Consultation is live for the proposed closure of the ticket office at Bletchley Rail Station as part of a large national consultation looking at hundreds of stations across England. The consultation for the proposal to close Bletchley ticket office has been extended to 1st September 2023.
Find out more about the consultation on the Transport Focus website. https://www.transportfocus.org.uk/news/rail-station-ticket-office-changes-have-your-say-as-public-consultation-begins/
If you wish to comment, please send your feedback on the consultation by 1st September 2023 to: ticketoffice.EMR@transportfocus.org.uk
BPARA has objected to the closure of the Ticket Office at Bletchley Station – as follows:
The station and its services will be inaccessible to passengers with access needs and more difficult to use for inexperienced or vulnerable travellers.
The ticket office improves accessibility to a significant extent in terms of ease of buying tickets, receiving advice and assistance, navigating the station, planning routes, and feeling safe and confident in making journeys – there are many reports of ticket machines not offering the full range of tickets that are available.
The mitigations proposed are insufficient for the needs of passengers in our area.
The changes would represent a deterioration in the quality of service received by disabled people and may violate both the Equality Act (2010) and the Secretary of State for Transport’s Ticketing and Settlement Agreement ticket office guidance.
There is no guarantee that multifunctional roving staff moving around the station, or a Help Point, will be sufficiently accessible to all the public and particularly disabled people or those with hearing impairment, and assumes passengers being physically able to identify and find staff. To do this they may have to travel across the station site (potentially involving lifts and footbridges whilst managing luggage) rather than using a designated contact such as a ticket office which is accessible and feels safe.
If the ticket office is closed the only way to buy tickets will be online or via ticket vending machines (TVMs). Many people already find online ticket booking confusing and disabled adults and the elderly are overrepresented in the groups of people who do not use or have access to the internet, so this is not a fully accessible alternative to ticket offices.
TVMs are not fully accessible for everyone and not all ticket types and residents find the easiest way to get the cheapest and most suitable ticket is via a ticket office.
The Government is deeply concerned about the climate emergency and encourages the use of public transport to meet carbon neutrality targets. If passengers do not feel safe, or unable to purchase tickets at Bletchley station, they will not use trains.
Bletchley station will be the midpoint of the East West Rail link. The anticipated growth in passenger numbers due to this major infrastructure development, (5 million passengers are predicted, doubling the current number of current annual users) only strengthens the arguments that the station needs a staffed ticket office which caters for the needs of our whole community.
Bletchley Station was used by those working at Bletchley Park during WW2. Today it is used by vast numbers visiting the world-famous Home of the Codebreakers, which will be hosting world leaders for the UK AI Summit, hosted by the Government later this year. In addition to these visitors and commuters, the station is popular with those attending both national and international sporting and other entertainment functions at Stadium MK.
