Driverless busses are being trialled into Edinburgh but need two operators. One stand by driver to take over if there are any issues and one conductor.

The trouble is people want it all. A modern efficient railway but with the touches of the past. It all costs and we pay for it. Most stations are more or less unmanned in the evenings (when that stuff is more likely to happen) anyway and would the person in the ticket office really make a blind bit of difference? Of course not. Ours is a lovely lady in her 50’s. Great to talk to about gardening but her presence doesn’t make me feel safe and stuck in her ticket office, with no visibility across the station she cannot call the ineffective police who don’t come/respond and I wouldn’t want her to put herself in harms way.
Crime is another issue entirely and one where a combination of Tory cuts and Labour/Liberal woke have pretty much wrecked the Police and destroyed their ability to be even remotely effective in my opinion.

Edited by Helmet46 (07 Jul 2023 7.03am)

It’s a great idea and would work - for a time. Greed would sadly take over, as it did before, and the railway companies (or network rail) would see the success and push the rent up - eventually forcing the business to close again. One of our issues is greed. As soon as something or someone becomes successful we think they can pay a little more and we squeeze and squeeze until they pop. This is where the small, local Tesco etc should be. The other issue is parking to encourage people not using the station to shop. Some t*** will also see that as a money making exercise.