WHEN Scotland's newest railway opened two weeks ago, guests on the inaugural journey on a steam train between Alloa and Stirling were amused at the shortness of the trip.
Now the joke has worn a little thin, with commuters forced to wait up to 20 minutes at Stirling station, because operators First ScotRail have failed to install a ticket machine at Alloa.
Unable to pay their fare before they get on board, passenge
rs have little chance to catch the conductor's attention as he moves through the train before it stops, eight minutes later, in Stirling.
As a result, they find themselves queuing for more than double the duration of the journey in order to buy a ticket to exit the station barrier.
The Earl of Mar and Kellie, a transport spokesman in the Lords, and a regular on the route, said the problem was putting people off using the service.
The earl, known as Jamie Erskine, said: "A lot of the trains I have been on so far have been full and the only way to get a ticket is to buy one from the conductor. However, there is no way everyone on the train can buy a ticket in the eight and a half minutes or so it takes to get to Stirling.
"On Saturday morning, the train from Alloa to Glasgow was full. When we got to Stirling, 80 people got off and about 60 had to queue to get a ticket from the two staff on the barrier.
"Some people had to queue 15 minutes or more."
Another passenger, Archie McGirr, from Alloa, added: "The train was punctual and clean and there was easy access – which was great. But we had to queue for over 20 minutes at Stirling, which wasn't so great.
"On a ten-minute journey, the train conductor could not possibly handle the volume of passengers for ticket sales.
"This is the type of situation that drove people away from public transport and into cars in the 1960s and we know what happened to Alloa station then – it was closed."
Last night, a passenger watchdog suggested ScotRail may have thought the six-figure cost of a ticket machine too expensive after the final bill for the project topped £85 million, about £48 million over budget.
Robert Samson, the manager of Passenger Focus, said: "It would seem the line is proving successful, but we would urge ScotRail to look at the situation and put in mechanisms to solve this problem.
"Ticket machines are not cheap – up to six figures – so perhaps they've looked at the business case and decided against it. This is a bit surprising considering the millions which were spent reopening the line."
Keith Brown, the Ochil MSP, said he had written to First ScotRail calling on the company to install a ticket machine. "This is an unacceptable inconvenience on an otherwise fantastic service," he said.
A spokesman for First ScotRail said last night: "We are aware that the demand has resulted in ticketing issues, and we are looking to resolve these for the benefit of our many new customers."
The full article contains 529 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
