来源：《每日电讯报》
原文刊登日期：2023年7月12日
There is growing popular opposition to the plans to close up to 1,000 ticket offices at railway stations around the country. A three-week public consultation has been announced by the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), which represents operators. It seems unlikely this somewhat shortened exercise will end up with the status quo remaining in place.
越来越多的人反对关闭全国各地火车站近1000个售票处的计划。代表运营商的铁路运输集团(RDG)宣布进行为期三周的公众咨询。这一略有缩短的做法似乎不太可能以维持现状而告终。
It would be a mistake to assume, as in so many drives for “modernisation” across various sectors, that interactions between utilities and the public should be conducted online and not face to face.
如果认为公用事业和公众之间的互动应该在网上进行，而不是面对面，就像在众多行业的“现代化”运动中那样，那将是错误的。
It’s true that many more people now buy tickets through rail company websites: the percentage of tickets bought from offices has dropped from 85 per cent to 14 per cent in the past 30 years. Some 43 per cent of stations currently do not have a ticket office. But this leaves a lot of passengers who still avail themselves of the help and advice a person in an office can provide. Although this is the realm of the railway operators, it is apparent that the Government is egging them on.
的确，现在有更多的人通过铁路公司网站购票：在过去30年里，从售票处购票的比例从85%下降到14%。目前，约43%的车站没有售票处。但这使得许多乘客仍然利用售票处人员可以提供的帮助和建议。虽然这是铁路运营商的领域，但很明显，政府正在怂恿他们。
The railways need to “reform to survive”, but they also need to be accessible. The best way of ensuring that is to have someone to talk to, especially for people who may not have smartphones or skill with, or even access to, the internet. The argument that the closures will free up staff to help passengers elsewhere in the station seems dishonest when many stations consist of just two platforms and a ticket office.
铁路需要“改革以求生存”，但铁路也需要便于通行。确保这一点的最好方法是有人可以交谈，特别是对于那些可能没有智能手机或上网能力，甚至无法上网的人。当许多车站只有两个站台和一个售票处时，认为关闭售票处可以腾出工作人员来帮助车站其他地方的乘客的说法似乎是不诚实的。
The RDG says it wants to improve the “whole customer experience”. It could help in that endeavour by scrapping these proposals.
RDG表示，它希望改善“整体客户体验”。它可以通过废除取消售票处的计划来促进这一努力。