Independently run ticket offices at railway stations.

[busroute]

Do any independently run ticket offices (ie not run by the train operating company) at railway stations still exist nowadays?

If you go back about fifteen or twenty years in to the 2000s and 2010s there was dozens of them. It seems that most have closed down and i think a couple were taken over by train operating companies. But i suspect a small amount may still exist.

Knighton, Llandrindod, Ludlow, Ledbury, Chester Le Street, Eaglescliffe, Bishop Auckland, Newtown, Gobowen, Pembrey And Burry Port, Barmouth, Chepstow, Severn Tunnel Junction, Milford Haven, Aber, Bargoed, Millom, Whitby, Saint Ives, Looe, Newquay, Saxmundham, all have or had independent ticket offices. I am not sure on their current status of most of these and it is very difficult to find out online.

There were probably other stations too that i have missed off the list. I would be interested to hear of other stations that used to have independent ticket offices.

It is very difficult to find up to date information on whether any of these still exist. I believe most of them have shut but i do not have hard evidence for most. Covid probably got rid of a lot of them. Maybe even all have dissappeared.

Does anyone have any up to date information on which stations (if any) still have independent ticket offices open?

Also out of curiosity how did these places set up these independent ticket offices? What is the whole process? Do the train operating companies allow anyone to apply to rent out a station building and apply to sell train tickets and if the application is successful then is there a fee? I presume then they get given the neccessary ticket machines and ticket printers and ticket stock?

I would also presume the independent ticket offices take a commission for each ticket they sell but does anyone know what percentage. It would have to be a very high percentage of commission (or for a low percentage of commission the ticket office would need to be very busy and sell a huge amount of tickets) in order to be profitable. Maybe that is why so many of these have shut down as it is not profitable enough.

Lastly i also recall that there used to be some locations away from railway stations that sold train tickets? These were mostly tourist information centres run by councils. I recall a few bus information offices did too. I think also a few travel agent offices. Do any of these places still exist nowadays and if so where?

Thanks in advance for any information that anyone can provide! I always found these to be an interesting quirk of our railways!

 

[Benjwri]

I think Bishop Trains still exists at Bishop Auckland.

 

[stuartn]

Millom is still open- it is part of Millom Heritage and Arts Centre- they already had the whole station building for the Museum (no idea if owned or rented), so it just used otherwise vacant space. Whatever commission they get helps with the finances of the museum. It was done because of public demand to have somewhere they could buy tickets in person, and helps the guards on the busy morning works/schools trains as they rarely have to sell tickets from Millom. It also provides a warm waiting area when the Office is open, which is very welcome. I think they also had a very simple drink and light snacks service originally and also provided local bus timetables (when Millom had a bus service!!).

In Whitehaven we used to have at least two travel agents who used to do rail tickets (issued on hand written paper stock). At one time issuing rail tickets was one of the ABTA training modules for training Travel Agency Staff. After the travel Agents stopped doing rail tickets Whitehaven TIC issued Rail and National Express Coach Tickets (both on paper stock) up until closure.

 

[WesternLancer]

Do any independently run ticket offices (ie not run by the train operating company) at railway stations still exist nowadays?

If you go back about fifteen or twenty years in to the 2000s and 2010s there was dozens of them. It seems that most have closed down and i think a couple were taken over by train operating companies. But i suspect a small amount may still exist.

Knighton, Llandrindod, Ludlow, Ledbury, Chester Le Street, Eaglescliffe, Bishop Auckland, Newtown, Gobowen, Pembrey And Burry Port, Barmouth, Chepstow, Severn Tunnel Junction, Milford Haven, Aber, Bargoed, Millom, Whitby, Saint Ives, Looe, Newquay, Saxmundham, all have or had independent ticket offices. I am not sure on their current status of most of these and it is very difficult to find out online.

There were probably other stations too that i have missed off the list. I would be interested to hear of other stations that used to have independent ticket offices.

It is very difficult to find up to date information on whether any of these still exist. I believe most of them have shut but i do not have hard evidence for most. Covid probably got rid of a lot of them. Maybe even all have dissappeared.

Does anyone have any up to date information on which stations (if any) still have independent ticket offices open?

Also out of curiosity how did these places set up these independent ticket offices? What is the whole process? Do the train operating companies allow anyone to apply to rent out a station building and apply to sell train tickets and if the application is successful then is there a fee? I presume then they get given the neccessary ticket machines and ticket printers and ticket stock?

I would also presume the independent ticket offices take a commission for each ticket they sell but does anyone know what percentage. It would have to be a very high percentage of commission (or for a low percentage of commission the ticket office would need to be very busy and sell a huge amount of tickets) in order to be profitable. Maybe that is why so many of these have shut down as it is not profitable enough.

Lastly i also recall that there used to be some locations away from railway stations that sold train tickets? These were mostly tourist information centres run by councils. I recall a few bus information offices did too. I think also a few travel agent offices. Do any of these places still exist nowadays and if so where?

Thanks in advance for any information that anyone can provide! I always found these to be an interesting quirk of our railways!

I have it in my mind that the commission received was/is 6%
Same as that offered by high street travel agencies many of which sold train and indeed coach tickets back in the day.
I think the decline of high street train ticket retailing probably started with telesales of train tickets in the 1990s, before online sales were really a feasible option.

A recent thread on the forum mentioned Gobowen independent ticket office is soon to close.

 

[Dr Day]

Fairly sure Severn Tunnel Junction is still independent, as is Chepstow

Chepstow Trains

chepstowtrains.com

 

[alistairlees]

I have it in my mind that the commission received was/is 6%
Same as that offered by high street travel agencies many of which sold train and indeed coach tickets back in the day.
I think the decline of high street train ticket retailing probably started with telesales of train tickets in the 1990s, before online sales were really a feasible option.

A recent thread on the forum mentioned Gobowen independent ticket office is soon to close.

The commission for selling at stations is 9% and has been for a long time.

 

[WesternLancer]

The commission for selling at stations is 9% and has been for a long time.

Thanks for the correction.

 

[Belperpete]

The Ffestiniog Railway at one time (long ago) used to sell BR tickets at its Minffordd booking office. More recently it used to sell BR tickets in its booking offices in Blaenau Ffestiniog and Porthmadog. This was done through it's travel agency arm, Ffestiniog Travel. While I understand Ffestiniog Travel still sell rail tickets (among other things!), they no longer have staff in Porthmadog or Blaenau stations for face to face sales.

A hangover from the days when they used to sell tickets from Minffordd and Blaenau stations like any other BR booking office is that I understand they are one of, if not the only, travel agent allowed to sell priv tickets.

At one time I used to travel by rail regularly for work, and got my tickets from Ffestiniog Travel by post. It was a special Midland Mainline ticket (first class plus breakfast plus parking), and they even got a supply of the special gold wallets that such tickets came in.

 

[Dr Hoo]

Deleted, duplicate information.

 

[lyndhurst25]

The ticket offices run by Lancashire County Council at Clitheroe, Nelson and Carnforth all were closed ~2020. The building at Clitheroe is now a station cafe. I wonder what the set-up and ongoing running costs would be if such businesses were to start selling rail tickets as a side line? A bit like Post Offices that have moved from being a separate shop, to become a counter within another business.