"James Farrar" wrote in message
...


They haven't been used for, ooh, seven or eight years now.

When I first moved to London (1997) the doors were only
passenger-controlled in the winter, but after a couple of years they
went to driver control at all times. I know not why. However, TTBOMK,
*no* Underground trains that have passenger-controlled door buttons
actually use them any more.

I've been trying to find evidence for this unsuccessfully, but I think I
once heard that the passenger door control is not normally used because it
slows the service down, because opening the doors takes longer at stations.
Individuals randomly positioned on the platform aren't lined up with the
doors, and aren't as fast as the driver, who knows exactly 'when' to operate
them...

Paul S