Faced with the transformation of stations, what travel experiences are offered and experienced?

Marie-Catherine Paquier, Mariem El Euch Maalej, Martine Deparis, June 2025

The Conversation

In recent years, both in France and internationally, railway stations have undergone major transformations due to the strong growth of various forms of mobility and the digitalisation of behaviour and commercial offerings. The latter are invading the public space of stations, partially privatising it and altering passenger flows through juxtaposition, integration and even interaction between transport, retail, leisure and waiting facilities.

Juxtaposition, where the commercial area is separate from the transit areas, i.e. adjacent to the station space, with each sphere having its own logic and benefiting from the flows of the other sphere, as is the case at Saint-Lazare station in Paris. Insertion, when retail is integrated and adapted to passenger flows to maximise retail space frequented by a large number of potential customers, as is the case at the Gare de l’Est station in Paris. Interaction, when the flow pattern is designed as a whole, for a homogeneous distribution between travel and consumption, with easy identification, optimisation of commercial space and offers adapted to different flows (Gare du Nord and Montparnasse stations in Paris, Saint Pancras station in London). We know that these transformations are the subject of heated debate, as was the case for the Gare du Nord in Paris.

In this context, the range of experiences on offer in stations is expanding, and the experience of station users is evolving. Our initial research focuses on the experiences offered in new-generation stations. Our investigations with professionals involved in these transformations (SNCF Gare et Connexion, concessionaires, retailers, experts, etc.) have shown that the experiences made possible by the new developments cover the areas of travel, personal consumption and business.

Passengers connected via their smartphones

This multi-situational offering is based on a constellation of human, material and digital touchpoints which are, of course, set up and controlled by the SNCF, but also, increasingly, by its commercial partners and by users themselves, whether they are passengers or passers-by. Within this constellation, digital technology, driven by the growing use of smartphones, is playing an increasingly important role. However, there is still an imbalance in the range of contact points available: while the range of experiential situations is already well advanced towards a seamless integration of travel and consumption, we recommend that public and private operators fill the gap in the few opportunities available to passengers who wish to carry out their personal and professional activities independently at stations.

Our second study looked at the experiences of travellers who are regularly confronted with these major changes in stations. Against a backdrop of multiple forms of mobility accentuated by the health crisis and environmental considerations, people’s professional and personal lives have shifted towards more domestic tourism and teleworking. New terms such as ‘tracances’ or ‘vatrail’ in French, nuanced equivalents of ‘workcation’ (a contraction of “work” and ‘vacation’) in English, illustrate these new behaviours of digital nomads in their local area.

New uses for stations

The combined rise in domestic tourism and the blurring of the boundaries between work and personal life is increasing the number of regular travellers, i.e. people who use the same stations several times a year for domestic journeys. Between trips, these regular travellers encounter successive changes at their station and experience both the advantages and disadvantages: new passenger flows, new shops, new waiting rooms, new services, construction zones, relocated signage, etc.

For example, in Paris, the transformation of Montparnasse station took place over a four-year period between 2017 and 2021, and the final stage of the modernisation of Gare de Lyon will be completed in 2028. During these long periods, passengers have to adapt to successive changes to their journeys through the station. This phenomenon of stations being transformed into multimodal and commercial spaces is affecting stations in every country around the world, which we felt was a good reason to look at the reactions of regular passengers.

Our observations at the station, followed by in-depth interviews with many regular passengers, highlight three adaptation strategies employed by individuals: the interactive strategy, the routine strategy and the avoidance strategy.

Minimising inconvenience

In the interactive strategy, passengers adapt to changes in the station by interacting directly with station staff, other passengers or shop staff. These interactions also take place online, through exchanges using the digital tools provided by the SNCF, and through recreational or practical exchanges by email or social media.

In this interaction-based strategy, passengers are generally open to changes in the station, trying to minimise inconvenience and reassure themselves through social, physical or virtual interactions in the travel and consumer spheres and in their personal lives. However, when they do not find sufficient reassurance in these interactions, passengers also adopt spatial and temporal routines.

Adaptation of rituals

In the routine strategy, travellers adapt their old rituals to the new space-time generated by the transformation of the station. First, in the travel sphere, looking for the same sign, using the same escalator when leaving the underground, and checking the platform number on the app at the last minute are routine gestures adopted during each journey. In the sphere of consumption, purchases that are closely linked to travel are also routine: stopping at the newsstand or buying a coffee or sandwich not only form part of the ritual of the physical journey through the station, but are also anticipated and determine the time of arrival at the station.

Finally, in the personal sphere, routines are also established to accomplish certain tasks before the journey, such as checking and replying to emails and contacting loved ones. These different routines cause the spheres of travel, consumption, and personal and professional life to become intertwined, revealing that the traveller’s primary concern is to maintain control over space and time before boarding the train. They are reluctant to deviate from their routines, preferring to punctuate their journey through the station with predefined and chosen stages, and do not enjoy wandering around. However, when neither interactions nor routines make the journey through the station feel safe and pleasant, some travellers choose to avoid the busy station environment.

Contemplative behaviour

As part of their avoidance strategy, and despite the improvements made to the new station environment, individuals escape by retreating into their virtual bubble on their smartphones. In this case, they do not use the proposed walking routes; they adopt a static behaviour and watch TV series, work on professional files or interact with their own communities on social media. Others adopt contemplative behaviours, listening to the pianist or admiring the architectural features of the building. More radically, some leave the station and prefer to enjoy the amenities outside (parks, shops) rather than inside. In this avoidance strategy, individuals are not very sensitive to improvements in the station, with some expressing boredom and others showing a form of resistance to the ‘all-commercial’ approach, which they perceive as manipulative.

These three strategies, which can be combined (interacting with one’s personal bubble in a ritualistic way allows one to escape), show, firstly, that travellers, even regular ones who are therefore accustomed to the spaces, want to remain in control of their journey; unlike airports, where travellers are completely taken care of once they have passed through the check-in and security barriers, stations do not offer any opportunities to completely free oneself from the constraints of space and time. From this point of view, the ‘station service landscape’ (railwaystationscape) is very different from that of the airport (airportscape).

Secondly, these three strategies show that digital uses are, unsurprisingly, highly deployed in the three spheres of travel, personal consumption and professional consumption, and facilitate the transition from one to the other. This should encourage professionals responsible for the transformation of stations to provide users with infrastructure equipped with high-performance connection facilities, in both the commercial and non-commercial sectors.

The combined results of these two studies show that, far from being passive while waiting for their train, regular travellers at stations undergoing transformation interact, plan their journeys or proactively escape them. This ‘empowerment’ of passengers must be taken into account when providing high-quality free spaces within commercial areas, which remain essential to ensure the profitability of infrastructure.

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