In a rush to buy 3 travel cards last week, as the train was literally pulling into the station, my finger slipped and I accidentally bought an extra child’s ticket.
When we changed trains at the next station I went to the counter and they sorted a refund of that extra ticket for me.
I asked how it would be possible to do something like that in the future with only ticket machines and the guy said he didn’t know.
mannycalavera@feddit.uk 1 year ago
Can’t say I’ve used an in person ticket booth in years, decades maybe. They’re always shut anyway.
When I went to Japan on holiday there were staff members hovering around the ticket machines helping people if they needed it - and I did. Not a ticket office on sight. Why can they do it but we can’t? Dunno.
Mex@feddit.uk 1 year ago
In japan every station I went to had a ticket office…
mannycalavera@feddit.uk 1 year ago
Well shit… maybe the ones I went to didn’t or I didn’t see them 😂.
Still, my experience was that I needed to use a machine I had no idea what I was doing some helpful staff member came over saw I was having issues had a chat to me for a minute and I was sorted. Wasn’t hard at all.
Rentlar@lemmy.ca 1 year ago
In the Tokyo area (with JR East) many major stations will have a みどりの窓口 (Green window booth) for assistance with buying tickets and special ticket packages, often in a room that’s fully separate from the ticket vending machines, and usually only one when the ticket vending machines could be in multiple areas. Most stations have a person on duty (or stationmaster for smaller stations) by the ticket gates, which you can purchase tickets from when it’s not crowded.
They need manned staff at the fare gates for now, because the 青春18 ticket still needs a station master to stamp the date and verify it for entry.
Photo of Seishun 18 ticket with 2 of 5 sections stamped