All London underground ticket offices to close by 2015

Hades

Hades

Hades

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All London underground ticket offices to close by 2015 and trains to run 24 hours at weekends

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-25025888

Is this a good our a bad thing? I have mixed views and obviously feel for anyone who will lose their job. Hopefully we sholuldget driverless trains at some point though. Stand by for a lot of strikes in the short term though.
 
No compulsory redundancies, apparently.

They need to save £78m a year whilst still improving the service, it's a tough one, but this will apparently get them £40m of the way there.

Public opinion won't back the unions so it will go through.
 
Regular folks use Oyster, and the self service machines are good enough for tourists & irregulars. I see no need for manned ticket sellers.
 
I don't have much of a problem with this. For the most part the ticket offices at most Tube stations are closed whenever I've tried to use them, and the services provided by the Automated machines are perfectly sufficient. I do think that if they close the Ticket-counters they'll need to put in more ticket machines though, at least at some stations.
 
TfL have played an absolute masterstroke with this one by announcing it with 24 hour running of certain lines, making all redundancies voluntary and still keeping all stations staffed. It cuts the same old RMT passenger safety argument off before it's even got going.
 
Narj said:
Stations should be manned in some form at all times for public safety reasons IMO.
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Their plan is to move the ticket sellers out onto the platforms so there should be even more staff around stations in general.
 
Some tube lines to stay open 24 hours at weekends, increase in disabled access to more stations, more trains, more WiFi coverage and contactless bank card payments. It's hard to see how they haven't just won public over in one swoop. Nice one TfL. Bob Crow is going to have a heart attack.
 
No issue with this.

My general argument for this to go ahead though would be to have staff having the ability to issue tickets if required, some collection points throughout the station (i.e. can book ticket online, and collect), and a couple of the more major stations still having ticket offices.

I'm interested to see how this will work for stations such as Kings Cross, LST, Waterloo which have overground lines going out of them, as you can't oyster and such on those.

scorza said:
Oyster cards are being phased out.
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I doubt it. There will still need to be a means to do travelcards, even with contactless bank card payments.

Also, contactless bank cards aren't yet widespread enough.


kd
 
Bob Crow, yesterday before this announcement:

"RMT will fight these plans with every tool at our disposal and that includes political, public and industrial campaigning on an unprecedented scale."
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The man certainly has a large crystal ball. :p I guess he'll be seething today as there will be no job cuts and some more work for his members.
 
It is the union actions that have driven TfL to look for solutions that don't require staff.

Still, Bob will do anything to make sure he gets his £100,000 plus perks. ;)
 
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Obviously though he will back down if he and his members get a 20% pay increase because of the "added danger and effort needed"...

Excellent decision IMO, especially the 24 hour running. I never "understood" why they didn't do it anyway. I'm assuming they will still have staff around the automated machines to help those that need it.
 
xGBHxPegasus said:
Since when? :confused:

Oyster is a brilliant system imo :(

EDIT - oh to go for contactless bank cards.
Click to expand...

A pilot scheme is set to launch within weeks which could see the eventual demise of the Oyster card - the essential transport tool for Londoners in the last decade.

Instead, Transport for London (TfL) will soon begin the first phase of ushering in a "wave and pay" contactless pay system using a credit or debit card.

The pilot scheme could start in December before being offered to all passengers next year on the tube, London Overground, the Docklands Light Railway and the tram.

Under the 'wave and pay' travel system, passengers swipe their bank card across the reader at stations and cash is automatically deducted from their bank account or credit card account.


In December last year TfL introduced wave and pay on buses and is planning to get rid of cash payments on the bus entirely by the end of 2014.

It is believed the operator will save significant sums rolling it 'wave and pay' across the rest of the transport network.
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