On 25 Oct, 14:37, Paul wrote:
On 25 Oct, 08:45, "Mizter T" wrote:

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/contact/13879.aspx

From today one can no longer dial a London number to get London travel
information, one has to dial the new 0843 222 1234 number - 0843 numbers of
course cost more, from a BT line that's 5p a minute (plus a "call set up
fee" aka connection fee of 10.9p), but the real sting is for those who call
from mobiles - e.g. from an O2 contract phone it will cost 20p/min, or an O2
PAYG phone it'll cost 25p/min. And UIVMM the 0843 number range is not
included within any inclusive allowances offered by any landline telco (BT,
Virgin, Talk Talk etc), let alone any offered by a mobile provider.

A regressive step, IMHO. One trusts that TfL will retain ownership of ABBey
1234 nonetheless (you never know, it could be put back into use in the
future). As of this morning if you call the 7222 1234 number you'll hear a
recorded message directing you to dial the new 0843 number.

*It is interesting to read the official blurb on the TfL website about
the change.

New, voice-activated service

The new number includes a voice-activated service that will deal with
simple A to B journeys between stations, hospitals, major landmarks or
points of interest within the London area.

If your journey's more complicated you can speak to a travel adviser

Benefits
No more waiting to speak to someone
Get information easily and speedily
On the phone for less time
Travel advisers have more time for you if you do need them
We'll be making even more improvements to this service soon - watch
this space.

It will be interesting to see how the "voice activated" service copes
with the following tube journeys:-

Morden to Wimbledon
London Bridge to Liverpool Street
Euston To Russell Square
Walthamstow Central to Leytonstone

All of which are generally quicker by bus.

It never ceases to amaze me how deteriorations in service are dressed
up as "improvements". Rather like the Royal Mail in my area who,
motivated by a desire to "constantly improve our service to our
customers" have decided that the last collection from the local pillar
box will be at 5:30pm instead of 6:30pm.

Of course it's an improvement. We can now make journeys of our own
choice, freed from the burden of interference by travel advisors.