Jason wrote:
There are signs up announcing that Oyster cards are available from
National Rail (WAGN) section of Walthamstow Central as of the 22nd of
February.
The WAGN section of station has the bulk of ticket selling space (some
four windows and seven ticket machines), whilst the Underground
section consists of a single window which is often closed.
Bearing in mind that the WAGN ticket offices are often shut after a
certain time too.
The Liverpool Street platform ticket office has two machines, but the
two windows seem to shut awfully early (they are often shut when I come
back from work at 6.30, though I think they are mesant to be open later
than that).
On a less good note, the Chingford platform has the majority of the
machines and windows, but because of the atmosphere created by ticket
touts in the evening, none of these windows or machines are accessible
after 9pm at night.
Passengers exiting through this platform now have to go through a
side-gate rather than exiting through the ticket hall. This change makes
it much harder for WAGN customers to remember to touch their Oyster for
a start, and it also makes the entire station a much less pleasant place
to be - the touts not congregate right next to this narrow gate, and the
rest of them hang around at the other platform exit.
The end result is that Walthamstow station is much less safe-feeling
than it was before, and it can often be impossible to buy a ticket from
mid-evening onwards.
We'll have to see what happens once they build the subway to the new bus
station.
I think pressure should be brought to bear upon WAGN, who appear not to
give a toss about customer safety:
http://www.kingstonguardian.co.uk/ne...437140.0.0.php
Anecdotal evidence from staff at St James Street suggests that the
bulk of ticket sales at Walthamstow Central are for people intending
to use Underground services rather than WAGN services, so selling
Oyster here seems a good idea.
Yep - and that is WAGN's excuse for not giving a toss.
Scuse the rant and change of subject there!