All London underground ticket offices to close by 2015

Only issue I see with removing oyster and going contactless on bank cards is I use my oyster for work and so it is easy to print off a list of journeys and mark which journeys I am claiming on expenses and for which customer.

Don't fancy having to do the same with a bank statement.
 
Even if they do continue striking, the government will just do what they want anyway eventually. I think they should keep ticket offices open in the key touristy places.
 
pepp77 said:
Only issue I see with removing oyster and going contactless on bank cards is I use my oyster for work and so it is easy to print off a list of journeys and mark which journeys I am claiming on expenses and for which customer.

Don't fancy having to do the same with a bank statement.
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I'm guessing in due course an "oyster" itemisation could be added. There are possibilities. :)
 
I think for 99% of journeys/users it makes perfect sense to not need a ticket office.
Most Londoners know where they want to go, how to use the Pay as you go Oyster and even top it up.

There is that 1% though that needs extra information or advice on what is the best ticket to get. I don't see a problem if the ticket office staff are re-trained or re-recruited as customer service/platform side staff and have an emphasis to help "tourists" use the ticket machines.

Ideally i'd like to see the whole pricing system reworked for a 1 journey 1 price system getting rid of the Zoning. That would surely annihilate most "what ticket do i need? queries"

I'm quite out of touch with single fair prices and been using a oyster top up since day 1 all i know is it beeps and sometimes i have to add £20 quid to it :)

My local tube stations at the east end of the District line have been without ticket offices, as far as i am aware, for a good few years now. The lack of Staff presence at these stations after office hours has been a bone of contention.

My grandad and father both worked for the Underground so i have a bit of a bias but as long as there are staff to assist should it be required i see no problem cutting numbers of ticket offices.

There is still merit to having them in busy locations. Banks have ATMs for 99% of transactions but there are still times, sadly, when you need to deal with a human.


AS regards contactless payments... I personalty prefer to have 2 separate cards even though it is a ball ache on buses and barriers separating the 2 physically.. Knowing i have a fall back if my oyster is empty. Stupid i know... If the new system, can itemize journies or has a separate breakdown on my statement then id be more interested.
 
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I wouldn't even care if Dawlish was obliterated from the map and just a pair of railway tracks went through a 500m vacuum.

Mind you it is/was the only good bit of getting a train to Plymouth.
 
MadMossy said:
Perspective London. Get some!...

http://www.buzzfeed.com/tomphillips/while-londoners-complain-about-a-tube-strike-the-south-west
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The irony is that whoever "created" this Buzzfeed article is the one who needs some perspective. A couple of broken sea defenses, train tracks and transient flooding are not akin to a major natural disaster. Economically, the London Tube strikes are far more damaging (a fact the unions exploit to their advantage).

Also, Buzzfeed should be filtered off of the Internet.
 
oldbag said:
Even if they do continue striking, the government will just do what they want anyway eventually. I think they should keep ticket offices open in the key touristy places.
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Which is basically what they are planning on doing.
 
Wang Computer said:
The irony is that whoever "created" this Buzzfeed article is the one who needs some perspective. A couple of broken sea defenses, train tracks and transient flooding are not akin to a major natural disaster. Economically, the London Tube strikes are far more damaging (a fact the unions exploit to their advantage).

Also, Buzzfeed should be filtered off of the Internet.
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I think you'll find it's you who needs some perspective. The cost to the economy might be large in absolute terms but it's insignificant overall - yesterday we had some bloke complaining because he had to walk 30 minutes to work. On the other hand we have people who are facing losing their homes because the water has washed away the land underneath their foundations. I know who is the more deserving of my sympathy.
 
I took the DLR - was a bit late as the journey is longer but still made it by 840. Actually the strikes are actually a good thing - it means maintenance can be done on the lines that need work - spin it on a positive ;)
 
TJM said:
It won't happen. Driverless train systems are built from scratch to allow passengers to easily and safely escape when the system breaks down (the DLR, for example, has walkways along its entire length). Tube tunnels would need to be rebored to make the system in any way safe for passengers, which will never happen, and the parts of the network that are overground (which is most of it) aren't isolated from sources of obstructions (like things dropped off bridges).

There will always have to be someone on board TfL's trains who is fully qualified to operate it manually and that person will normally have to be at the front of the train to keep an eye out. That is a driver, even if the computer is doing all of the work.

Plus, and I don't know about anyone else, I'd rather keep a qualified driver on my train than get rid of them just to spite the union boogeyman.
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Unfortunately there will never be driverless trains with whole length walkways across the Underground system, it's just not possible with the ancient infrastructure and tunnels down there.

Central line and Victora have been ATO for a while, with Jubilee joining the bandwagon properly 2yrs ago with the Northern line after that (not sure if in place atm). There are still drivers on the trains should something go wrong and to sort out the systems when someone pulls an emergency stop. Certain features of the ATO on the Jubilee were not implemented, just so as to give the drivers something to do :p

Chin up London, glad I don't travel or work on the system anymore.
 
Liquid_Entity said:
Haha that buzz feed is so annoying.

So who do you think will pay for all the repair work, funding and insurance payouts in the South West. Yep that's right the powerhouse of Britain aka London but we can't get to work so screw you buzzfeed.
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Rubbish.

London is a blood sucking parasite on the rest of the UK. The whole country will be better off when London PLC starts it's long overdue rapid decline into obscurity.
 
The line being shut is costing in excess of 2 million a day, with estimates that it will be out of use for 6 weeks or more your looking at approx 90 million is lost revenue for the south west. That doesn't even take into account the colossal cost of repair work that will be required to fix everything that has been destroyed.

So what if a few underground trains aren't running there are still alternatives, what options do people have who have had their lives obliterated and houses washed away. NONE.
 
MadMossy said:
The line being shut is costing in excess of 2 million a day, with estimates that it will be out of use for 6 weeks or more your looking at approx 90 million is lost revenue for the south west. That doesn't even take into account the colossal cost of repair work that will be required to fix everything that has been destroyed.

So what if a few underground trains aren't running there are still alternatives, what options do people have who have had their lives obliterated and houses washed away. NONE.
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You forget that the south west isn't important to the rest of the country as we're just a bunch of farmers with funny accents. Spare a thought for those poor rich folk that had to walk a few hundred yards this morning :(
 
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