The short duration of the public consultation period, during a holiday period and within less than one calendar month and no meaningful lead time, has meant that we have been unable to share the opportunity to respond with our rail user community in all the ways that we generally communicate – specifically, monthly printed village newsletters that are relied upon by rail users without access to the internet.
The Meldreth Shepreth and Foxton Rail User Group is concerned about any diminishing of confidence in using the railway, especially for anyone who is unaccustomed to automated machines, or doesn’t have access to a smart phone or to the internet for travel planning.
The consultation tells us that 9 in 10 passengers purchase their tickets outside of traditional ticket office arrangements. Therefore, the consultation should provide a clear and convincing explanation of the experience of the one in ten passengers who rely on ticket offices and how their experience would be improved in the proposed new arrangements. This has not been done.
Station staff will not have access to computers for journey planning so cannot provide this service for less confident travellers. There is no explanation of any universal training that staff would undertake for ticket purchasing assistance.
The automated ticket machine at Meldreth is regularly out of action for a period of days even when this has been reported.
The Equality Impact Assessment cited in the consultation has not been made publicly accessible.
Meldreth Station offers a personal and warm welcome, encouraging train ridership. Human presence is cherished. This promotes confidence in use of the railway at a time when ridership is struggling to recover to pre-pandemic levels.
Ticket office hours are protected under the Ticketing & Settlement Agreement (TSA). We have not seen any suggestions that replacement protections will be put in place. This would mean that, after the conclusion of the current process, future changes would not be subject to oversight (other than as provided by TOC contracts with the DfT) and so could be implemented by operators at will. This provides no guarantee that the hours proposed now will remain in place.
MSFRUG concludes that the case for improved experience under the consultation proposals for the one in ten passengers who rely on ticket offices has not been demonstrated. For this reason and for the concerns outlined above, it is clear to us that these more vulnerable passengers would suffer discrimination under the consultation proposals.
Susan van de Ven
Chair, Meldreth Shepreth and Foxton Rail User Group
