No ticket office available at Brighton?

[AngusH]

I ran into an oddity the other day on the southern website.

I was looking at the southern website for Brighton station ticket office hours when I found this:





There is "no ticket office available".

It turns out this occurs when the ticket office is CLOSED. When it is open it shows the following:




Does this seem confusing to anyone else?

Until I double checked today, I actually assumed it was closed for rebulding or
had been removed entirely, but actually it's just a indicator for whether the office is currently open or closed.


The obvious solution is to change it to "Closed Now" I guess...


edit:

{StationName} Station Information | Live Departures & Arrivals for {StationName} | Southern Railway

www.southernrailway.com

source of images

 

[yorkie]

I agree this is very confusing. It could say "Closed now; opens 06:10 on Monday" or similar.

 

[AngusH]

I stole borrowed your line in the message I sent them.

Hopefully it will get improvement.

 

[AlbertBeale]

Of course it would help if the Brighton ticket office, open or not, was easy to spot, or well-signposted.

On my first trip to Brighton station after the previous one closed, a few years ago, I spent several minutes wandering around the station looking for the ticket office and initially assumed it no longer existed at all. Only after a member of staff showed me could I find it - tucked away somewhere you can't see it as you come off the train, and also can't see it (unless you know exactly which direction to look and have decent eyesight) as you arrive at the front of the station.

 

[geoffk]

Of course it would help if the Brighton ticket office, open or not, was easy to spot, or well-signposted.

On my first trip to Brighton station after the previous one closed, a few years ago, I spent several minutes wandering around the station looking for the ticket office and initially assumed it no longer existed at all. Only after a member of staff showed me could I find it - tucked away somewhere you can't see it as you come off the train, and also can't see it (unless you know exactly which direction to look and have decent eyesight) as you arrive at the front of the station.

Perhaps that's why only 12 per cent of passengers use it!

 

[AlbertBeale]

Perhaps that's why only 12 per cent of passengers use it!

If that's really 12% of passengers (as opposed to 12% of tickets - which would mean a much higher percentage of the total number of different people using the station), then given the throughput at that station it means a very large number. Furthermore, given it's a destination with, I'd guess, a larger number of people arriving and then leaving than vice versa, then a lot of users will already have a return ticket. And on the occasions I've needed to use it (not often, since I normally arrive from elsewhere with a return ticket), there's always been a queue. Though perhaps these points are as much to do with the ticket office thread as this Brighton station one!

 

[Aaron1]

Out of interest where is the ticket office anyway in relation to the WHSmith store? I was at Brighton in March on my way to a football game and although I didn't require the ticket office I was still surprised not to see any trace of one at a busy station

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Perhaps that's why only 12 per cent of passengers use it!

Of course, if you've just bought a monthly season ticket, you're probably not going to use the ticket office again for your next few journeys.

Lies, damned lies and statistics (and all that)?!

 

[AlbertBeale]

Out of interest where is the ticket office anyway in relation to the WHSmith store? I was at Brighton in March on my way to a football game and although I didn't require the ticket office I was still surprised not to see any trace of one at a busy station

Hi - indeed, there's no obvious trace of one, even though it does exist and in my experience does very good business despite only a minority being aware of it. If it were more obvious...

If you're approaching the front of the station coming up from the south (as most people do), the main archway through from the "outer concourse" to the station concourse is indeed the one with WHS on the left and some other commercial place on the right. (These are both - sensible - places where the ticket office was in years gone by.) However, you now need to stop before going through that passageway, while still outside, and look to your right to the furthest corner of the station footprint, across to the other side of the former taxi drop-off, where they turned round to leave the station, and it's in a little building tucked away over there - with no signage pointing you there that I've ever found.

If arriving at Brighton by train, and needing the booking office then, it's completely invisible from the gateline (and, again, with no signage); if you do know where it is, it's a zig-zag walk round various bits of station furniture to get to it.

 

[DaventryRabbit]

Of course it would help if the Brighton ticket office, open or not, was easy to spot, or well-signposted.

On my first trip to Brighton station after the previous one closed, a few years ago, I spent several minutes wandering around the station looking for the ticket office and initially assumed it no longer existed at all. Only after a member of staff showed me could I find it - tucked away somewhere you can't see it as you come off the train, and also can't see it (unless you know exactly which direction to look and have decent eyesight) as you arrive at the front of the station.

It's a similar situation at Newcastle.
Virtually no signage to the LNER Booking Office well away from the Gateline/ Main Station Facilities. It's almost as if its designed not to be seen so as to give the impression that it dosen't exist and that online/app is the way to go...

 

[lincolnshire]

Look at York on LNER that,s not in full view like it used to be, ticket offices don,t bring in rent revenue and a percentage of the takings like shops etc do.