On Tue, 05 Dec 2006 23:52:53 +0000, asdf
wrote:
On 5 Dec 2006 12:37:30 -0800, wrote:
The stations to come under London Underground control a
Queen's Park to Harrow & Wealdstone on the Bakerloo line, excluding
Willesden Junction
Interesting that Harrow & Wealdstone is transferring to LU, even
though its main service is (arguably) Silverlink County. I'd have
expected it to be like Barking, Upminster, Wimbledon, Richmond, Ealing
Broadway, Lewisham, etc, and remain with a TOC (whichever one gets the
West Midlands franchise).
I can see it being awkward if it doesn't retain a National Rail ticket
office, and therefore becomes unable to sell the full range of NR
tickets (e.g. it could have a direct service to Milton Keynes or
Birmingham but not be able to sell overnight returns to those places).
And presumably none of the Bakerloo stations would any longer be able
to sell the cheaper season tickets to London Terminals. You'd have to
buy a single to Euston, then queue up and buy your season there,
reclaiming the cost of the single.
Meanwhile, Willesden Junction, which will only be served by London
Underground/Overground, remains with a TOC...
The power of London Travelwatch should not be underestimated in these
matters. They (or their predecessor) lobbied very vigorously over
Stratford and forced the retention of the NR window even though sales to
destinations that the LU system could not handle were miniscule.
Government accepted their views and the NR window had to be provided.
To answer Mizter T's question about the size of Stratford ticket office
I was involved in the design of that. The office is not designed to the
correct LU spec as we were told there was no space to built it properly.
Therefore it was a horrible and disastrous compromise. The need to
surrender a window for NR purposes was not envisaged either nor was the
operational concept around the interchange gateline. The whole place is
a mess (IMO) and I warned that it would not work properly - my views
were overruled. We are now faced with having to create additional
capacity in an (IMO again) unsatisfactory manner and that is before we
face the nightmares associated with the Olympics and the Stratford City
development.
London Travelwatch have exerted similar pressure with respect the NLL
closure south of Stratford and again these conditions have been accepted
by DfT. I am not a betting man but I would fully expect a strong and
well argued position from them in respect of ticketing matters on the
entire NLR Concession as well as at locations that transfer to LU
operating responsibility. I think it will be a very interesting debate -
especially with the development of Oyster inside the zones, changes to
fare structures and the DfT franchise requirements with respect to
ticketing technology on the West Midlands Franchise.
--
Paul C
Admits to working for London Underground!