Following my posts on Blackrod Station being treated as a poor relation to Lostock Station, it now appears that, as a category E station, Lostock could be set to lose its ticket office.
Oddly, a category E station is classed as one that is staffed and handling more that 250,000 passengers per annum. By contrast, Blackrod is classified as category F1 (unstaffed with fewer than 250,000 passengers). With 388,000 passengers served, this classification justs makes the lack of a ticket office even more ludicrous.
A full list of stations and their categories can be seen here.
I see that Blackrod Station is finally getting better access to both platforms, but I can’t help feeling that this is only being done because they are obliged to under DDA regulations.
Below are the passenger figures for Blackrod, Horwich and Lostock for the past six years1.
Can someone please explain why, when Blackrod handles almost double the passengers handled by Lostock, Blackrod Station has no ticket office (or even a simple ticket machine) and no live information signs yet Lostock has both of these and enjoys twice as many calling services as Blackrod.
[1] Office of Rail Regulation – Station Usage Data
Categories: Uncategorized Tags: Blackrod, Blackrod Station, GMPTE, Horwich Parkway, Lostock Station, Northern Rail, Passenger figures, Public Transport, Rail, TFGM, Transport
Following my posts on Blackrod Station being treated as a poor relation to Lostock Station, it now appears that, as a category E station, Lostock could be set to lose its ticket office.