On Mar 8, 2:18*pm, Paul Corfield wrote:
On Sun, 8 Mar 2009 04:19:51 -0700 (PDT), MIG





wrote:
On Mar 5, 7:30*pm, Paul Corfield wrote:

much cut

IIRC there will not be any additional TOC station Oyster retailing so
even though PAYG will expand it will not be retailed via TOC ticket
machines - that was certainly the plan a long while ago and hence why
the Oyster Ticket Stop network was doubled in size to get outlets close
to stations. *If there has been any change on this front then it will
add timescale risk because of machine and software mods, testing and
commissioning etc on assets that have to keep working. *At least with
gates and validators it's either a software mod or a physical install of
something that is switched on later.

Does this mean that ticket offices will start selling newspapers and
crisps?

I doubt it.

Seriously, a location at or near a station gives a shop loads of
business. *If the customers wanting newspapers and crisps can't get
served because the shop is now filled with the ticket queue, the shop
will go out of business.

Hasn't harmed the shop inside Brixton Tube Station that does a roaring
trade in TfL products as well as their usual stuff. * There used to be
an "exclusion zone" for agents near to stations but that was scrapped
years ago because demand was so high for tickets that queues became
enormous at stations and people were not able to get to an agent close
by.

Maybe, but that's a shop at a station which has a ticket office and
several machines all selling Oyster. (I don't know how much space it
has and how many can be served at once.)

That's very different from the shop becoming the only Oyster ticket
office at a busy station, particularly if it's a small, poky shop.

When SET decided to offer Oyster at its ticket office at Lewisham (if
only via a PC at the back), there can't ever have been any possibility
of making the small, cramped shop in the station an Oyster Stop. It
can't cope with three people in there at once as it is.

There are now means of getting Oyster at Lewisham station, but if
another major station with a similar road layout didn't sell Oyster,
it would be a ten-minute walk to the nearest Oyster Stop and back,
trains missed etc.



I don't think that there are many Oyster Ticket Stops right at
stations for that reason. *Everyone wanting to top up will have to go
in two directions instead of just going to the station. *The TOCs will
have to sell Oyster; I can't see any alternative.

The problem is that I don't believe any of their machines are being
modified to sell it [1]. *I understand exactly what you're saying but
without the systems and machines I don't see how the TOCs can retail the
product.

[1] I may be wrong on this point but I have not seen anything official
from TfL, the Mayor, any TOC or ATOC / RSP to indicate that a widespread
modification programme is happening. *I thought the "deal" between TfL
and TOCs only covered validation equipment costs. Retailing is at the
discretion of the train companies.
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Paul C- Hide quoted text -

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