On Thu, 5 Dec 2013, Aurora wrote:

To give an example outwith TfL: Thirty years back my (UK) local
station was an uninviting pair of platforms.

Today the station is regularly painted in SWT colors. The booking
hall is staffed. Both platforms now have refreshment facilities that
also sell newspapers and magazines. The station no longer has an
edge.

Talking from another country ...

I was always puzzled by the fact in London tube stations had dedicated
staff selling tickets, and dedicated staff collecting tickets on exit
on lifts (a civilized device though !) or excess fares (another
civilized institution !), and bus had conductors ...

.... here in Milan conductors on trams and buses were eliminated in 1970
(to save money), and tickets in metro stations have always been sold by
newsagents (i.e. not ATM staff - despite the fact stations had and still
have an ATM agent in a box doing essentially nothing). Only the newer M5
is totally unmanned (also the trains are driverless).

.... instead the trend to have unmanned rural or suburban *railway*
stations, without a ticket office, is relatively recent in Italy (and
also motivated to save money, as the disappearance of left luggage
facilities in medium-sized stations), but has contributed to make
stations dirtier and less pleasant.