SNCF staffed rural stations.

[eisenach]

A group of 7 recently caught the train from l'Argentière-les-Écrins to Gap and back. The fare should have been close to 150€, but the small station was staffed, with a functioning ticket office. He was determined to find a better deal, and came up with a day group pass for départements 05 / 04 - 50€.

What really caught my eye was that, even at Gap, which is big and busy enough, passengers are trusted to cross the lines using the barrow crossings, avoiding the need for expensive bridges and lifts. Everything supervised by station staff.
I suppose line speeds are not high, but it makes a contrast with UK practice.

It seems to me that the money is better spent employing people, making the whole experience much more friendly, than on wieldy and expensive infrastructure.

 

[185143]

SNCF are probably second only to RENFE in being just about the most passenger UNfriendly railway out there!

Everything from expensive Interrail reservations to low frequency services with compulsory reservations heavily restricting the ability to do medium distance walk up travel.

That said, the TER trains are easy to use.

 

[nwales58]

That said, the TER trains are easy to use.

Often. Not always.

As well as the reservation-compulsory TER …

There are now non-reservation TER that can be ‘full’, no more tickets sold (yes, if any later service was not full you could have used a ticket for that, otherwise it’d be as bad as spanish MD).

Admittedly it was on a busy day and the train was full and standing, but there is no way for a passholder to have made a reservation beforehand (unlike the Normandy and Est services).

 

[30907]

What really caught my eye was that, even at Gap, which is big and busy enough,

Googlemaps suggests there are 8 departures in the next 24 hours (plus the bustituted Grenoble trains).

passengers are trusted to cross the lines using the barrow crossings, avoiding the need for expensive bridges and lifts. Everything supervised by station staff.
I suppose line speeds are not high, but it makes a contrast with UK practice.

AFAIK everything stops there.

 

[185143]

Often. Not always.

As well as the reservation-compulsory TER …

There are now non-reservation TER that can be ‘full’, no more tickets sold (yes, if any later service was not full you could have used a ticket for that, otherwise it’d be as bad as spanish MD).

Admittedly it was on a busy day and the train was full and standing, but there is no way for a passholder to have made a reservation beforehand (unlike the Normandy and Est services).

Fair. I've only used the Normandy TER services and was in fact on a reservation compulsory one on Friday morning!

I'd have been fine without one though, there was space, I was asleep the whole way (non stop Rouen-Paris) and on arrival at Paris St. Lazare, my Interrail worked the barriers. Which it doesn't for InOui reservation compulsory services.

I was sat opposite an Irish guy last year on a TGV along the south coast of France, he was arguing that the reservation compulsory system was better, as he's been on plenty of full and standing trains in Ireland. Soon changed his tune when I pointed out that he'd have been refused travel, left behind and potentially stranded under such a system.

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

Rural stations in France that are still manned would have been destaffed years ago were they in Britain. I recall a few years ago being in Mende in Lozère where the booking office had two clerks and a supervisor hiding in the back and not a lot to do frankly! It only had a vestigial rail service plus some buses - the economics must have been horrendous.

Things are changing rapidly, however - TER services are being competitively tendered by the regions while a lot more TGV services are being 'Ouigoised' (internet booking only). You can quite often see active campaigns at stations encouraging punters to use the ticket machines rather than the booking office.

 

[DeverseSam]

There are now non-reservation TER that can be ‘full’, no more tickets sold (yes, if any later service was not full you could have used a ticket for that, otherwise it’d be as bad as spanish MD).

Please tell us more, it sounds complicated.

Also the TER ticket machines that I have seen don’t even allow a service to be specified

 

[Oxfordblues]

I visited the booking office at Montpellier Saint-Roch to buy a ticket for the morning departure to Madrid. I was told they couldn't sell me a ticket because the train is operated by RENFE and I would have to book on-line. I can't imagine that in the UK.

 

[The exile]

I visited the booking office at Montpellier Saint-Roch to buy a ticket for the morning departure to Madrid. I was told they couldn't sell me a ticket because the train is operated by RENFE and I would have to book on-line. I can't imagine that in the UK.

Plenty stations with 2 companies’ ticket machines though - one of which will sell you a particular ticket and the other which won’t!

 

[dutchflyer]

@Oxfordblues: but UK does not have railways from neighbour countrues running´ competitive´serices-it remains an island!
But this specific RENFE 1/day service has been so many times questioned and answered on the community.eurail forum-by obvious users/planning to use, that the answer was even more humorous/laughable: one had to ask the conductor on the platform with pass if there were any spare seats left-and then s/he would issue the supplemental ticket for that on board!
I remember even once-same region, that a nice ticket (multiple days rover for this region at just 10 0r 12€/day) was not available from the ticket desk (Toulouse main) and its existence was even denied firmly by that lady. No mention ofn that at all on the site-so what the use of those staffed stations then?

 

[Mainline421]

There are now non-reservation TER that can be ‘full’, no more tickets sold (yes, if any later service was not full you could have used a ticket for that, otherwise it’d be as bad as spanish MD).

Admittedly it was on a busy day and the train was full and standing, but there is no way for a passholder to have made a reservation beforehand (unlike the Normandy and Est services).

As in UK this only affects online sales and can be bypassed using a TVM (presumably a ticket office too), passholders/Interrail can just board of course

 

[AY1975]

Rural stations in France that are still manned would have been destaffed years ago were they in Britain. I recall a few years ago being in Mende in Lozère where the booking office had two clerks and a supervisor hiding in the back and not a lot to do frankly! It only had a vestigial rail service plus some buses - the economics must have been horrendous.

Many rural stations in France have been destaffed in recent decades, though, at least if Champs St Bris on the Laroche-Migennes to Auxerre and Avallon line in Burgundy is anything to go by. On my first visit in 1992 it was still staffed, but by the time of my next visit in 2014 it had lost its ticket office.

What's more, I got a free ride from Champs St Bris to Avallon through no fault of my own, as there was no ticket machine either. The unit I travelled on had a ticket machine on board but it didn't seem to be working, and I tried to find the guard to buy a ticket but s/he was nowhere to be seen if there was one at all.

 

[stadler]

I visited the booking office at Montpellier Saint-Roch to buy a ticket for the morning departure to Madrid. I was told they couldn't sell me a ticket because the train is operated by RENFE and I would have to book on-line. I can't imagine that in the UK.

You can buy a ticket onboard RENFE services if boarding at French stations. This is quite a high surcharge though. I have done this before and i think it is the only possible way to board in France if you do not purchase online.

It is still rather appalling that the railways in Mainland Europe are becoming more and more disjointed with more private operators and one operator not selling tickets for another operator. It was much better when every Mainland European country just had one state owned railway operator running everything. One great thing about UK railways is that you can buy a ticket for any TOC from any station to any station at any ticket office or ticket machine or even onboard.