All London underground ticket offices to close by 2015

Amp34 said:
Excellent decision IMO, especially the 24 hour running. I never "understood" why they didn't do it anyway.
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It was never done because the railway has to be maintained, and the only time that can be done is with no trains running.

Quite how running it 24 hours on a weekend is going to affect this is anyones guess, as usually a Saturday night has longer Engineering Hours than any other day of the week, allowing more heavy maintenance, and jobs that require more time, to be carried out.
 
How will this impact tourists? I always imagiend they usually bought tickets from a human, based on my experiences abroad of trying to use automated machines :p
 
I was bored enough to read this very long analysis of the proposal.

To summarise, the closure of tickets offices doesn't mean the closure of tickets halls. Staff will be present, they just won't be sitting behind desks.
 
How are they going to achieve 24hr running on weekends. The londond ground is allready in bad state.
As to the other stuff good stuff, can they roll it out nationally please, hate habing chnage for buses and it takes so bloody long doing it for every person.
 
Glaucus said:
As to the other stuff good stuff, can they roll it out nationally please, hate habing chnage for buses and it takes so bloody long doing it for every person.
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It isn't practical to run out TfL operation procedures such as card only travel nationally, TfL is a strictly regulated closed operational environment, outside London, Buses are De-Regulated and operated by a myriad of operators and under a myriad of differing contractual and local obligations. The only practical way to emulate TfL nationally is to regulate the bus industry and create a national regulatory body. This would be expensive and unwieldy, not to mention opposed by just about everyone, from the Operators to the Local Authorities.

Most bus operators already have oyster type swipe/contact card ticket systems if you want to use them. If you find using change bothersome then contact your local operator and apply for their charge-card version.
 
Castiel said:
Most bus operators already have oyster type swipe/contact card ticket systems if you want to use them. If you find using change bothersome then contact your local operator and apply for their charge-card version.
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Bristol doesn't :(, something similar would be fine.

Oystercard style, speeds things up so much and of course no bloody change required.
Edit - then again there's news articles saying there is, but never seen it and never seen anyone using it.
 
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Glaucus said:
Bristol doesn't :(, something similar would be fine.

Oystercard style, speeds things up so much and of course no bloody change required.
Edit - then again there's news articles saying there is, but never seen it and never seen anyone using it.
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FirstBus are hopeless tbh, 2014 is the timetable for Bristol Smartcards. Frankly that is way behind other operators, Southampton for example (Go-Ahead) offer Smartcards and mobile phone payments.

Although, all bus operators (besides probably Vectis) offer various lengths of season tickets which would solve your problem with change, if you use the bus regularly.
 
Castiel said:
FirstBus are hopeless tbh, 2014 is the timetable for Bristol Smartcards. Frankly that is way behind other operators, Southampton for example (Go-Ahead) offer Smartcards and mobile phone payments.

Although, all bus operators (besides probably Vectis) offer various lengths of season tickets which would solve your problem with change, if you use the bus regularly.
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Bristol First Buses are excellent, they have WiFi on some of the buses!

What was the question again?
 
Glaucus said:
How are they going to achieve 24hr running on weekends. The londond ground is allready in bad state.
As to the other stuff good stuff, can they roll it out nationally please, hate habing chnage for buses and it takes so bloody long doing it for every person.
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I think it's improved substantially in recent years.

There are regular line closures at weekends but those are planned as part if the upgrades and repairs. As a result there are fewer errors and delays than previously. I'm currently using the Northern Line on a regular basis and compared to 10 years ago it's still hell on earth for overcrowding but delays are now few and far between.
 
[DOD]Asprilla;25349496 said:
Contactless card payment seems like a good idea, but I can't just wave my wallet over the touch pad as I've got four contactless cards in there. It means I either need to take my card out of my wallet (the kind of thing that causes back-ups are the gates) or I need to keep one of my cards in a separate wallet, like an Oyster card......
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That's the annoying thing - I've got my oyster and debit card in my wallet - can no longer just swipe the wallet but have to take the oyster card out else I risk getting a charge incurred on my debit card.
 
Seems like a good idea to me along with being 24/7 at weekends. Sounds like progress. I am generally against automation on helplines and poor customer service, but at some point some things might as well be done by a computer.
 
Having used automated systems in other countries such as Korea (before I could understand the language) I found them very easy to use.

I have a touch sensitive card as well as the oyster. They are in different sides of the wallet so I can open the wallet 90 degrees and touch the oyster side.
 
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Will be great if the 24/7 service works out, it's something more cities in the UK should have. The Glasgow Subway shuts at 6PM on a Sunday which always seems crazy to me.
 
Stikes incoming!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-25105102

London Underground workers will be balloted for strike action over 750 job cuts and ticket office closures.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union said it would "fight" against the plans for all ticket offices to close.

London Underground (LU) said customers and staff were at the centre of improvements to the Tube.

The RMT has to hold a two-week ballot and give Transport for London seven days' notice before any strike action takes place.
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steve55 said:
Greedy CEO's at it again.

What will happen when their machines crash (like they always do), how will people get past the barriers?
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My exerience of systems like this abroad is they don't. Although there are a number of easy to use exits that allow you out if needed.
 
starfighter said:
Seems like a good idea to me along with being 24/7 at weekends. Sounds like progress. I am generally against automation on helplines and poor customer service, but at some point some things might as well be done by a computer.
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Customer service? It will be some call centre in India who will steal your card details.
 
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