I WRITE concerning the increasingly indefensible policy of ScotRail (operated by Abellio) in regards ticket purchasing and barrier checks, particularly in Glasgow, although other large towns and cities may be similarly affected. I use the North Clyde Line that originates at Cumbernauld when commuting into the city centre, and Glasgow Queen Street – the second largest station in the city – is a shambles for arriving passengers. This is due to the ticket barriers that are in operation at the station, meaning that you must have a ticket before you can exit the platform. This policy in itself is reasonable and operated in most rail networks in the UK and continental Europe. However, the key problem facing commuters is that many stations are not equipped with ticket-purchasing facilities, and rush-hour trains are so packed that it becomes a lottery of whether the conductor can reach you before Queen Street. On the North Clyde Line westbound into Glasgow, Alexandra Parade and Duke Street have no facilities; other stations are similar, including many on the Inverclyde line that I also use often.
The result of this is commuters facing lengthy queues to purchase tickets once alighting from the train, with usually two or three ticket conductors available for queues of up to 30 people at peak times looking to exit the station. I queried this with a member of staff and cannot stress how helpful and informative they were; however, the line that they have to work with is that ScotRail operates a “buy before you board policy”, and that is that. A look at the ScotRail Facebook page demonstrates that this is the only response that customer service staff have when faced with this common complaint, which is incredulous given the number of stations with no ticket-purchasing facilities.
This leads to the ridiculous situation where commuters have to add time to the end of their journey to make sure that they can make any appointments and connections. With the technology available, including smartcards, mobile apps, the situation faced by travellers in Glasgow and the ScotRail network becomes embarrassing when compared with any other network I have used elsewhere.
As Abellio is given substantial grants and subsidies from the Scottish Government, a promise to deal with this at some point in the future is not acceptable. Whilst barriers are essential to ensure that commuters pay for their travel, if the facilities are not in place to allow this to happen – which is evidently not the current situation – this policy should be revised immediately, particularly at times busier than normal. If the facilities are not there to buy tickets, why are commuters punished with delays of as much as 10 minutes to pay for travel?
Andy Clark,
Alexandra Parade,
Glasgow.
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