Southern Railway

Published: 10 March 2016

Changes to the opening hours of ticket offices

Modernising Southern
On Southern passenger journeys have risen in the past 5 years and demand is set to grow on our busy network. To keep up with this increasing demand and the rising expectations of our customers we are modernising how we do things at our stations, on board our trains and behind the scenes. Our aim is to make things easier for you, our passengers.

Changes to our busier stations
We know that our customers want a quick and easy journey through our stations, and want the option to buy tickets on-line and use smartcard technology. We already sell approximately 70% of our tickets through ticket machines, on-line, smartcards, Oyster and contactless payments and this trend is forecast to continue. However we also know the importance of having staff members visible and available to help when needed.

This is why, from summer 2016, we want to start to change how we manage some of our busier stations.

At some of our stations we know that our ticket offices sell fewer than 12 tickets per hour and the vast majority of customers don’t use the ticket offices on a daily basis. At these stations, we want our staff to become more available for all users of the station and ensure there is a visible presence on our station concourses where they can help customers with all of their queries, provide information, offer assistance and have the ability to sell tickets when needed.

At some of our busier stations, we want to relocate the ticket selling equipment to a station hosting point so the staff are available on the concourse, able to sell the full range of tickets but for longer times than today.

However we also know that the ticket office will need to remain operational in the morning peak at some stations to keep up with current customer demand. At these stations we propose to also have Station Hosts available in peak and off peak times to better assist our customers.

We believe that this will provide an improved customer experience, with all the affected stations being staffed from the very first to last train, 7 days a week. Facilities such as waiting rooms will be open for longer and Station Hosts will be available answering customer queries, providing advice and assisting with ticket purchases.

More information about how we intend to modernise our operations, including a full list of affected stations, is available below:

List of stations and proposals

List of stations and proposed opening hours

We know these changes are important to you and you can comment on our proposals to modernise the service we offer you at our stations. If your station is not listed then it is unaffected by these changes.

Public consultation commenced on Monday 22nd February 2016, for a three week period, where customers can share their views on our proposals. Posters are being displayed at the affected stations and information is contained on this web site.

You can raise any feedback directly with us (stationchanges@gtrailway.com) but you can also contact London TravelWatch or Transport Focus as they will be collating customer feedback for all the affected stations.

Check our list of stations here to confirm which Watchdog to respond to.

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