Ticket offices at seven Greater Anglia stations are due to temporarily close for three weeks from the week beginning Sunday 14 June, due to very low ticket sales while customers heed customer advice about only travelling by rail if they absolutely need to.
Ticket offices due to close are: Diss, Manningtree, Stansted Mountfitchet, Rye House, St Margarets, Thetford and Whittlesford Parkway.
The remaining 42 ticket offices will remain open for the morning peak hours, with the busier ones also opening in afternoons and at weekends.
All ticket offices which have been shut due to the coronavirus outbreak are due to reopen from the week beginning Sunday 5 July.
According to Government advice, people should avoid public transport. If they need to travel by rail they should travel off-peak if possible and wear a face covering.
Face coverings will be mandatory from 15 June on all Greater Anglia stations and trains, as well as all other UK train services and forms of public transport.
Greater Anglia has put in a range of measures to help staff and customers maintain social distancing at stations.
Wherever possible passengers should buy their tickets online or using the Greater Anglia app in order to cut down on time spent at the station, so it is easier for everyone to maintain social distancing.
Customers using the ticket office or ticket machines at the station are asked to use contactless payment.
Martin Moran, Greater Anglia commercial and customer service director said: “Our customers have been heeding Government advice to avoid public transport to keep it clear for people who need it.
“We’ve also been asking people who need to use our services to buy their tickets online or via the Greater Anglia app so they can spend less time at the station, which is better for social distancing.
“The numbers of people using some of our ticket offices has been extremely low, which is why we’ve decided to close some of them temporarily again.
“We are anticipating a possible increase in customers at the beginning of July, when more businesses re-open and more people may need to travel to work by train, so we’ll re-open all of the ticket offices again then. We’ll then keep on monitoring the position over subsequent weeks.”
Ticket offices at the following stations remain closed until the week beginning Sunday 5 July: Colchester Town, Diss, Elsenham, Frinton, Harlow Mill, Hatfield Peverel, Manningtree, Newport, Rye House, St Margarets, Shelford, Stansted Mountfitchet, Thetford, Whittlesford Parkway.
Photo credit: Greater Anglia
0113 2082620
info@railbusinessdaily.com
15 Mariner Court, Wakefield WF4 3FL
