Cuts to railway ticket office hours to be debated by Fife Council

Lib-Dem Councillor Jane Ann Liston (St Andrews) is bringing a motion to full council on Thursday asking members to intervene to protect railway ticket office services across Fife amidst plans to cut hours at four railway stations.

Earlier this year, ScotRail announced plans to change and cut the opening hours of ticket offices at stations in Aberdour, Leuchars, Cowdenbeath and Cupar – alongside 50 other offices across Scotland.

The motion states there “could be concerns amongst users of these stations in Fife’s communities”.

As a result of these concerns, Cllr Liston will ask the council leader to write to the Scottish Transport Minister to “request they intervene in order to protect this service”.

ScotRail announced the changes in October, and they emphasised that the changes to ticket office opening hours will not affect train timetables or trains stopping at the station. They also said that no ticket offices will be permanently closed.

The rail operator said the changes to ticket office opening hours reflect changing travel and ticket purchasing patterns. For example, ScotRail said there has been a 50 per cent drop in the number of customers purchasing tickets at ticket offices over the last 10 years with 43 per cent of all sales now being made through online or mobile apps.

ScotRail said the changes will also enable them to deliver more visible customer support at stations where office hours have been reduced. At these stations, the rail company said staff will instead carry out “other customer supporting duties within their existing job description, such as ticket barrier duties and revenue protection”.

They said there will be no job losses or redundancies as a result of the proposals.

Nonetheless, Cllrs Liston and Tepp are raising their concerns with full council this week. On Thursday they will ask members to consider writing to Holyrood to object to the changes.

THE CHANGES IN FIFE

At Aberdour, the ticket office will close 45 minutes earlier Monday to Thursday, it will open 50 minutes later on Saturdays, and it will only open for two and a half hours on Fridays.

The Cowdenbeath ticket office is currently open from 6.30am-1pm during the week, but going forward, it will only operate in the mornings from 8.10am-10.50am. On Fridays, it will open from 9am-11.45am.

In Cupar, the ticket office currently operates from 6.45 am to 8.30pm from Monday to Friday, 8am to 3pm on Saturdays, and 11.30am until 5pm on Sundays.

Its new hours will be cut to 6.45am-4.15pm Monday to Thursday, 7am to 5.45pm on Fridays, 8am to 9pm on Saturdays, and it will be closed on Sundays.

The evening hours at Leuchars station will likewise be slashed. It’s currently open from 6.20am until 9.45pm Monday to Saturday, but going forward, the latest it will be open is until 6.30pm on Fridays. Sunday will see the harshest cuts, and the office will close eight hours earlier than it currently does, opening from 10am-2.30pm.

The opening hours at the Dunfermline City railway station are also poised to change. The office will close 45 minutes earlier Monday-Saturday, but it will now be opened from 9.30am-5pm on Sundays.