Most of SE London’s rail ticket offices face closure under long-awaited plans unveiled by Southeastern today – with facilities in Kent and East Sussex remaining largely as they are for now.
The planned closures, prompted by government funding cuts across England, would mean 40 of Southeastern’s ticket offices closing at stations within the London fare zones.
Of the remaining 21 ticket offices within the London zones, Greenwich, Woolwich Arsenal, Lewisham, Eltham, Mottingham, New Eltham and Grove Park are among those to escape the axe, with some some ticket windows in central London becoming “travel centres”.
Abbey Wood, which is run by Transport for London, keeps its ticket office.
All Southeastern stations losing ticket offices: Albany Park, Barnehurst, Belvedere, Bexleyheath, Bickley, Blackheath, Brixton, Bromley North, Catford Bridge, Charlton, Chelsfield, Clock House, Deptford, Eden Park, Elmers End, Erith, Falconwood, Hayes, Hither Green, Kent House, Kidbrooke, Knockholt, Ladywell, Lee, Lower Sydenham, Maze Hill, New Beckenham, New Cross, Penge East, Plumstead, Shortlands, Slade Green, St John’s, Sundridge Park, Sydenham Hill, Welling, Westcombe Park, West Dulwich, West Wickham, Woolwich Dockyard
Southeastern stations within zones 1-9 keeping ticket offices: Cannon Street, Greenwich, Woolwich Arsenal, Lewisham, Eltham, Mottingham, New Eltham, Sidcup, Bexley, Crayford, Beckenham Junction, St Mary Cray, Stratford International, Swanley, Petts Wood, Orpington.
Stations in zones 1-9 where ticket offices will become travel centres: Charing Cross, London Bridge, Dartford, Victoria, St Pancras International.
Only Southeastern-run ticket offices are included in this list. Source: Southeastern
Southeastern says that staff will remain on stations where they will be “able to provide a wider range of customer support including helping people with accessibility requirements and keeping people safe”.
“Every station currently staffed will continue to be staffed,” the government-owned company insists.
While most Southeastern Metro stations are unstaffed in the evenings and at weekends – and often during weekdays – ticket offices have generally remained open, if only in the morning, to help customers navigate their way through the complex National Rail ticketing system.
The initial ticket office cuts specifically target SE London, with none of Southeastern’s windows in Kent or East Sussex escaping the first phase of cuts – an echo of the rail service cuts in December when mainline services outside the capital were also left largely unaffected.
But Southeastern says that its aim is “for all ticket offices to eventually close subject to a public consultation for each ticket office”.
“To begin with, we will focus on the 40 ticket offices in our metro area that sell fewer than 50 tickets at the window daily and where customers are already able to use Pay As You Go (tap in, tap out) for their journey,” the rail company says.
“Almost half (19 of 40) of these ticket offices sell 10 tickets or less daily at the window, and a further 16 sell between 11-30 tickets a day. We have carried out an equalities impact assessment for each ticket office which will enable us to consider the impact our decisions will have on our most vulnerable customers.
“While other train operators will be consulting in a single period, we will be consulting in phases. The future status of a further 90 ticket offices on our network will follow in later consultation, commencing in the autumn, with any agreed changes to take place over the next two years.”
Kidbrooke, where Berkeley Homes recently built a new station building, will lose its window as part of the plans.
Ticket office sales have slumped in recent years, particularly since the introduction of Oyster on the capital’s National Rail network in 2010.
Figures released by Southeastern under the Freedom of Information Act earlier this year show that at Charlton station, 88,000 tickets were sold through the ticket window in 2010, a figure that dropped to just 12,000 in 2022. At Westcombe Park, ticket sales fell from 40,000 to fewer than 3,000.
By comparison, Gillingham – where Oyster and contactless are not available – had 314,000 sales in 2010, and still had 225,000 sales last year.
Similar cuts are planned on stations run by Thameslink, Southern and other rail companies.
Most Tube ticket offices were closed by Boris Johnson in 2015, eight years after he had pledged to keep them open. Ticket offices remain on most London Overground stations, although some have restricted hours.
Green Party London Assembly member Siân Berry urged Londoners to respond to a consultation into the plans and said the government’s justification for the cuts was “weak”.
“A staffed ticket office is important to supporting rail travel – not just buying a ticket but also for organising assistance such as ramps for those who need them,” she said. “Nobody who has ever used a cumbersome ticket machine in a station would believe it can replace a friendly ticket office – particularly when you need a ticket changed or refunded.”
Yesterday the government announced plans to roll out contactless ticketing – as used in London – to 53 stations outside the capital. However, Southeastern stations beyond Dartford are not part of the initial rollout.
Details of how to have your say on the closures are available on the London Travelwatch website.
Updated at 2.45pm to make clear that stations in Kent and East Sussex will follow in a later stage of cuts.
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