November 2024
Stop the cuts to ScotRail ticket offices – RMT briefing ScotRail’s proposals & the role of the Scottish Government Scottish Government owned rail operator ScotRail has recently announced plans to reduce ticket office hours at 101 (70%) of its 143 staffed stations. These proposals would see the majority of ScotRail ticket offices closed for parts of the day they are currently open. The company has commenced a 12-week internal staff consultation on the proposals which ends in February 2025. Under these proposals, the overall weekly hours at the affected stations would reduce by a third. This means weekly ticket office hours across the ScotRail network would reduce by around 2800 hours a week. In many cases the cuts are significant and equate to closures in all but name. For instance, Dalmarnock ticket office is facing closure for 90% of its current weekly hours, 96 hours per week, Wemyss Bay ticket office is facing closure for 61% of its current hours, 70 hours a week, and Ardrossan South Beach ticket office is facing closure for 60% of its current hours, 69 hours a week. You can see the full list of affected stations by constituency and region, with the weekly proposed cuts in hours here. ScotRail and the Scottish Government are trying to spin these proposals as though it will represent an improvement for passengers, but the converse is true. If ScotRail proceeds with these cuts to ticket offices, it will worsen passenger service, safety and accessibility and have a detrimental impact on passengers’ experience of the ScotRail network.