Closure of ticket offices at Lot-et-Garonne train stations: the Region announces a moratorium

Nothing will change until 2026 and the implementation of a new ticketing system, announces regional councillor Renaud Lagrave. On the ground, experiments are continuing.

The quality of the public rail service is a real concern in Lot-et-Garonne. Various user and railway workers' groups, as well as elected officials, never miss an opportunity to denounce its shortcomings . Recently, the Confluence Rail Avenir 47 association warned of the planned closure of ticket offices in Penne-d'Agenais, Villeneuve-sur-Lot, Monsempron-Libos, Port-Sainte-Marie, and reduced opening hours for those in Tonneins and Marmande. The same is true in Fumélois, where actions are being considered by the Committee for the Defense of the Agen-Périgueux-Paris Line , against a feared disengagement of the SNCF and the Region, which would accentuate an already gaping territorial divide.

That's it for the stations. On the rails, and the Agen-Périgueux and Agen-Bordeaux lines, the picture is hardly brighter. The line committee meeting for the latter, scheduled for June 2 in Beaupuy, promises to be spicy. Recent decisions could soften the mood. Regarding the closure of ticket offices, "the issue is provisionally closed. We have demanded a moratorium from the SNCF, until our new ticketing system is implemented in 2026. It is also a matter of developing solutions and alternatives that meet the needs of the regions. President Rousset has requested a report to this effect from SNCF Voyageurs," announced Renaud Lagrave, Vice-President of the Region in charge of mobility.

This time should also allow for reflection on points of sale. In some stations, ticket agents make one sale per day. And overall, 95% of sales there are for TGV or Intercités tickets. Only 15% of TER tickets are sold by an agent. The operating costs of the ticket offices that are still open are fully covered by the Region, which therefore primarily sells SNCF tickets rather than its regional express trains. This factor, along with the move to paperless and online sales, also encourages the model to evolve.

"Selling tickets on trains has been a successful experience," reports the elected representative from Landes, where, in one train station, tickets are purchased at the post office point that has been set up there. Elsewhere, in Béarn, tickets are sold at a multi-service center near the facility.