plans would extend staffing hours by over 2,600 hours a week and put new station hosts where the passengers want them – on the concourse to help with ticket sales and customer queries.

Although LTW’s board did not agree to the proposals “at this stage”, GTR believes its proposals address a number of aspirations London TravelWatch has had for improving staff availability at stations, as supported by passenger research carried out by Transport Focus.

The board heard that there needed to be more of a move away from paper tickets to alternatives such as GTR’s smartcard ‘the key’ and there was concern about the ability of ticket machines and the new station hosts to be able to handle cash payments.

Keith Jipps for Govia Thameslink Railway said: “We welcome this constructive feedback and will be considering our proposals in the light of what has been said. We will be improving our smartcard to encourage more people to buy online and will be launching an Oyster-like pay-as-you-go version which will guarantee the cheapest walk-up fare for the day. The station hosts would be able to handle cash transactions just as our ticket offices do today.

“All our proposals are based on careful analysis of the current demand at our station ticket offices and changes would only be phased in by testing the station host approach at one or two stations initially. We want to discuss matters further with London TravelWatch to address their concerns and to give them the reassurance to enable to take our plans forward.”

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Editor's notes

GTR's proposals to modernise some of its busier stations to create 'station hosts' who are available for longer than ticket offices are currently open, can be viewed here: http://www.southernrailway.com/your-journey/station-information/changes-to-the-opening-hours-of-ticket-offices/

London TravelWatch has collated and reviewed responses to a consultation on the proposed changes to ticket offices at 55 stations in and around London. Transport Focus is providing feedback on a further 28 stations outside this area and has yet to report back.